The Iranian Times

Thursday, July 27, 2000 / Mordad 6, 1379, No. 1031


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Sehaty Foreign Exchange

Flower delivery in Iran

Iranian books

Home

Home coming
Realizing that Tehran is the only city you have ever loved

By Khordad
July 27, 2000
The Iranian

After 21 years, Fariba found me. Unexpectedly. Found me. In a place I had not planned to be. In Park-e Honar. In Tehran. In Iran. Where, I had returned. Re Turned. After an absence of 20 years, decided, unexpectedly, to stay. Stay for a little while. Stay for an undefined length of time. Stay for as long as it felt good, for as long as it was necessary, until life should take me away. Away. Again >>> GO TO FEATURE

Literature

By Ahmad Shamlou
July 27, 2000
The Iranian
>>> GO TO FEATURE


Outlook

Thousands mourn Shamlou

By Mehrdad Balali

TEHRAN, July 27 (Reuters) - Thousands of mourners lined the streets of Tehran on Thursday for the funeral of Ahmad Shamlou, one of Iran's finest poets who fell foul of the shah and grew disillusioned with the Islamic Revolution that overthrew him.

The crowds clapped and sang nationalist songs in defiance of Iran's religious rule as the procession, led by intellectuals and writers, passed. It began at the hospital where Shamlou, 75, died of diabetes on Tuesday and ended at a mosque in the north of the capital >>> FULL TEXT

Amnesty open letter to members of Iran's Sixth Majles

25 July 2000

The following is the text of an Open Letter from Amnesty International's Secretary General to members of the Sixth Majles-e Shoura-ye Eslami (Islamic Consultative Assembly)

Your Excellencies,

I am writing to you as Secretary General of Amnesty International on the occasion of your recent election to the Sixth Majles-e Shoura-ye Eslami (Islamic Consultative Assembly). We are greatly encouraged by the public statements made by some of your members expressing their commitment to defend fundamental freedoms, as well as some concrete moves to ease constraints on freedom of expression. We hope that your term of office in the next four years will be memorable for the advancements made in promoting a program of legal and administrative reform enabling all the people of Iran to enjoy to the full their internationally recognised human rights >>> FULL TEXT

American astronomers in Tehran

July 27, 2000 (Search for Common Ground) -- A delegation of American astronomers is in Iran taking part in an astronomy conference with other American scientists and their Iranian counterparts, as well as European and Asian participants. Among the participants are Dr. Alan Hale (co-discoverer of the Hale-Bopp Comet) and former astronaut Bruce McCandless (co-developer of the Manned Maneuvering Unit used by Space Shuttle astronauts during the 1980s and a deployer of the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990), along with JPL and Goddard scientists.

This trip builds upon contacts that were made during the last Search for Common Ground-led trip to Iran in August 1999 to view the last total solar eclipse of the last millennium>>> FULL TEXT

Hassani: Dead serious

An indepth interview with Molla Hassani, Friday prayers leader of Orumiyeh, published in Danestaniha (No2, July 2000). Hassani is frequently depicted as an ultra-conservative caricature in the reformist press where his sermons are reprinted without commentary. This interview is full of outrageous quotes that will make you laugh out loud. But the sad thing is, he's dead serious >>> PAGE (Intro) (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

Iran, Iraq; what's the difference?

Iran has a new deputy prime minister, who by the way, also happens to be Iraq's deputy prime minister >>> SEE PHOTO

Thanks to Pedram Moallemian



More Letters

* Not very pleasant

Laurie K. writes: It wasn't very pleasant to see a man's foot holding down a chicken. They say that the way a country treats its animals reflects on the way it treats its people. Example - China!! - human rights issues?

I was disappointed to see this picture as I respect the Persian culture and have many Persian friends for the last 20 years.

I don't understand the meaning of the picture or to what use it can have?

* Iran not armpit of universe

Ben Bagheri writes: Dear Kelley, I'm glad you wrote and I'm sorry that you were exposed to the harshness of "Not Without My Daughter"!

I saw the movie with my (then) girlfriend, Susan, back when it first came out! We didn't know what type of message or image it contained about Iran but I literally held my head down and ran out of the theater.

Susan and I got married in 1996 and she (who is a blonde native of Texas, USA) went to Iran with me for a visit in the Summer of 1997. Susan loved her treatment in Iran by my family and everyone else who came in contact with her, but she can comment to you directly about that.

We now have an adorable 7 month old baby boy who proudly carries the "Iranian-American" ethnic designation and we fully intend to make sure that he learns the Persian language, visits Iran and stays in touch with his father's cultural roots! >>> FULL TEXT

* Useless fashion

Sherry Sadigh writes: I looked at Farhad's fashion designs. It's nice but where do you think you could wear these clothes?


Art: Shirin Neshat in London

Shirin Neshat
28 July - 3 September 2000 at the Serpentine Gallery
Kensington Gardens London W2 3XA

"Born in Iran in 1957, Shirin Neshat studied art in the United States and was in Los Angeles when the revolution of 1979 overtook her country. returning for the first time in 1990, she was deeply affected by her homeland's radical transformation. Working in photography and video installation, her art refers to the social, cultural and religious codes of Muslim societies in general and Iranian society in particular >>> DETAILS HERE


Books

.

,

Persia and the Bible
by Edwin M. Yamauchi, Donald J. Wiseman

.

Marsiyeh-haaye khaak
Selection of Ahmad Shamlou's poems

THE IRANIAN
Bookstore
Music store


    Poetry

Translation of today's poem by Zara Houshmand:

We have no fear of bullets, or daggers,

Or shackles, or the blade against the neck.

Hotheaded, we drink the devil's drink.

Even less we fear what people think.
-- Rumi
Previous translations



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More news

Italy's ENI to sign huge gas contract in Iran

TEHRAN, July 27 (AFP) - The Italian firm ENI is to sign a major contract Thursday giving it rights to gas extraction in the South Pars region of the Gulf in a deal believed to be the biggest between Iran and a foreign company since the Islamic revolution of 1979. The deal, which puts Italy among Iran's leading partners in the energy sector, initially covers the development of stages (geographic zones) four and five of an eight-stage project, according to ENI's office in Tehran >>> FULL TEXT

U.S. House passes terrorist legislation

By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer, WASHINGTON (AP) - The House on Tuesday approved a measure making it easier for terrorist victims to collect damages from nations that foster that terrorism. American courts have awarded former hostages and families of terrorist victims multimillion-dollar judgments against Iran and Cuba, but the administration has so far blocked the freeing of frozen assets to those winning the suits >>> FULL TEXT

Talk of re-establishing Iran-US relations an "insult": Khamenei

TEHRAN, July 27 (AFP) - Calls for rapprochement with the United States are an "insult" to the Iranian people, the country's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a speech Thursday broadcast by Iranian television. "In the current state of affairs, anything said in favour of rapprochement or negotiations with America is an insult and betrayal of the Iranian people," said Khamenei, who is on a tour of the northwest >>> FULL TEXT

Shah's widow visits tomb in Cairo on 20th anniversary of his death

CAIRO, July 27 (AFP) - Farah Diba, the widow of the last shah of Iran, visited her husband's tomb in Cairo on Wednesday for a sober ceremony to mark the 20th anniversary of his death. Diba read the Fatiha, the first chapter of the Muslim holy book the Koran, over the marble tomb of Muhammed Reza Pahlavi, who died in exile in Egypt on July 27 1980, the year after he was overthrown in Iran's Islamic Revolution.>>> FULL TEXT

Khamenei says failure of Camp David summit is failure of US policy

TEHRAN, July 27 (AFP) - Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Wednesday attributed the collapse of the Camp David peace summit to a failure of US policy in the Middle East, state television reported. "The failure of Camp David is not a simple event, it is the failure of American policy in the Middle East," Khamenei said in a speech to students in the northwest Iranian town of Meshkin-Shahr, where he has been since Monday >>> FULL TEXT

Malaysian firm to establish distribution center in Iran

KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 (AFP) - A Malaysian port operator and an Iranian company will jointly set up a distribution centre at Iran's Shahid Rajaie Port at Bandar Abbas, the official Bernama news agency said Thursday. Bernama said the Port Klang Authority and Tidewater Marine Services Co. of Iran had formed a joint venture company called Tide Klang Joint Stock Co >>> FULL TEXT

PEN expresses sympathy for Shamlou's death

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, July 26, 2000 -- Dear Colleagues, On behalf of the 2,700 writers who are members of PEN American Center, we wish to express our deepest condolence at the death of our esteemed colleague, Ahmad Shamlou, who passed away on the evening of July 23 in his native Iran >>> FULL TEXT

Qobadi on his Cannes-winner

Tehran (Hamshahri) -- Bahman Qobadi talks about the international success of his film "Zammani baraa-ye masti-ye asb-haa" (Time for drunken horses), which won an award at Cannes this year. "I don't make films for festivals," he says >>> FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

Kurds rush to see first film in Kurdish

Tehran (Hamshahri) -- "Zammani baraa-ye masti-ye asb-haa" (Time for drunken horses) is the first film in Kurdish shown in Iranian theaters. Kurdish audiences apprecite that. Theaters have been packed in Sanandaj, Saqqez and Baneh >>> FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

Good gripping book

Tehran (Iran daily) -- Mohammad Reza Pour-Jafari's novel "Saa-at-e gorg o mish" is a gripping novel about a man who is condemned to death but his time of execution is unclear >>> FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

Minavand plays against Israeli team

VIENNA, July 26: Mehrdad Minavand played a the full match for his Austrain soccer team Sturm Graz against Israel's Happoel Tel Aviv in Vienna. This is the first time an Iranian athlete in known to have played against an Israeli team since the 1979 revolution. Minavand is a member of the Iranian national team >>> GO TO REPORT

Persepolis to be taken over by Foundation for underprivileged

TEHERAN, July 25 (AFP) - Cash-strapped Iranian first division giants Pirouzi (Persepolis) are being taken over by a state-run foundation for under-privileged people and an Islamic propaganda organisation, local agency IRNA reported here Tuesday >>> FULL TEXT

Iranian youth ninth in Asian basketball

KUALA LAMPUR, July 26 (Iran Sports Press) -- The Iranian U20 Basketball defeated Lebanon for the second time in the Asian Youth Basketball Championships to clinch ninth place. The Iranian team defeated Lebanon 77-60. Iran depart the Championship with 5 victories and two losses. Iran's performance at this year's Championship was disappointing as Iran had managed fifth place at the 1999 Championship.


BBC

Majlis

Review of the performance of the outgoing Iranian parliament >>> LISTEN HERE

NOTE: BBC link content changes every 24 hours

BBC Persian Service


Exchange rate

Updated July 27

Buying: 812 to 817 tomans per dollar

Selling: 825 to 830 tomans per dollar

CALL TOLL FREE: 877-SEHHATY (877-734-4289)
or 800-995-0264

Mention this code for a better rate: FA 37 B

Business news


The Web

Iran

Persian Flora
&
Onlines Gol

Two of the better sites that take flower orders for friends and relatives in Iran. Great selections. Organized. Professional.

Beyond Iran

Asian Film Connections

Here's the promising start of a multilingual resource that aims to "create a deeper awareness and understanding of Asian cinema" with an in-depth look at the cinemas of China, India, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan.

More web sites


Quote Unquote

Shamlou's children

The crowds clapped and sang nationalist songs in defiance of Iran's religious rule as the procession, led by intellectuals and writers, passed. It began at the hospital where Shamlou, 75, died of diabetes on Tuesday and ended at a mosque in the north of the capital. ``Iran, the treasured land. I am willing to be sacrificed for the pure soil of my homeland'' youths chanted, fists raised.

-- Reuters
July 27, 2000


Photo of the Day

Shah's death: 20th anniversary


Music

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Art

Mahmoud Javadipour
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