Dear friends,
Earlier this month at a major competition, Ali Hashemi, a weightlifting champion, politely brought his hands to his chest and told a female medal presenter that he is a Muslim, and so can’t shake hands with a woman. This week IranWire looks at the history of “hand-shake-gates” in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
There’s another sports story too, about an influential cleric who said that the ban on women in stadiums should be upheld. This mini-fatwa led to a council responsible for policies on women’s issues to put a stop to debates about whether women should have the right to attend male sports completions. Then, yesterday, Tuesday December 12, 2017, an Ayatollah said that watching men wrestling and play football make women “randy.” Within a few hours, one creative citizen journalist edited some wrestling images to include the famous restaurant scene in the 1989 movie When Harry Met Sally with Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal. This short video starts in Persian, but it’s mainly in a universal language we all can understand... You can watch the video here: http://bit.ly/2AAeamP
It’s always inspiring how many Iranians return to the country after spending time abroad with the hope of helping their fellow citizens. When Tehran University extended an invite to Ahmad Reza Jalali, an expert in disaster relief living in Sweden, he had no reason to believe he would be punished for his work helping others. But he was arrested just days before he was to return to Sweden, and now he faces the death penalty on trumped up charges of spying for Israel. Over the weekend, his wife discovered that his appeal never made it to the supreme court, and that the lawyer Jalali was appointed was colluding with the judiciary and one of Iran’s nastiest judges, Judge Salavati. Once again, the battle between those trying to open Iran up to the world and those desperately trying to preserve its isolation is being played out in the lives of people who have committed their working lives to improving the situation for Iranians and others.
As always, please let me know if you have any comments.
Warm regards
Maziar
Iranian Athletes Do Not Shake Hands - Click Here To Read
"It Would be Great to Have Nazanin Home for Christmas" - Click Here To Read
Ayatollah Gives Thumbs Down to Women in Stadiums - Click Here To Read
Why Does Iranian State TV Censor Movie Trailers? - Click Here To Read
UNESCO and the Ancient Persian Game of Chogan - Click Here To Read
Three Young Baha’is Arrested in Kermanshah - Click Here To Read
Reza Zarrab: An Economic Jihadist? - Click Here To Read
New Snow, Hello! - Click Here To Read
Was Jalali's Lawyer Working Against Him? - Click Here To Read
A Nom de Guerre To Help Keep Us Sane - Click Here To Read
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