Iran and its dissidents.

I'm back in Dunedin, jet-lagged but housed. In Iran though, one woman isn't allowed to be at home, or with the people she loves. She has been imprisoned because she decided her career would have as its foundations honesty and the needy. She was a human rights lawyer. In the Arab World, Iran is one of the few places that would let her learn law, let alone defend it. Iran is also one of the few places in the Arab World where defending the law could end you in prison. She got eleven years: five for undermining national security, five for spreading propaganda against the state and one for being a member of Dr. Ebadi's Centre for Human Rights Defenders. That's right, she's been enjailed for belonging to a human rights organization and moreover for defending the rights of the ones the state doesn't want to defend. Her name is Nasrin Satoudeh and as Dr. Enadi says, she's been emprisoned because "the regime is terrified of human rights lawyers who are not afraid to stand up in court for their clients or to give interviews."
She has also been barred of practising law and she won't be able to travel abroad for twenty years. She has in essence been imprisoned in the borders of her own country, but unable to see her children, to work or to hold beliefs.

Iran is a powerful state in the region, economically. It is powerful also because it is where the Iranian people decided to steal the power the American's had over the region. However its lack of freedoms put it in a tough situation. Many now also believe that Iran has nuclear weapons. This gives them more reasons to bomb the country.
All I can say is that if the Americans end up invading, they'll end up killing many more people than the Islamic regime has and its people won't be freed from rule, but merely handed, or snatched to/by someone else.

A war in Iran won't unveil its nuclear prowess, it will only give the Americans and/or Europeans another fighting ground, which will allow the media to stay well away from the scandals happening within. A war in Iran will not free its people, it will only trap them in a stateless run delimited territory, being bombed every day.

Only the people can stand up again to recapture their power. When that happens Iran will be truly free from itself and from others.

Iran in the Media and Palestine.

A couple of days ago I was watching the news on the Spanish station Antena 3. I have always thought that Antena 3 is a bit too right wing but it seems to be the people's favourite, maybe they don't think it's right wing. Or maybe it's because it isn't hard to be a bit more right wing then i am. Antena 3 was talking about Iran and they mentioned that they had started to produce uranium enriched at 20% the night before the talks with the IAEA. They said that it was another step towards their program for the production of nuclear weapons. So not that the IAEA was scared that this could be the case, but that this was and is Iran's goal. Antena 3, at least in this case, is not even trying to be objective. They are scaremongering. After hearing the news I started to talk about it and the people I talked to couldn't even fathom the possibility that Iran's aim is to produce nuclear energy "for peaceful purposes" or to satisfy energy needs. When time comes Spanish people won't be against the invasion of Iran because they will have been told again and again for years that Iran is in fact in the "axis of evil". The proof will be there too; they will be able to point to the tv and say 'look what they're saying, the production is for nuclear weapons'!
The problem is that this evidence is unfounded. And the situation, to me, seems quite similar to that of Iraq years ago. Iraq was clearly in the 'axis of evil' because they had weapons of mass destruction all over the country. Inside cement, inside statues, under roads, in the air... Ofcourse these WOMD were never found. This wasn't what they were looking for, they were actually looking for petroleum, natural gas and Osama, who was a good chum of Saddam's. Likewise, Iran is in the 'axis of evil' because the production of nuclear energy together with the vastness of its natural resources make it a powerful country. A country that could be as powerful as many European economies if it was allowed to develop.
Iran is a threat, not because it will produce nuclear weapons but because it can rock the establishment. It will become a powerful country in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia doesn't want this. Israel doesn't want this. The U.S. doesn't want this. This is the main problem. The U.S., the main power in the Mid-East, feels that Iran is a geostrategic threat. Like Iraq was. For Israel, Iran also poses a threat. Iran is a big supporter of Syria, but most importantly Palestine. And by supporting Palestine you are not supporting zionist Israel. Ahmadinejad has more than once threatened Israel, he believes that Israel destroys the homes of Palestinians and that they stole Palestinian land. I don't think he's wrong. But by saying that they can send weapons towards Israel they are threatening one of America's proteges and one of Europe's guilty spots. This is why sanctions have increased and become more severe, they feel that if Iran continues its program, be it peaceful or not, it will become another power in the region, that could counterbalance the region. And that could do something for the Palestinian people.

Of course, Iran is Shi'a. To the eyes of most muslims, Iran is wrong in its path. Its Islam is bad. So almost all the nations around it are against it. Al-Qaeda is also against it, so I can't wait to hear the moment Antena 3 tries to lie to its people again. Ahmadinejad and/or the Iranian state will never be close to Al-Qaeda.