When I began thinking about dissertation topics over two years ago I was met by one particular unenthusiastic criticism due to my lack of knowledge regarding the Persian language. I don’t think she ever really understood my subject or why it was important. it was either that or she was too busy playing around in [...]

.And The Economist learns a few lessons:

Remember Ahmad Batebi?

Last time I got hooked on Monitter was during the Mumbai attacks last November when my need for real time information got so intense that it became difficult to deattach my eyes from the computer screen. This time it’s the Iran elections (#iranelections) that have really got me. Sat here feeling so overwhelmed and helpless [...]

Ahmad Batebi, the Economist’s face of the second revolution, was arrested shortly after July 17th 1999 following the world wide publication of his participation in the student protests. In his hands was the bloodied shirt of his fellow protester, a image used to sign Batebi’s death warrant following the accusation that he “defaced the face [...]

News from the New Scientist reports Iranian brothers Kamiar and Arash Alaei, pioneers of treatment for HIV in Iran, have been charged with “communications with an enemy government” to “launch a velvet (sic) overthrow of the Iranian government”. They have been held in detention since June 2008 when they were taken to an undisclosed location [...]