English translation provided by @germantoenglish
Concerns are growing Among exiled Iranians in Germany over the filmmaker, painter and philosopher Daryush Shokof. 55-year-old Shokof was last seen Monday at Cologne central station, where he intended to board a train to Paris. However, he seems to have never arrived there – at least he did not keep any of his appointments in the French capital. Neither his wife Taies Farzan, an actress, nor his friends have received a sign of life from him for five days.
Shokof had left Iran – then Persia – under the Shah in order to study in the United States, and did not return to the Iran of the mollahs. He has been living and working in Germany since 1985, and has become one of the most vocal critics of the Islamic Republic. Five years ago he went on a seven-day hunger strike outside the headquarters of the Green Party in Berlin, demanding freedom and justice for his home country. Last year, he went on a four-day hunger strike outside the Russian Embassy in Berlin after Russian President Medvedev had been the first statesman to recognize the official result of the rigged presidential elections in Iran.
Shokof belongs to a radical part of the exiled Iranian opposition whose members are strictly against any contact with the regime in Tehran. In an open letter addressed to the Berlin film festival, he criticized that the organizers invited Iranian films that have an official permit of the Iranian regime to … >>>
