Iran Snapshot: Tehran Offers Basij Militia to Britain as “Peacekeeping Force”

In recent days, we have noted the interest in Iranian leaders and media in the situation in England, from the declaration that the Supreme Leader predicted the unrest as the next phase of the “Islamic Awakening” to President Ahmadinejad’s suggesting of referring the matter of “savage” British policing to the United Nations Security Council to the suggestion that Iran could send human rights inspectors to London.

The Latest from Iran (11 August): We Are Special

1450 GMT: Claim of Day. According to Rah-e Sabz, the Supreme Leader may have offered words of wisdom to many university students yesterday (see 0555 GMT), but they were not from Tehran University’s Islamic Students Organisation — Ayatollah Khamenei would not let them participate.

1445 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Asr-e Iran has a pop at Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: during the past six years, 30 million people have sent letters of request to the Presidential office — “these data are a shame, not an honour”.

1145 GMT: Cartoon of Day. Eghbal Mahvari offers the Supreme Leader’s latest comment on the unrest in Britain.

QUESTION: Seyed Ali, what about violence in London?
KHAMENEI: “Well, I can’t see it exactly from this height, but it seems as if the brutal London regime is beating its citizens”:

Iran News Round Up (August 11)

Iran advises citizens to avoid traveling to Britain; Iran’s parliament speaker invites Pakistani counterpart to attend 5th Conference in Support of the Palestinian Intifada; Iran dispatches humanitarian aid to Somalia; senior Iranian lawmaker says Israel’s collapse imminent; Fars News accuses U.S. officials of aiding terrorists

Berlin: Persian jazz singer Cymin Samawatie in special concerts with Berlin Philharmonic, 24. August 2011

Cymin Samawatie , jazz composer and singer Cymin Samawatie (current ECM-album “Saburi”) combines a unique synthesis of Persian poetry and modern jazz in her compositions (listen at www.cyminology.de). 

Cymin Samawatie sings and composes not only in her jazz band Cyminology, but also as a solo performer. We would like to welcome you to three special concerts in Berlin:

On August 24th there will be the premiere of a compisition within the culture festival “Nights of Ramadan” in Berlin, Heimathafen Neukölln. Cymin invited members of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and jazzers from the US, Afghanistan and Turkey to perform a special piece of jazz music dealing with the topics of cultural and religious  living together.

Pressestimmen:

„A genuinely multi-national band with an iranian singer performing in Farsi, Cyminology do much sum up ECM’s vision. The group’s all-too-short set proved a confident, assured debut. The tunes, written mostly by the captivating vocalist Cymin Samawatie, are astonishingly lovely and Samawatie’s stagecraft is something to behold but Cyminology are much more than singer and backing band. This is a group where each musician really listens and responds in the moment. It was lovely to watch how they revelled in the act of communication with an audience. Truly special.“Jazzwise, Mai 2009

Termin:

24. August 2011 – 21 Uhr

Karl-Marx-Straße 141
12043 Berlin

U-Bahn: Karl-Marx-Straße

Also Cyminology as a band lately won the CREOLE world music award. The winner concert will be in September:

CYMINOLOGY Winner’s Concert CREOLE World Music Award, Werkstatt der Kulturen, Berlin

Cymin Samawatie – Vocals/ Composition

Ralf Schwarz – Bass

Ketan Bhatti – Percussion

Benedikt Jahnel – Piano

Termin:

09. September 2011 – 20 Uhr

Wissmannstraße 32
12049 Berlin

U-Bahn: Hermannplatz

Eye on Iran: UK Tells Iran Happy To Talk Human Rights After Riot Criticism

Top Stories

Reuters: ”Britain told Iran on Thursday it was happy to discuss its handling of street unrest after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused its police of “savage” aggression against demonstrators. Britain helped lead Western condemnation of Iran’s crackdown on protests against Ahmadinejad’s re-election in June 2009. He was quick on Wednesday to criticise the British police’s “crushing attack” on unarmed citizens. In a letter to Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Britain’s top diplomat in Tehran said she hoped such openness would encourage Tehran to allow a U.N.-appointed investigator looking into alleged human rights violations in Iran to enter the country.’I would remind you that the UK has a standing invitation to all U.N. special rapporteurs and has facilitated the visits of a number of these rapporteurs to the UK in recent years,’ British Charge d’Affaires Jane Marriott wrote, noting that Ahmadinejad had called for the United Nations to condemn Britain’s action.’I urge the Iranian government to extend a similar courtesy to the dedicated U.N. special rapporteur for the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, to enable him to address the international community’s grave concerns about ongoing human rights violations within Iran.’” http://t.uani.com/piIyyM

In new affront, authorities say they will bury an Iranian Baha’i as a Muslim

GENEVA — In an outrageous new incident of religious discrimination, authorities in the city of Tabriz, Iran, have refused to allow Baha’is to bury a relative in accordance with Baha’i law – and instead have promised to entomb the deceased woman without a coffin under Muslim rites.

“To anyone who understands the culture of the Middle East, the idea that the government would force a family to bury their loved one according to the rites of another religion is beyond the pale,” said Diane Ala’i, the representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations in Geneva.