Hassan Rouhani, Iran's new president: A moderate or a murderer?

My dear friend, Nasrin Mohammadi recently wrote an article concerning the installation of Iran's new president.
Here is her revealing article in her own words about who Rouhani really is!

 I was born and raised in Iran under a regime that has degraded my nation and our values in life. 

As a person who lost almost everything in her life in Iran, It breaks my heart to see that the US. Government ignores all values which our nation cherishes and plays a double standard with respect to other nations, specifically Iran.

It was so disappointing to see over 130 congressmen sign up for a talk with Islamic president Rouhani (so called president elect). I say “so called,” because there is no democratic election in Iran. Iranians are coerced to go to the voting polls under the threat that if they don’t they could lose their government benefits.

What were the reasons for your desperate

 measures? Don’t you know who Rouhani is? He was one of the major players in oppressing Iranian dissidents from the early time of the revolution up to now.

Nobody knows better than me who lost her Brother (Akbar Mohammadi), arrested under Rouhani’s direct order and later killed in prison after serving seven years of incarceration.

Akbar was a non-violent political and human right activist, a voice of hope and freedom,  while studying at Tehran University.

Akbar was a caring person. He could not bear injustice and cruelty. He would donate his last pennies to others if he knew that they were in need.

Akbar was a brave, generous and a caring person.

On July 9^th 1999, Akbar along with some friends tried to stop the security forces from entering the campus that were attacking students. 

According to the recent article wrote by one of his cell mates, a prominent political prisoner Heshmat Tabarzadi said of Akbar  that, “he had three outstanding characteristics which made him the symbol of the student resistancae: bravery, truthfulness and resistance”

Tabarzadi also added that on his bravery it suffices to say when he was sentenced to death at the beginning of his trial; he started to prosecute the judge by undermining his legitimacy and made it the trial of the judge.                        

 Akbar never exaggerated the extent of the tortures he endured.  He never recanted his beliefs or convictions while undergoing the most barbaric of tortures.

On July 30^th 2006 Akbar finally died as the result of torture on the 8^th day of his hunger strike.

Political prisoners along with student movement in Iran designated July 30 as, “National Student Resistance Day.”

Rouhani is one of the major players in killing Akbar and thousands more of Iranian people, while serving as the director of the National security.

Rouhani is now being inaugurated on the same day that he ordered the killing of Yaghoub Mehr Nahad, the first blogger in August of 2008.

The Late Mehr Nahad was a journalist, and the editor of the Mardom Salar news paper in Sistan and Balouchestan. He was hanged five years ago.

At the end I would like to say to Mr. President Obama that Iranian American people are watching those friends in need who are friends in deed.

"We are not your enemy: putting a face on real Iranians!"

"I feel bad when I see that most Americans don't know
 about the real Iran.....
                       Arezoo


When you think about Iran, what are the first images that come to your mind?
Is is images of a hostile crowd holding up, "death to America" signs? Or is it terrorists who are "hell-bent" on the destruction of Israel and all other western nations? 
Most of our conception and images of Iran are connected with the ongoing "media" coverage of the impending nuclear showdown between Iran and Israel. But is that really who Iran is?
Arezoo Hosseini, a 25 year old Nurse living in the city of Isfahan, laments the fact that most Americans don't know much of anything about the real Iran.
Arezoo is my dear online Facebook friend, that I regularly chat with. Recently when we met online, I informed Arezoo that I'm now doing a live blog talk radio program, speaking out for  the freedom and human rights all of my Iranian friends. When Arezoo heard about this, she became very excited and asked me if I would share with my listening audience who the real Iranians are. I promised her I would do just that and asked her if she would take some time to write a short story putting a face on real Iranians. Within two days, Arezooo sent me her response. As I began to read her short story, I was truly touched by her honesty and kindness. Arezoo made it very clear that she was not speaking for her government, but instead speaking up for all Iranians. Arezoo declared, "We love you Americans. We are not Terrorists!"
 I can honestly testify that Arezoo's declaration that, "Iranians love Americans"

  is absolutely true! I have spent over two years online chatting with Iranians! They are my best friends in the world! They are kind, hospitable and very respectful. They are not at all like the "hate crowd" that is portrayed by the ratings driven media. The real Iranian is a person who loves my country. They are desperate for the hope and freedom that is offered by America. The media is guilty of focusing on the nuclear showdown between Iran and Israel and ignores the desperate plight of the average Iranian living under the fear and oppression of a government who daily controls their lives.
Iranians are dear to my heart. I chat with them, pray with them and sometimes even cry with them.
These are real people with real hurts, frustrations and needs just like you and me. They want to be recognized for who they really are. 
The best way to put a face on the real Iranian is to let Arezoo tell you herself. The following short story is plea from the heart of Arezoo for us to get to know the real Iran:

"I feel bad when I see that most Americans don't know about the real Iran.
 They don't even know where Iran is located!
They don't even know that Iranians are the old Persians.
I'm not talking for my government. I am speaking for my people.
We love you Americans! We love all of the people living on this planet!
We are not your enemy! We are not terrorists!
We are the people who love humanity and fight for freedom.
We are not Arabs. We have our own history.
We are the great "children of Cyrus" who freed the slaves more than 2500 years ago and wrote the first charter of "human rights" for the nations of the world (The Cyrus Cylinder)
If you like poetry, Iran will be the best choice for you!
Here is the land of two great poets, Hafez and Khayam.
If you like history, Iran will be exciting for you. You can visit places that have existed for more than 7000 years.
I am sure that you will love Iranians. We are a people of great honesty and hospitality.

Arezoo's short little story touches me deeply. She wants to put a face on who Iranians really are and destroy the common stereotypes that are created by the media.
On my next blog talk radio program, I intend to read her story and be her voice!
I hope very soon one day that Americans will get to know the real Iranians.
They deserve our love and respect and most of all our prayers!

Akbar Mohammadi: a martyr for peace and freedom

"The light of injustice will not burn forever
 if it burns one night, it shall be extinguished tomorrow..."


On July 30, 2006, 34-year old pro democracy activist, Akbar Mohammadi died in Evin Prison, after enduring seven long years of grueling torture at the hands of the brutal Iranian regime. He had been arrested in 1999 after taking part in the student uprising demonstrations, the largest pro democracy movement since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Akbar spent most of his incarceration enduring long hours of interrogations, beatings and torture. A week before his death, he had been on a hunger strike protesting the refusal by authorities to allow him to seek medical treatment for his injuries.
Akbar is just one example of the many thousands of political prisoners who are silenced by a brutal regime for speaking out against the gross human rights violations that occur daily in Iran. Freedom of speech and freedom of religion is a precious gift that most of us enjoy, but in Iran, the gift of freedom and democracy, is only a hope and dream in a society ruled by Islamic law.
Today is a very painful day for my dear friend Nasrin Mohammadi. Nasrin is Akbar's sister. She loved her brother and was very close to him. Since his death Nasrin has worked very hard to keep her brother's vision of peace and freedom alive. One way she has accomplished that is by publishing Akbar's prison diary that describes in detail the beatings and torture he endured on a daily basis.
"Ideas and lashes: the prison diary of Akbar Mohammadi," is a powerful book that describes what life was like for Akbar in Evin Prison. Akbar vividly describes the long, grueling hours of interrogations, repeated questions, demands for answers and even when he told the truth, the interrogators responded by beating the bottom of his bare feet with steel cables until he passed out. Daily floggings, no medical treatment and very little sleep between the endless interrogations, was the daily routine for Akbar. At one point Akbar was handcuffed and hung upside down, a painful and agonizing form of torture designed to force him to reveal the names of other students involved in the demonstrations.
Yet Akbar refused to tell and remained loyal to his Friends until the very end.
Nasrin writes in "Ideas and lashes," that her brother gave his life for democracy and freedom for his fellow citizens."
She also pointed out that Akbar stood up against the injustices of his fellow cellmates and for that reason alone, he was subjected to more beatings and torture.
 "Whenever our family sent him cash in jail, Nasrin writes, he would immediately share it with his cellmates, keeping the least amount for himself."

 Inspite of the painful suffering that Nasrin and her family endured following the sad death of her brother, there is a glimmer of justice in the tragedy.

 Nasrin and her brother Manouchehr, were invited to the white house by President George W. Bush and honored  for their courageous fight for freedom in Iran.
The fight for freedom and human rights in Iran is an ongoing struggle that continues to claim the lives of many brave protesters. In the midst of his captivity, Akbar wrote a poem of hope, a light in the darkness, that looked forward to the day that the struggle would finally come to an end. In the midst of his suffering, Akbar clung onto the hope for a free Iran one day.

The light of injustice will not burn forever.
If it burns one night, its fire will be extinguished tomorrow.
How long will sorrow be the joy of my existence?
Much sin has been committed in your name, O freedom
On the threshold of execution gallows, torture rack, and prison
They drink wine and raise their glasses in your name, O freedom
The dark nights are over my friend and we will see the dawn
when the sun rises on the edge of freedom.
                            
                          ....Akbar....

"One book and One pen can change the world!"

"Let us take up our books and pens, for they are our most
  powerful weapons!"
    ...Malala Yousafzai...speech at U.N.
         July 12, 2013



 All of us at one time or another have been inspired and motivated by famous speeches.
 Abraham Lincoln's powerful Gettysburg address in 1863 in which he lamented the bloody cost of the civil war, contains the unforgettable phrase, "that government of the people, by the people and for the people, will never perish from the earth."
 Or who can forget, JFK's speech that challenged all Americans with the famous question, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country?"
 Finally, the late Dr. Martin Luther king, in the midst of the bloody struggle for racial equality in 1963, declared to a nation torn apart by racism, "I have a dream!"
 Words are very powerful! Words can change the destiny of our lives,
 Recently I was inspired and challenged by the words of Malala Yousafzai, who gave a powerful, life changing speech at The United nations on her 16th birthday.
 On October 6, 2012, Malala was seriously wounded after being shot in the head by the Taliban in her native country of Pakistan. Nearly one year later after many surgeries in both the U.K. and Pakistan, Malala has made an amazing recovery.
 On July 12, 2013, on her 16th birthday, Malala addressed the United Nations Assembly in what I believe is one of the most courageous speeches I've ever heard. With her mother and father present, Malala, dressed in a beautiful pink and white hijab, stood at a podium, thanking everyone for their prayers and praising her doctors and nurses for her miraculous recovery.
 "I speak not for myself, but for those without a voice so they can be heard," Malala declared.
 She then recalled the frightening day when she was shot and made a bold declaration saying, "They thought that the bullet would silence us, but they failed, out of that silence came thousands of voices!"
 There was a rousing applause and then Malala boldly proclaimed, "The terrorists thought they would change my aim and stop my ambition, but nothing changed except, weakness, fear and hopelessness died and strength and courage was born!"
 "I don't hate the Taliban who shot me," she admitted.
 Malala credited Mohammed and Jesus for teaching her compassion and her parents for impressing on her the importance of forgiveness.
 "Extremists are afraid of books and pen," Malala pointed out as she urged the governments of the world to help her wage war against illiteracy, poverty and terrorism.
 Malala's goal is to ensure and protect the rights of every woman and every child across the globe through peace and education.
 "Let us take up our books and pens. They are our most powerful weapons!"
 I watched this speech in tears! I was so proud and inspired by this young girl's courage!
 When I think about the role models for our teenagers today, Malala is the first person who comes to my mind! She is my hero! We need more role models like Malala instead of the "hip-hop celebrities  who are busy promoting drugs and sex and leading many of our teens down the road to ruin.
 After watching her speech, I'm sure you will agree with me that one day we will see Malala as the next woman president of Pakistan!
  

      
       

Blinded by Hypocrisy

"What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and Pharisees.
 Hypocrites!
 They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person
 guides another, they will both fall into a ditch."
      (Matthew 15:16; 23:27)


For the past week, our nation has been emotionally and racially ripped apart as a result of George Zimmerman being acquitted by a jury in the death of Trayvon Martin.
Zimmerman's claim of self-defense has been unanimously rejected by most of the black community causing nationwide rioting and raging tempers.
Ironically, ten thousand miles across the other side of the world in the heart of the middle east, the nation of Iran has also weighed in with their opinion on the controversial trial of the decade.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Seyed Abbas Araqchi said, "the murder of the teenage African American once again clearly demonstrated the unwritten, systematic racial discrimination against racial, religious and ethnic minorities in the US society."
 Araqchi went on to declare that the ruling, "seriously put under question the fairness of the judicial process in the United States."
As I sit here preparing to respond to the statements made by Iran's foreign minister, I hardly know where to begin! The mullahs of Iran are accusing our legal system of being unfair and racially bias and that we are guilty of ethnic and religious discrimination! They are demanding justice for Trayvon!
Are you kidding me, Mr. Araqchi? I think before you lecture us on our "sins" that you first need to clean up your own backyard!
 Your prisons are filled with thousands of journalists, bloggers, lawyers and political activists, unjustly imprisoned and silenced for disagreeing with the dictatorship of the Iranian regime. They are beaten, tortured, denied proper medical care and eventually executed. How fair is that judicial process, Mr. Araqchi?
 You accuse of us engaging in "discrimination against racial and religious minorities," yet your country has no tolerance for religious freedom. If a Muslim converts to Christianity, they are arrested and brutally tortured until he or she recants and returns to the Islamic faith. And you say, we are guilty of the sin of religious and racial discrimination?
 There is a very important Biblical principle that Jesus taught about being judgmental toward others, that before we condemn and criticize the actions of someone else, we first need to remove the speck from our own eyes. Then we will be able to clearly see the speck in their eyes. In other words, we need to first deal with our own sinful shortcomings before we lecture someone else about theirs.
 Jesus had some of the harshest words and rebukes

against the religious leaders of his time. He exposed them for religious hypocrisy and called them blind guides and false teachers that were perverting the law of God for their own sinful ambitions.
Hypocrisy is a deadly sin that can effect us all and cause us to be blind to the truth.
 Iran wants Justice for Trayvon. But wait a minute, Mr. Araqchi. What about Justice for thousands of imprisoned Iranians, living under fear and oppression?
 I want justice for Neda Soltan, Mr. Araqchi, the beautiful Iranian woman who was peacefully protesting an unjust presidential election and was mercilessly gunned down by the basiji!
I want justice for Sattar Beheshti, a young blogger arrested for disagreeing with the Iranian regime and tortured to death in Evin Prison!
I want justice for Saeed Abedini, an American- Iranian Pastor, suffering from internal bleeding and imprisoned for Christian Faith!
The list could go on and on, but I think you can understand my outrage and frustration!
 Hypocrisy is a deadly snare that can blind us from the reality of our own sinful condition.
 There is a remedy to this deceitful sin.
  We can do what is good and pleasing in God's sight. He is pleased when we "act justly, show kindness and walk humbly before our God."  (Micah 6:8)
  I, too believe in fairness and justice, Mr. Araqchi. I, too hate racism and discrimination.
  But before we can begin criticizing, we must first remove the "speck" from our own eyes.
  That is the only cure for blind hypocrisy, Mr.Araqchi.
   May God open our eyes to clearly see!

Jesus: The Bread of life

"I am the bread of life.
 Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again
 Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."
        (Jesus: John 6:35)



Once again, Cairo, Egypt has become the epicenter of tension, turmoil, violence and chaos. In the last few weeks, thousands of angry protesters filled Tahrir square, demanding that President Morsi be removed from office. Within a few days, the military stepped in and forced Morsi out of office and transported him to another location. Since taking office last June, Morsi began implementing many social policies to conform to a more stringent and radical Islam, making significant changes to Egypt's constitution. As a result, the economy began to plunge and angry Egyptians, fed up with the chaotic changes, took to the streets demanding Morsi and the Muslim brotherhood surrender their death grip on the government.
Two years ago, angry Muslims staged radical protests in Egypt, Libya and Syria, demanding their governments to immediately stop oppressing its people and bring true democracy and freedom. After all of the bloodshed and violence, millions of hungry hearts are still left empty

anxiously awaiting freedom. The question must be asked, why has Islam failed? Why is it not working?
Two thousand years ago, words of hope and freedom were uttered by Jesus to his followers who were also searching and longing for true satisfaction and peace.
Jesus declared to his disciples, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."
Governments, leaders, kings and politicians come and go. Their empty promises to desperate people go unfulfilled. Political deceit and corruption continues to flourish leaving behind millions of frustrated and angry hearts.
 Yet Jesus promises to satisfy the longing heart in a way that governments and politicians never can. The Bible proclaims that, "the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. Who can cure it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)
 Jesus promises that He alone can satisfy and fulfill the spiritual cry of the human heart with his unconditional love and forgiveness. 
 As I was preparing to write this blog, I had a brief online chat with Mahtab my Iranian friend who lives in Tehran. She lamented to me that since her mother died five months ago, she had been experiencing lot of depression and sadness. Then Mahtab asked me what Christianity taught about life after death. I explained to her that Jesus is the Resurrection and the life and that he forgave all of our sins at the cross and rose triumphantly from the dead. I went on to say that anyone who puts their trust and faith in him will never have to fear death. He or she can have confidence and assurance that Jesus has cleansed them of all of their sins.
Mahtab was pleasantly surprised by my answer and said, "That is hopeful," but then she spoke about fearing the grave, because it is "so dark and scary." 
In Islam, Muslims are taught that they will be punished in the grave for forty days for sins they have committed in their lifetime. No wonder the grave is dark and scary! Muslims don't have assurance that they will be going to paradise. Their hope is soley based on how many good deeds they performed during their lifetime and on Judgment day, their good deeds must outweigh the bad.
The powerful promise of Jesus is the only remedy for the restless and hungry heart. He promises to fulfill the longings of our heart in a way that nothing or no one ever can. This Ramadan, I am praying for my Muslim friends all over the world in Iran, Malaysia, and Indonesia to experience the wonderful promise of Jesus for themselves.
Since I tasted the "bread of life" more than thirty years ago, I can say with absolute confidence that there is nothing else in the world that satisfies!

The Cross in The Desert: The Iranian Election (Part Two)