News from Iran

Why Ahmadinejad is willing to end female sports ban

Women should be allowed into sports stadiums for the first time, reversing the Islamic Republic's code preventing them watching men playing sports in big venues, says President Ahmadinejad according to a report in Iran News Daily.

Why? Apparently to create a purer society. "The presence of women and families in public places promotes chastity," Ahmadinejad is quoting as saying.

"The best stands should be allocated to women and families in the stadiums in which national and important matches are being held," the President added.

While women have sometimes been allowed into smaller venues to watch male sports such as basketball and volleyball they have been barred from bigger events such as international football events. At those internationals, female fans of foreign opponents have been granted access inside the stadium.

In March, female football fans who'd bought tickets for a match at Tehran's Azadi stadium were attacked by security forces.

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The football team's No. 1 fan

The football team's No. 1 fan

One of the perks of being President is free tickets to the World Cup - as long as your country qualifies for the finals, that is. So it's not surprising that, according to reports, President Ahmadinejad is keen to support his team in Germany.

He's an avid keen soccer fan, by all accounts, and the head of Iran's Football Federation told the Reuters news agency that the President was planning to make the trip.

But surely that won't be allowed, at least until the whole rumpus about nuclear weapons is sorted out? There's also the matter of Ahmadinejad questioning whether the Holocaust ever happened. Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany.

Why I wore a headscarf in Iran

"The Daily Mail and the Spectator are appalled that I have compromised my feminist principles. I feel a full confession is in order," writes Lindsey Hilsum in this week's New Statesman.

"I cannot tell a lie, not least because those who watch Channel 4 News saw my infraction. I wore a headscarf, live on air, while reporting from Iran."

"Let me tell you about the dirty business of covering the news, as opposed to commenting from afar. First, the facts. Yes, the Islamic Republic of Iran has a law saying women must cover their heads, so if female correspondents refuse to do so, only men will report from Iran. Oh dear, it's already getting complex - you compromise one principle to defend another."

Read the full article here

See also: I predict Iranian cloned sheep

The struggle to censor the blogosphere

As a naturally anarchic medium, the internet has become a top priority of Iranian censors.

The state already controls the television, and exercises a good deal of influence over newspapers too. The internet, however, is much harder to keep in check. A new deputy office within the Iranian government will attempt to do so.

In a talk at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London last week Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan, aka Hoder, spoke about how the Iranian government is trying to keep the Blogosphere under control.

By and large, the blogosphere is tolerated. “They are not cracking down on the whole blogging community, otherwise they would shut down blogging servers,” says Mr Derakhshan.

In fact, the government is embracing blogging. Trainee clerics are even being taught to blog for themselves. “They say that blogs can fulfil the promise of the revolution,” he says.

Iranians Reunited

More4 News has reunited three Iranian brothers who fled after their father's murder

We hear their story of why they are here and why they say they can't go back.

Watch the report here

Blogs, Hoder and the body politic

Hossein Derakhshan, profilic blogger and astute observer of the Iranian blogosphere, is probably better known to his readers as Hoder. He was in London on Thursday to talk politics, human rights and daily life. Ben King was there to listen in.

Even in the land of Jerry Springer, it's hard to imagine a Vice President blogging about his diet problems. But in Iran, it happened years ago

Mohammed Ali Abtahi, a former VP under the regime of Mohammed Khatami, keeps a weblog in English, Persian and Arabic.

Even when he was in power, he started blogging, at first discussing a range of intimate and even rather embarrassing personal issues, including the war with his waistline.

He may have jeopardised his dignity, but he's blogged his way to considerable popularity among the young people of Iran, who like teenagers everywhere, are a largely apathetic breed, says Hossein  Derakhshan.

“That has worked for him very well and it has enabled him to show a very human picture of himself and other people in the Iranian government. Even young people are reading his blog. He would be one of the most famous politicians among that group,” he said.

Persian treasures

When ancient Iranian artefacts from Persepolis went on display for the first time in the UK, Channel 4 News' Nicholas Glass was there.

The 2005 exhibition, on loan from modern-Iran, revealed the spleandour of Persepolis and the empire ruled by the Persians two and a half thousand years ago.

From the sumptuous gold to sophisticated architecture - it was the first time many of the objects had been seen outside Iran.

See also: Iran's hidden treasures

Watch the report here

The Jews of Iran

More4 News meets the large Jewish community in Tehran.

Already feeling threatened by President Ahmadinejad's violent anti-Israeli rhetoric that talks of wiping Israel off the map and calls the Holocaust a myth, the recent cartoon controversy has added to their concerns.

Many of them are now starting to wonder how long they can stay in Iran before, like so many before them, they feel driven to move to Israel itself.

Watch the report here

Welcome to Blogistan

Young, computer-savvy and curious about the west, Iran is fertile ground for blogging - writes Golnar Motevalli.

In Iran blogging has become almost an essential means of free communication. In a country where the state has a tight grip on all media outlets, where broadcasters and print journalists are on the government payroll and where censorship governs all forms of public expression, the internet has become an arena for vigorous political debate.

It has given a voice to millions of people who have - until the internet's timid arrival in Iran in 1994 - been unable to share their thoughts honestly and openly.

The Islamic government is always finding new ways to filter search engines and block blogs. Iran already has one over on China in the internet suppression stakes by becoming the first country in the world to actually arrest a blogger, back in 2003.

Read on...

Let me tell you about the traffic in Tehran.

 

There's hardly a time of the day, and much of the night, when the highways which criss-cross this city, North-South and East West are not clogged with traffic - not at a standstill, but definitely going no faster than walking pace, writes Tim Lambon.

Weaving absurdly between the unpredictable four wheeled vehicles, motorcyclists - often without helmets and usually riding at least two or three up - really take their lives in their own hands!