Ziba Kazemi: A Play in Memory

Cross-posted at Rosemary's Thoughts.

Zahra (Ziba) Kazemi was murdered four years ago this July 10th by Iranian Guards. They have not yet released her body, nor shall they ever, I fear. Her son, Stephen Hachemi, is still trying in mourning. He is trying to get her remains moved to Canada so that she may be near him. Here is an article that was written only a little while after her murder. For more information about her, you will find it here. This will help those of you who are following this case to keep up with the news about her. (Hat tip to Serendip for the links and some info. Thank you.)

The reason I have given you this background is because a fried of mine, Winston, has sent me a play which is going to perform in Canada only six times. That is the only chance we will have to see it. It is truly a must see.

Dear Friends,

I am very pleased to invite you to visit our latest production: Ashes to Ashes, from Nobel Prize winner playwright: Harold Pinter.

Our adaptation is dedicated to the memory of Canadian/Iranian photojournalist Zahra (Ziba) Kazemi, who was brutally killed behind the prison walls.

The show will be part of SummerWorks Theatre Festival and will have only 6 runs on the following dates at the Tarragon Theatre's mainspace:

• Friday August 3rd 6:00 pm
• Saturday August 4th 1:30 pm
• Sunday August 5th 12:00 pm
• Tuesday August 7th 9:00 pm
• Friday August 10th 6:00 pm and
• Sunday August 12th 7:30 pm

Our artistic team includes: Gemini Award winner Brenda Bazinet (actress), NTS' graduate Sam Malkin (actor) and NTS' directing program's student V. Rahbani (designer & director).

For more details please click on the poster.

You really shouldn't miss this!

Yours,
Levon Haftvan
Artistic Director
Lemaz Productions
www.lemaz.org.
416-816-8405

I realize it is rather far for some of you, but I expect my Canadian friends to go. Please, send me a review. I would very much appreciate. Thank you, and have a nice day.

Great Iranian Blogger reveals CAIR wannabe's

Cross-posted at Rosemary's Thoughts.

This is horrendous. If there is hunger in the world? Blame America. If there is a flood in the world? Blame America. If there is torture, stoning, raping, murder, or any other criminal offence in Iran? Blame America?!

Serendip has written a very worthy and timely article about National Iranian American Council (NIAC). They are supposedly a human rights group, but Iran has used this trick before. They know what will move public opinion, unlike some people we know, and they use it against us.

Who could say human rights is not a good cause? From these people, ME! How dare they come onto our soil, go into our Congress, and try to persuade them to relieve Iran from the sanctions. Do you know why? BECAUSE THEY ARE WORKING!

Please stop over at Serendip's blog, and read about this. They are as bad as CAIR, if not worse. We must be louder and more active than these make believe groups. They are not civil rights groups. They are beholden to the Ayatollah Khomeini. Don't ever forget that.

There are 5 Americans being held hostage in Iran

Cross-posted at Rosemary's Thoughts.

Here we go again. Let's see what this cowboy is going to do. Will he turn out to be another Jimmy Carter to our shame, or will he do the responsible thing and get our citizens back? Only time will tell. It has already been since May.

I do not want to hear anything more about talking to these maniacs. I am ready to go in for our own. Call me whatever you like, I have been holding back from war for a very long time. If we do nothing but talk now, in the eyes of the Middle East, we have lost all credibility. Would you please remind the Left that this is not good for what they call, "Relationships" in the world!

Frankly, I don't give a hoot what the rest of the world thinks except in one sense: Fear us. As long as they fear us, they will not attack us. These are just the simple facts of war. Do you want to stop wars? Make your enemy afraid. It is just that simple.

The three people who the IRG have captured and thrown into jail are Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Kian Tajbakhsh who is a respected Urban Planner and sociologist working for the Open Society Institute, Ali Shakeri, a peace activist, Parnaz Azima, a correspondent working for Radio Farda, the joint Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty–Voice of America Persian-language radio broadcast to Iran, and Robert Levinson who disappeared in early March during a visit to Iran's Kish Island and is believed to be held by the Iranian authorities. Levinson, a retired FBI agent, reportedly had traveled to Iran to investigate a matter on behalf of a private client.

The charges are as follows:

While on the way to airport after a visit with her 93 year old mother, some thugs (IRG probably) stole her passport. This 67 year old grandmother has been charged with being involved with a propaganda campaign to foment a "soft revolution" against the brutal clerical regime.

Kian Tajbakhsh has been charged with "seeking the overthrow of the Iranian government. He and Esfandiari are being held in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison, which contains many other Iranian political prisoners and dissidents."

Ali Shakeri and Parnaz Azima may be joining them soon due to trumpt-up charges. Panaz has been charged (because she works for RFE) of "an institution that spreads propaganda against the Islamic Republic." (And the Europeans still want to have more talks?)

At least Radio Free Europe did not sit on their hands. They used some very strong 'words' toward the Iranian regime. How about you, Mr. President?

The Iranians are hoping to use this former FBI Agent as a pawn to gain leverage in the release of the bastards we caught.

While some may think this is related to Bush in some way, let me make this clear. These arrests started in December of last year, and they got worse when the Iranian regime started cracking down on any dissent. Not every damn thing is George Bush' fault.

Remember. All of these people had passports which were confiscated, and most of them have dual-citizenship.

Sources: The Jawa Report, Iran's Growing List of Hostages and The Invisible Crisis: What if Iran took hostages and no one noticed? (I highly recommend all of these, especially the last two. I found them through google, but you have to add the year 2007, or you will get Jimmy Carter stuff.)

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