Ian Bunn | Political & Popular Culture Arts

Online campaign to execute Shahin Najafi (June 7th 2012)

Shahin Najafi the 31 year old Iranian musician singer and social activist residing in Germany, has gone into hiding following Iranian clerics placing a $100,000 bounty on his murder. Najafi has been condemned for violating a ‘fatwa’ that calls for the execution of anyone who blasphemes Ali an-Naqi, one of the 12 imams or religious figures revered by Shia Muslims. Najafi released a song “Naqi” that takes its name from Ali an-Naqi, its lyrics oppose the oppression and human rights abuse following the 2009 contested Iranian presidential election. Its lyrics call on Naqi to intervene and save the country. Najafi’s songs generally touch on sensitive issues such as “theocracy, poverty, sexism, censorship, child labor, execution, drug addiction and homophobia”. The Independent reports the “The Iranian religious website, Shia-Online, put a $100,000 bounty on the singer’s head and said he deserved to die for “grossly insulting” Ali an-Naqi. More than 100 people have joined an online “campaign to execute Shahin Najafi”. Mr Najafi is popular within the 120,000-strong Iranian community in Germany. Brought up in a small port in southern Iran, he fled to Germany in 2005 after being threatened, apparently by Iranian intelligence, for staging underground concerts. Tehran has so far made no comment on the fatwas against Mr Najafi.”

Inspired by The Independent ow.ly/bgE2m image source Wikipedia ow.ly/bgDYs

A fresh faced telegenic candidate (April 16th 2012)

Enrique Peña Nieto the 45 year old Mexican politician former governor and member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party that held power for 71 years before its dramatic decline, is surging in the polls in the lead up to the Presidential election to be held mid this year (2012). Peña Nieto’s surge is at the expense of current incumbent President Felipe Calderon’s conservative National Action Party, being held accountable for the 50,000 killed in Mexico in the current Drug Wars. In an Aljazeera report, a Latin American analyst Rodolfo Pastor stated, “The PRI made sure that there was order and progress, even if it was relative, even if it was also linked to profound inequality and poverty and, of course, pacts had to be made. I think that besides the wonderful discourse that Pena Nieto as a fresh face, as a telegenic candidate is making right now, there is this off-the-record message by the PRI to the Mexican people: ‘Listen, we may be corrupt, we may be authoritarian, but we’re going to take care of things, we’re going to make sure things work again’.” A third candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of leftist coalition parties missed out on winning the last election by only 1%.

Inspired by Aljazeera http://ow.ly/afV5Q image source Edgar Alberto Domínguez Cataño http://ow.ly/afV4a

Jafar Kazemi and Mohammad Ali Hajaghaei, activists from the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran (PMOI), the exiled Iranian opposition have been executed by hanging for their involvement in the anti-government demonstrations and riots in Tehran following the disputed Presidential election of 2009, where President Ahmadinejad was accused of having rigged the election outcome. Iranian authorities claim the two acted under instructions from foreign leaders based out of England. Iranian authorities claimed the two activists referred to as Monafeghins, had distributed photographs and banners of the demonstrations, and had participated in the chanting of favorable slogans in the name of the PMOI. Thousands of demonstrators had been arrested during the course of the riots, along with many beaten, wounded and killed.

Inspired by ABC news ow.ly/3Koeo image source Persian2English ow.ly/3KohL