Kurdish Political Prisoners on Hunger Strike

Sayeh Hassan
by Sayeh Hassan
02-Oct-2008
 

Latest News From Urumiyeh Prison Regarding the Hunger Strike of Kurdish Political Prisoners

The hunger strike of Kurdish Political Prisoners has reached its 39th day, and the physical condition of those on hunger strike has deteriorated greatly. Number of prisoners on hunger strike, who have been on strike for the past 24 days in Urumiye Prison are suffering from serious infections and skin problems.

The following prisoners Ehsan Topaz, Mostafa Ali Ahmad, Balal Chiligar, Jomhur Ozgoch, Yousef Atsaz, Ali Ahmad Soleyman, Morad Diyar, have been denied the right to see their lawyers and have been in solitary confinement for the past 14 days.

Also the physical condition of five (5) prisoners from the group “Ahle Hagh” who joined the hunger strike 2 weeks ago in Urumiyeh Prison has deteriorated significantly. The names of these prisoners are Sohand Ali Mohammadi, Bakhsh Ali Mohammadi, Abdollah Ghasemzadeh, Mehdi Ghasemzadeh and Younes Taghayan.

Finally it has been reported that in the Saghz Prison they physical condition of one prisoner in particular, Mr. Khalil Mostafa Rajab has deteriorated greatly.

Committee for the Support of Hunger Strike for Kurdish Political Prisoners
October 2nd 2008

 

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Cheraghi keh beh khaneh ravaast beh masjed haram ast.

by Anonymous not kurd (not verified) on

I don't give a damn about palestinians and israilis when MY own people have been oppressed, tortured, and murdered, day in day out, by internal enemies of iranians, that IRI is, for the past 30 years. In fact, talking about palestinians, esrailis, zionism, west, anti-semitism, and like sicken me to my stomach when we have an on-going disaster on our hands in iran. There are currently some 147 juvenile on death row in the world, 140 of them in iran and none in esrail, the youngest only 13 (and female). Who gives a sh** about esrailis and palestinians when such evil injustice is going on in our own house iran.

But I do care about kurds, Iran "belongs" to the kurds, that is their country, that is their home. Kurds are us, and we are kurds. They should be treated with dignity and respect, social and economic justice, just like any other iranian, once a truly "iranian" government is established in iran.

Fact: IRI has executed many iranians for every single day of its 30-year life.


American Wife

very interesting

by American Wife on

Sayeh... do you serve as a private attorney for these individuals or do you work with a law firm that represents many prisoners?  Are these prisoners provided water to drink?  Do doctors regularly monitor them?

Mehdi.  I'm confused by your comments.  You're obviously not Iranian... clearly not Jewish... what's the deal with you?  You never miss an opportunity to promote anti-semitism via your blanket statement that all Israel wants to do is bomb Iran.  Why do you care and what does it have to do with this article?

IRANdokht... do any of the international relief committees or red cross efforts have access to Iran?  I understand no money can be sent and if there is no US Embassy, what protection do these organizations have if even allowed to enter the country? 


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Anonymous Observer

by kurdish Warrior (not verified) on

thanks for bringing that up..Unfortunatly there are few idiots on this site who either connect every article to palestinians or just attacking others on baseless facts...Education is the key for these ignorant individuals..


Anonymous Observer

Thanks Mehdi

by Anonymous Observer on

For setting the record straight by telling us what we knew from the start: that you couldn't give a rats ass about Iranians being killed by this regime.   

BTW (and this just shows your ignorance) I was born and raised in an Iranian Shia family, have never been to Israel and am an atheist.   

Persia is Eternal.


Anonymous Observer

Kurdish Warrior

by Anonymous Observer on

You are right, my friend.  Kurds are even more "Iranian" than Persians.  They certainly were in "Iran" proper before the Persians.  Also, don't forget our greatest hero, Pirooz Nahavandi!  

Persia is Eternal.


Mehdi

Anonymous Observer: No, we shouldn't care

by Mehdi on

But the reason is not what you said. The reason is that Iranians have realized that so far all such "activism" and all such scattered revolutionary leftovers of communism are individuals and groups with ulterior motives - none are sincere. Some are directly propped up by Mosad/CIA as openly stated by George Bush's "Democracy Fund" which is in fact a fund to sponsor terrorism in Iran, or they are naive people who have fallen into their trap. Even the naive individuals have ulterior motives of their own.

And unlike your misrepresentation, Palestinians hardly get any coverage here - but their issue is sometimes raised to point out that Israel is NOT interested in human rights, in Iran or anywhere. They have openly stated that they only care about the Jewish and nobody else. So quit your pretense that you care about Iranians. Most Iranian Jewish who accepted the Israeli bribe and left Iran and are now considering themselves Israeli first and Iranians second, if not tenth, are now working for their regime and come here pretending to be Iranian. Their agenda is not Iran but Israel and we know what Israel wants - bombing of Iran.


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Ignorant Reader

by Kurdish Warrior (not verified) on

War between Kurds and iranians?????? Have you ever asked yourselves who is Iranian/...They are Persians.Kurds,Baluch,Lor, iranian arabs and etc...So keep your propaganda to yourself...If there were going to be war it would have happened long time ago. persian and Kurds built iran together...Your Cyrus was half Kurd (Mede).. What every Iranian Kurds want is its individual right which they havn't had since Safavid Era...Now what they ask for is federalism not seperation. which will allow them to practice their customs...


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Sayyah jan: How dare you

by Ummatist (not verified) on

Sayyah jan: How dare you ignore the Palestinians in the Israelis prison? Where are your priorities? Don't you know, you're first Islamist, second Palestinian, and third, Iranian??? Aren't you part of the Ummah??? Aren't you suppose as a good muslim to sacrifice your country and your life for the liberation of the Palestinians?

Shame on you???lol


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Sayeh Hassan

by Kurdish Warrior (not verified) on

Thanks 4 tha info...
Unfortunatly this fascist Shia regime has continued its harassments o the minorities since the revolution. Remember they killed 60 kurds a day with khalkhali on charge...
Now that other groups are wake we are slowly moving forward to bring this regime to its ens..

PS Don't answer this ignorant individual Mehdi...
He is a lost soul waiting for his imam zaman to show him the path...


Anonymous Observer

We Should Not Care!

by Anonymous Observer on

The conventional wisdom of the Islamist hoodlums that populate this site (how are you doing, by the way, Mehdi?) is that we should only scream, yell and tear ourselves apart (khodemoon ro jerr bedim) if the article addresses problems facing the Palestinian population.  Palestinians come first.  They are more human than Iranians.  An article on this site talking about a Palestinian getting shot with a rubber bullet gets more than a hundred comments, while an article like this gets twenty!  See the problem?  But this is not a coincidence.  It's the result of 30 years of IRI propoganda machine at work.  Kudos to IRI for their efforts!!!  They have achieved what Joseph Gobbles could only dream of! 

Persia is Eternal.


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Fair article

by Ashley (not verified) on

Thanks that through this call you bring this case to public awareness.
All poloitical prisoners in Mullahs'dngeons need international support. This support may help them not to be ananymous victims of IRI's brutality. No wonder that IRI's thugs on this site attempt to discridit such calls.


Mehdi

Sayeh Hassan: Thanks for keeping it simple

by Mehdi on

At least you kept your integrity intact. That's valuable.


Sayeh Hassan

Ignorent reader, on second

by Sayeh Hassan on

Ignorent reader, on second thought I am not going to bother with getting the information I indicated since it seems very clear that you are not interested in any type of information and that you have already made up your mind.

Just for the record I am not a human rights activist because most human rights activists work only for human rights and not necessarily regime change and no I am not a seperatist either and do not support it.

However I believe that every prison is entitled to certain laws and to due process.  That includes not being subjected to torture and to have an open trial where both the accused and his/her lawyer can be present. 

This as we know is something political prisoners do not get in Iran.  So lets just say for the argument's sake that everysingle one of these prisoners are seperatists, then there should be enough evidence to convict them in open court before a judge and jury WITHOUT subjecting them to inhumane torture to get false confessions.  And if they are convicted of taking up arms against state then they should be punished.

PS. As you can see i have said on the bottom of my article who it has been published by, I only translated it which is what I generally do, translate articles to create public awareness.  If we had a rule that we had to be personally in touch with every single prisoner or activist before writing about them not many people would be able to do anything.

 take care

Sayeh 

 

Sayeh Hassan

Barrister & Solicitor

www.shiro-khorshid-forever.blogspot.com 


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Saayeh;

by Anonymous 567 (not verified) on

Can you please tell me why you mention your occupation in your respons? Are looking for clients or you are giving an opinion as a human rights activist?


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Copy and paste

by Ignorant Reader (not verified) on

So, if you don't have "personal information about every prisoner that is on hunger strike" how do you know what cause they are struggling for? Or, you don’t care? Or, if you don’t have any “personal information”, how about professional information? Or, when you say they are "Kurdish activists" what do you know about their activities. And if their activities turned out to be "separatists" do you support them or not, or you don't care because you're a human rights activists? And if you are a human rights activist what are you going to do when they come to kill you if you are an Iranian when a war breaks out between Kurds and Iranians?

My wall-to-wall neighbor and my best friend across street in Tehran were Kurdish. When the war between the Kurds and Iranians spreads to cities I have no doubt one day it will get to a point where either they kill my family or my family will kill them. Not now, but when there is a war and neighbors kill neighbors. And what are you going to do when my Kurd neighbors and friend are burned in the streets?
Think about. Think about other separatist movements around the world and what happened to their counties.

I'm an ignorant reader but like many other inteligent people in this website, instead of being original, I have figured out how to copy and paste also. Here is an example of copy and paste about Kurdish separatists and their fight with Turks and Iranians. There are tens of others like it. I guess according to some people's logic Turks are puppets of IRI regime also because they don't seem to agree with the Kurds.

"June 6, 2008
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey and Iran have been carrying out coordinated strikes against Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq, a top Turkish general said Thursday. It was the first confirmation by a military official of Iranian-Turkish cooperation in the fight against the rebels.
The general, Ilker Basbug, Turkey’s land forces commander, said the two countries had been sharing intelligence and planned more coordinated attacks on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., which has bases in northern Iraq, and an Iranian Kurdish separatist movement known as Pejak.
“We are sharing intelligence with Iran, we are talking, we are coordinating,” General Basbug said at a security conference in Istanbul, CNN-Turk television reported. “When they start an operation, we do, too.”
He said no coordinated action had taken place in the past few months. “But we can do it again,” he said.
The P.K.K. has been fighting for self-rule in southeastern Turkey since 1984. The main rebel camp is in the Qandil Mountains, on the Iraqi-Iranian border.
In recent months, the Turkish military has made several air strikes on Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq. It also staged an eight-day ground offensive in February.
Iran also has shelled northern Iraq. The Iranian government says Pejak rebels also have bases in the Qandil Mountains.
In northern Iraq, a P.K.K. spokesman, Ahmad Danas, said the group knew about the contacts between Turkey and Iran. But he said the strikes had not dislodged the rebels."

Please let me know when and if you find out why those people are in prison.

Thank you,
Ignorant Reader


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"...Personally, I do not

by Cloud (not verified) on

"...Personally, I do not understand any antagonistic attack..."

You have been antagonistically attacking everyone here, whats not to understand except your own hypocrisy!

"...I don't like the Iranian way of life much..."

I had a hunch your not Iranian.

"...The fact is that if any outside individual or group could ..."

no sir, its your narrow-minded, self appreciative, egotistic opinion not facts. google fact.

"...to continue with stoning, etc, etc. It is a lie to say that majority do not want these."

Now this is really shameless. The only lie is your whole statement above and if you really believe that then you are a danger to any society that harbors you.

"...If these so-called human rights groups instead of antagonizing the regime, simply worked towards more and more contact between all Iranians and other cultures..."

You have had over 20yrs of contact with no result, so this cant work.

"...But non of these groups seems to be interested in that. That's hard work! They want it easy and lazy, and they want to get credit. they want fame. They want to be known as heroes. In short they have ulterior motives. They are not sincere."

No, only you are sincere. What a bunch of childish slanderous slogans as facts. What have you done here except telling us you don't care much about Iranian way of life yet your key board been smoking. very sincere or simply sincere means somethin else to you.
...
...

"...Change is occurring at a pace that that society allows"

No way no how. Change can happen rather rapidly, for good or worse in this context. Its a small world and its elements will have to do their part when the time comes. dont get to comfortable.
...


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bad luck

by MRX1 (not verified) on

These prisoners should start identifying themselves as palestenians starting tommorow. Before you know it they will get so much sympathy even from our resident islamo facists on this site that they won't know what to do with it! Then they will be able to blame zionists and jews for all their problem and ebadi will perform baba karam dance for them and may be even sean pen or Bill maher start political action commite for them.


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meti you are a master at fooling yourself

by denise the menace (not verified) on

these guys are born with the sword not rights. what do they know of anything human, let alone human RIGHTS. look at yourself you get the drift. What a simplistic yet twisted mind.
...People heavily support.. what nation are you the spoke person of.
the bottom line is these guys are preparing for the sword wielding Imam to appear and beyond that they know not.
hate to see that sequale!


Sayeh Hassan

Mehdi jan I don't agree

by Sayeh Hassan on

Mehdi jan I don't agree with a single thing you have said in your post, but the beauty of freedom of speech is that we can all have our own opinions.  That's all I am going to say about it.

cheers 

 Sayeh Hassan

Barrister & Solicitor

www.shiro-khorshid-forever.blogspot.com 


Mehdi

There is more that is wrong with this

by Mehdi on


Personally, I do not understand any antagonistic attack on the regime. I understand that some do not like it, but I don't understand why it is necessary to go on strike, or do anything antagonistic.

I don't like the Iranian way of life much. But I don't see it as JUST a regime thing. It is a whole system, supported heavily by its people. It is lie to present Iran's way of life as something exclusively enforced by a few. So why do such groups find it necessary to lie?

The fact is that if any outside individual or group could go to each Iranian and ask generally how they want their country to be run, the overall votes would indicate something very closely resembling the current regime. The greatest majority, by far, would ask the regime to enforce "hejab" on women, to not allow dating of men and women, to not allow freedom for any other religion than Islam, to hold in prison whoever is now in prison, to keep "Islamic" laws the way they are, to continue with stoning, etc, etc. It is a lie to say that majority do not want these. Majority of Tehranis maybe, but not majority of Iranians. So the problem is NOT the regime. In a very odd way, this is a very democratic regime as it very closely represents what people want - majority of people. It is just that some people don't understand how a regime could be democratic and yet backwards. I am afraid these two are not the opposite of each other. Democratic, in its simplest sense means doing what majority of people want - and that's very closely what this regime does. My solution to this? I live in the US!

Bahais have run against a brick wall because majority of Iranians don't want it there. Women's rights do not match Western countries because majority of Iranians want it that way - men and women. So please stop lying about it. What is the point? If we face the truth we will have a better chance of doing something about it.

You could say that if the regime allowed people to study things and have contact with other cultures and if the regime did not block the Internet, etc, that the people would make a different decision. Well, if you believe in that why are we so obsessed with ONLY ways that we want people to find out? Why don't we simply use the existing channels? People can quite easily travel back and forth to Iran and there is a lot of ways to further open up communications channel Resolving the old animosity between Iran and US will significantly add to these channels. That would be a much better way. But it has to be done properly. You can't force people into it.

If these so-called human rights groups instead of antagonizing the regime, simply worked towards more and more contact between all Iranians and other cultures, and if they did it in smaller steps, thing would improve very easily and no need for revolutions, sanctions, or military strikes. But non of these groups seems to be interested in that. That's hard work! They want it easy and lazy, and they want to get credit. they want fame. They want to be known as heroes. In short they have ulterior motives. They are not sincere.

Why is it that Shirin Ebadi can accomplish so much but all these antagonistic groups are utterly unable to do anything? I think because Ebadi is smart enough to maintain the balance of how much push is proper and more than that, not the regime, but the people can't handle.

So spare me the fake tears and Che Guevara imagery and romanticism. Let's do something decent instead. Let's not ask for destruction and work towards construction instead. One quick look at these "kurds" and their demands tells us they will be demanding these for another century or two, when the most democratic regimes in the world get anywhere near providing these. The US recently demonstrated that it has no problem torturing people if they are not one of their own. So these guys should wait for the US to reform first before hoping such a fantastically Utopian system in Iran. No amount of antagonism, demonstrations, sanctions or military strike is going to change that.

Change is occurring at a pace that that society allows. If some such groups were not so antagonistic, the speed would actually piock up. So these guys are in fact slowing down the process. Get out of the way, please.


Zion

May they taste freedom

by Zion on

They sure have proven they deserve it.


Sayeh Hassan

Thanks for the comments

by Sayeh Hassan on

Irandokht jan, I was just about to post their demands when I saw you were a step ahead of me, thank you very much. Its sad to see the Iranian mentality against Kurdish/Iranians.  I think for some of it IRI is to blame by creating the type of atmosphere and introducing kurdish activists as seperatists.  That's one way to make sure they do NOT get any support even from Iranians let alone anyone else.  

 shameoniri jan I have alot more info about the hunger strike on my blog www.shiro-khorshid-forever.blogspot.com, I've been following it from pretty early on.  I have also created a petition which can be found at //www.petitiononline.com/emruz53/petition.html

 Ignorent reader I will try my best to get you the information you have asked for, unfortunately I do not have personal information about every prisoner that is on hunger strike, but the ones that I do have information about they have not been charged with seperatism, but i dont have information about these perticular prisoners, however I will do some digging and give you what informaiton I can find. By the way 5 of those individuals are not Kurdish, they are from "Ahle Hagh" group which I believe is a sufi group. 

 

Mehdi jan,

If female prisoners went on a hunger strike asking for right for all prisoners would you not support it because they call themselves female prisoners? what about christian, or bahai prisoners? or is it just the fact that they are Kurdish that bothers you? Just wondering.

 

Sayeh Hassan

Barrister & Solicitor

www.shiro-khorshid-forever.blogspot.com 


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More atrocities by the Islamic Republic of Oppression

by shamoniri (not verified) on

Iran steps up policing of Islamic dress - report
Wednesday, 24 September 2008
Reuters: Iran has doubled the number of police assigned to its more than year-long crackdown against women flouting Islamic dress codes, Kargozaran newspaper said on Wednesday.

Sweden blasts Iran for sending women rights activist to jail
Saturday, 06 September 2008
AFP: Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt on Friday criticised Iran for sentencing women's rights activist Parvin Ardalan to prison, saying it revealed Tehran's "deteriorated respect for human rights."

Iranian women's rights campaigners imprisoned
Thursday, 04 September 2008
The Guardian: Four women's rights campaigners in Iran have been sentenced to six months in jail just as activists were celebrating a rare success, having persuaded MPs to shelve a bill that would have made it easier for men to have more than one wife.

Iran sentences women rights activists to jail
Wednesday, 03 September 2008
AFP: Iran has sentenced four women's rights activists to six months in jail over articles written on feminist websites, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.


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Sayyah Jan: Thanks you for

by shameoniri (not verified) on

Sayyah Jan: Thanks you for this post. Regime's atrocities against its citizens whether muslim, kurdish, bahia, Sunni, etc. continues unabated and should be highlighted and documented so we can go back in history and seek justice for those who have been harmed by these criminals and their supporters.


IRANdokht

Noble requests! Where is Amnesty International or Red Cross?

by IRANdokht on

Thank you for the report Sayeh jan

 

خواست های زندانیان سیاسی مدنی کُرد در 6 بند و به ترتیب زیر طرح شده است :

1. اعتراف حاکمیت به هویت سیاسی ومدنی کلیه زندانیان سیاسی و عقیدتی و در پیش گرفتن رفتاری شرافتمندانه با آنان

2. تجدید نظر در اعدام دسته جمعی زندانیان وتوقف فوری اجرای احکام اعدام کلیه زندانیان سیاسی و مدنی

3. پایان دادن به شکنجه ،آزار ورفتارهای غیر انسانی و ناشایست نسبت به کلیه زندانیان

4. به تبعیضات ملی مذهبی و جنسیتی میان زندانیان سیاسی و مدنی وهم چنین تبعید آنان پایان داده شود؛و شرایط زندان بهبود یابد

5. زندان های سر اسر ایران بدون هیچ گونه محدودیتی تحت نظارت سازمانهای حقوق بشری داخلی و جهانی قرار گیرد

6. دستگاه قضایی جمهوری اسلامی در جهت تحقق مبانی مسلم حقوق بشر و رعایت اصل انصاف، مورد اصلاحات اساسی قرار گیرد

People who think these requests are not legitimate and the right of all prisoners are just as bad as the IRI officials and their torturers. Same anti-human mentality 

IRANdokht


Mehdi

Then why call yourself "kurdish" if you are fighting for "human"

by Mehdi on

If this is a fight for human rights, then why are they separating themselves as kurdish? What do they want a Kurdish State like the Jewish State? Why not call it Political Prisoners? Does their ethnicity matter here? How?

I am yet to see a group antagonistic the IRI who does not have some other ulterior motive or is not popped up by foreign forces. I guess George Bush's "Democracy Fund" which is in truth a terrorism support fund, working! Terrorists lineup and collect your pay!


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questions

by Ignorant Reader (not verified) on

Please, in front of each name write whether these people believe in armed revolution or not, whether they are separatists or not, whether they believe in forming one Kurdish country or not, whether they want autonomy or not, whether they want to remain as part of Iran or not.

Every regime in this world imprisons,tortures and kills its enemies, so does IRI. If these people are truly for one country under Iranian territory and have legitimate grievances that want to resolve with the central government, then I am in support of their cause, but if before they went to prison they advocated violence, or they want independence, or they want separation, or they want to join other Kurdish territories to form a new Kurdish country, and now that they are in prison they are continuing their struggle for those causes, or they want to improve prison conditions so they can continue their strugle for those causes, then I am all against them. Who cares what prison condition they are living in if they want to take away another chunk of Iran territory.

Once again, I am an ignorant reader, but you are not, so you write the answer to those questions in front of their names, and please don’t refer me to another website because you chose to blog your article here. Please don’t explain. Just answer those questions in front of their names. Would you please?

Thank you,
Ignorant Reader

Ehsan Topaz
Mostafa Ali Ahmad
Balal Chiligar
Jomhur Ozgoch
Yousef Atsaz
Ali Ahmad Soleyman
Morad Diyar
Ahle Hagh
Sohand Ali Mohammadi
Bakhsh Ali Mohammadi
Abdollah Ghasemzadeh
Mehdi Ghasemzadeh
Younes Taghayan
Khalil Mostafa Rajab


Darius Kadivar

Sayeh Jan Ignore Mehdi

by Darius Kadivar on

He is a what you call a Stand Up philosopher you know a Bull Shit Artists ;0)

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl4VD8uvgec&feature=related

So Keep Up Posting your insightful feedbacks. Human Rights should never be ignored if genuine and accurately reported.

Best,

DK 


Sayeh Hassan

Kurdish Does not mean communist

by Sayeh Hassan on

What is it with this Iranian mentality we have? Why don't you take a look at who are the people on strike and what they are asking for, then make your conclusions.  

We're talking about women's rights activists, journalists and human rights activists.  Ofcourse IRI would love for us to make comments like your's and ignore what is going on in prisons. 

Just for your information, and you can find alot of information on this if you're actually interested they are asking for change in prison conditions for ALL prisoners, they are not asking to seperate. 

 

 

Sayeh Hassan

 

Barrister & Solicitor

www.shiro-khorshid-forever.blogspot.com 


Mehdi

Commies looking for trouble again

by Mehdi on

When will these guys give up their cause of revolution? Give it up people, come forward to the 21st century.