September/October 2004

Summer, the months of good and bad events in our history

Constitutional Movement, Summer 1906

Reza Shah the Great died in the summer of 1944 in exile in Johannesburg of South Africa.

Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi died in the summer of 1980 in Cairo, Egypt.

Dr. Bakhtiar was tragically murdered by the agents of IRI along with Sorush Katibeh in 1991.

28th of Mordad, summer of 1953

And

Freydoon Farrokhzad was also murdered on a summer day. Couldn't find his picture or the date of his tragic death. Nothing about him on the net! and I am sure there are others forgotten by all.

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Postcards from Iran: Surfing the net

In the run-up to parliamentary elections in Iran, Abbas Azimi, a writer from the BBC Persian Service, gives a snapshot of an aspect of contemporary life in the Islamic Republic.
Gulestan internet café is the kind of place you want to spend some time. Tucked into the corner of a busy market in west Tehran, it's tastefully decorated with plants and pictures of mountains and seascapes.


Three Iranian films to be screened at Viennale
Aug 26, 2004, 15:12

Three Iranian films have been selected for screening at Viennale 2004, the 42nd Vienna International Film Festival that will be held in Austria on October 15-27.

Hans Hurch, the festival director said that three Iranian films 'Womanlike' directed by Mahnaz Afzali,`Epitaph' made by Moslem Mansouri and `Unfinished story' directed by Hassan Yektapanah will be screened at the Viennale.

He added that showcasing Iranian cinema is a tradition at the festival and every year various Iranian films are screened.

"The richness of Iranian films and the many new things they have to say attract westerners"."These films brilliantly depict different aspects of the daily lives of people" Hurch added, observing that Iranian films are often about the day-to-day lives of ordinary people.

Speaking in a press conference held in Vienna, he said that one hundred features, documentaries and short films from various countries will be screened at the Vienna International Film Festival.

The Viennale is a non-competitive film festival, recognized by the international federation of film producers' associations and screens feature films, documentaries and short films.

Destiny in the palm of his hand
By Deborah Smith, Science Editor

A dream come true ... Peter Abolfathi wearing his award-winning bionic glove. The PhD student has overcome many hardships to realize his dream of being an inventor. Photo: Peter Rae

As a young boy growing up in war-torn Iran, Peter Abolfathi had one dream: to become an inventor. So after moving to Australia with his family aged 12, he turned his mind to studying biomedical engineering, a skill he could use to help the sick.

Last night at the Hordern Pavilion, Mr Abolfathi was honored for realizing his boyhood dreams. His invention of a bionic glove embedded with artificial muscles for people with paralyzed or damaged hands won the 2004 Eureka Prize for inspiring science, $10,000 to study in Britain.

Mr Abolfathi's journey from the bomb shelters of Tehran to Royal North Shore Hospital's Quadriplegic Hand Research Unit included a job working with the world's only flying eye hospital, ORBIS, which took him to 27 countries in three years.

"It was an immensely valuable experience, dealing with different cultures and learning from people who used basic things to solve problems," he said.

"In Cuba, for example, I saw biomedical engineers fixing complicated machinery with hand made tools."

Mr Abolfathi said just getting the job took determination. He had to do extra teaching and research, all during his last year at university, to make the grade.

 

 

Remembering Freydoon Farrokhzad

on the 12th anniversary of his tragic death

Hossein Reza Zadeh of Iran celebrates winning Gold after lifting a weight of 263.5 kg giving him a new world record in his weight division for clean and in the combined lifts on 25/08/2004, at Nikaia Olympic Weightlifting Hall in
Athens

Iran's Saei Bonehkohal gets gold in Olympics Taekwondo


ATHENS 27 Aug - Sydney Olympic bronze medallist, Hadi Saei Bonehkohal completed what he started in Sydney, winning the Athens 2004 Olympic gold medal in the Men?s Under 68kg category.

 

Captain Nasser Moniri pilots Senator John Kerry's Boeing 757.

He has beenchosen among hundreds of pilots to fly the Senator around the USA for hispresidential campaign. His father (ace pilot MehdiHadji Moniri), flew the Royal Family of Iran in his many years of service to our country.

A Medieval Masterpiece from Baghdad: The Ann Arbor Shahnama
August 14–December 19, 2004

(More)
One of the great classics of world literature, the Shahnama is a dramatic and entertaining telling of the legendary exploits of Persian kings and heroes from the beginnings of civilization down to the Islamic conquest in the mid-seventh century. Its pages are filled with vivid human and supernatural figures, from selfless heroes and virtuous women to cruel, greedy kings and evil wizards. Underlying this dazzling surface pattern are Persia's most enduring beliefs about virtue, honor, and kingship

The Architecture of Tehran: a Window into Iranian Culture, History


Washington -- An international panel of architects, scholars, and urban planners gathered at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. for an in-depth look at the city of Tehran, especially how its cultural, social, and political evolution is reflected through its architecture.
The program was held in conjunction with the fifth biennial meeting of the International Society for Iranian Studies, held in nearby Bethesda, Maryland. The Tehran conference was also the first program in the Library's Islamic Cities Project, which aims to raise awareness of Islamic and Persian architecture and culture. Future programs will focus on two other Iranian cities, Bam and Isfahan, as well as on Katmandu, Nepal, and Cairo/Alexandria, Egypt. More

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Queen become first rockers in Iran
Aug 25, 2004, 09:49


Queen have attracted a massive fanbase in Iran after officials granted them the right to release their tunes in the Islamic republic.

The seminal group - led by late Freddie Mercury - have made history in the Muslim country as the first rock act to receive Iran's official seal of approval.

Western music has long been strictly censored in Iran, but an album of Queen's greatest hits was released yesterday and has proved a major attraction for the musically-deprived rock fans.

Mercury, who died in 1991, was publicly proud of his Iranian ancestry, and illegal bootleg albums and singles made Queen one of the most popular bands in the country.

Historic site in Iran turned into garbage dump, official complains


One of Iran's main historical sites, the ancient Elamite capital of Susa, has been used for the secret nightly dumping of rubbish by the local municipality, a culture official in the area told AFP Tuesday.

"We have filed several complaints against the municipality, but it firmly denies its workers have ever done such a thing -- even though they have been frequently spotted by our guards," said the head of the Cultural Heritage Organisation in Shush, the modern name for Susa.

But the official, Mahdi Ghanbari, also complained that the muncipality were also planning to build a bus depot near the string of historic sites -- a further blow following years of illegal excavations.

http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news

Yasmin Pahlavi and the new born Farah


Remote Villagers Speak in Sassanid Language After 2,000 Years


Source: Iranian Cultural Heritage News Agency
Following the recognition of 903 Sassanid words in the language of Maymand residents, experts have concluded the language of these people has barely changed since 2,000 years ago, mainly because of the isolation of their helmet after the Arab invasion in the seventh century.

Experts working with the renovation project of the village have managed to recognize and categorize these words after conversing with the secluded people. ?Some of these words are purely Persian and free of Arabic influences,? said Farhnaz Firozehchian, linguist in charge of the word recognition plan, citing such examples as ?Fal? for ?Dastmal? (handkerchief) and ?Pa-Cheragh? for a special lantern burning animal fat.

Firozehchian intends to compile a report and submit it to the Iranian Language Association by September and then continue her pet project with some academic linguists.

Maymand is a village in Kerman Province, south of Iran and its inhabitants live in cave-like houses dug into mountains.

The Sassanids (224-642 A.D.) established an empire roughly within the frontiers achieved by the Achaemenids, with the capital at Ctesiphon. They consciously sought to resuscitate Iranian traditions and to obliterate Greek cultural influence. Their rule was characterized by considerable centralization, ambitious urban planning, agricultural development, and technological improvements.

Sassanid rule and the system of social stratification were reinforced by Zoroastrianism, which became the state religion. The Zoroastrian priesthood became immensely powerful. The later Sassanids were weakened by economic decline, heavy taxation, religious unrest, rigid social stratification, the increasing power of the provincial landholders, and a rapid turnover of rulers. These factors facilitated the Arab invasion.