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Published: 09/18/09

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Torture Not My Department

By  Ria Misra - Politics Daily
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Torture Not My Department

Ahead of his appearance at the U.N. General Assembly, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sat down with MSNBC's Ann Curry, who asked him about allegations that prisoners -- both men and women -- had been tortured and raped. He was expected to issue a standard denial. Instead, there was this bizarre exchange:Ahmadinejad: I'm not in a position to answer or to judge whatever you are claiming. But are you – does your heart really and sincerely go out to the people? Are you really – is that really the truth? Curry: I know people, Mr. President Ahmadinejad: I don't believe that.Curry: ...

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Published: 09/3/09

Iran's First Female Cabinet Member a Setback for Women

By  Ria Misra - Politics Daily
Iran's First Female Cabinet Member a Setback for Women

First the good news: On Thursday, the BBC reports that Iran approved its first female cabinet member since the revolution 30 years ago, Health Minister Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi. The bad news: Dastjerdi is a long-time proponent of sex-segregating medical care, so that Iranian women can only be seen by female doctors -- a move that reduces women's access to medical care, particularly to specialists. In Iran's hotly contested elections this year, opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi and his wife Zahra Rahnavard (once a political adviser herself to former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami) ...

Published: 07/9/09

Iran's Protests: Why 2009 Won't Be a Repeat of 1999

By  Ria Misra - Politics Daily
Iran's Protests: Why 2009 Won't Be a Repeat of 1999

Ten years ago Thursday, the world watched as students from Tehran University in Iran took to the streets in protest. It seemed to many as though history were repeating itself when protests -- which seemed to have been cooling in the face of a government crackdown -- began anew in Iran, both in commemoration of 1999 and in reaction to the recent election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. CNN estimates that Thursday's protest at Tehran University had 2,000-3,000 people when a clash with the state militia began. The protests in 1999 lasted a week. The dissidents were jailed and some were ...

Published: 07/6/09

Iran: A Government on the Verge?

By  Ria Misra - Politics Daily
Iran: A Government on the Verge?

As the rest of the world has watched the turmoil in Iran unfold, one of the takeaways for many people has been the ideological splits between Iran's government and Iran's people. But, as the crackdown has accelerated, the future of the dissidents has been looking more and more uncertain. Now, a split between the government and the politically pivotal clerics may be the critical leverage that finally forces not only the overturning of the election results, but maybe of the ayatollah as well. The New York Times reports that Iran's politically influential group of clerics, the Association of ...

Published: 06/30/09

Ahmadinejad, Neda, and the Politics of Misdirection

By  Ria Misra - Politics Daily
Ahmadinejad, Neda, and the Politics of Misdirection

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered a public investigation into the death of Neda Soltan -- but don't expect a turnaround from claims that the state militia had nothing to do with it. "Interference by enemies of Iran" was among the culprits that Ahmadinejad cited, as well as "propaganda by the foreign media," and -- according to Iran's ambassador to Mexico -- maybe the CIA. The timing of Ahmadinejad's sudden interest in Soltan's death is no coincidence, nor is it likely the result of the incumbent stumbling upon the video while browsing YouTube -- it comes just as officials finish their recount ...

Published: 06/26/09

Before Neda, There Was Soraya M.

By  Carl M. Cannon - Politics Daily
Before Neda, There Was Soraya M.

Neda Agha-Soltan is the lovely 26-year-old woman who has become the martyred face of the Iranian people. A lover of pop music, she was heading home from a music lesson last week when the car she was riding in was stuck in traffic caused by the demonstrations in Tehran. ...

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