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January 19, 2012
January 19, 2012
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Why Did Arseh Sevom Join in the Internet Strike Yesterday?

Here's why... We joined because if passed, the law to protect intellectual property would have all sorts of debilitating and unintended consequences for people using the internet all over the world.Those include:
  • The closure of social networking sites with links to content owned by the entertainment industry: this could include Twitter, Tumbler, and even Facebook.
  • Precedent setting censorship laws that could (would) spread around the world.
  • And more...
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January 12, 2012
January 12, 2012
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JAN — Asghar Farhadi Protests Decision to Dissolve House of Cinema

Asghar Farhadi, the director of the award winning film, Separation of Nader from Simin wrote a letter to the Ministry of Culture calling for a vote on the decision to dissolve the House of Cinema in Iran. The letter stated: “If the decision to dissolve the House of Cinema is based on the idea that the majority of the film community and members of the guild are in agreement with your method, then I suggest that you take a vote on this decision among the few thousand members of the House of Cinema.”More info here.
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January 5, 2012
January 5, 2012
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How do you sanitize the Internet?

Board member Fred Petrossians, writing for Global Voices discusses rumors and plans for total control of the internet by the Iranian state:
Iranian authorities see the internet as a real battleground and consider citizen media and social networking as tools of “soft war”. Over several years they claim to have blocked and filtered millions of websites and blogs. Now several bloggers have reported that Iran's Corporate Computer Systems say the goal is for Iran to be entirely cut off from the World Wide Web once the country launches its own national internet network.
(More here...)
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January 5, 2012
January 5, 2012
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Urge Iran’s Parliament to Reject Anti-Human Rights Penal Code

Arseh Sevom and United4Iran urge you to send letters protesting discriminatory laws. Click here to join the campaign.The UN Secretary General, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran, the UN General Assembly, and the UN Human Rights Council have repeatedly called on Iran to revise its penal code to adhere to international human rights standards. In February 2010, the Iranian government accepted specific recommendations made under its Universal Periodic Review to ensure that its laws were in conformity with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which it is a party.Nonetheless, today, Iran’s parliament is preparing to pass the “Islamic Penal Bill” - legislation that flouts its legal obligations under the ICCPR. The legislation endangers free expression and reinforces laws that violate the rights of Iranian citizens. The bill fails to prohibit stoning, lashing, and other cruel, inhumane, and degrading punishments; redress discriminatory laws; or, raise the age of majority for girls and boys. In a particularly worrisome clause, the bill expands punishment for “actions against national security”, a charge that has routinely been used to persecute dissidents.
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January 4, 2012
January 4, 2012
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Arseh Sevom’s 2011 Review

In Arseh Sevom's first ever newsletter (online here), we looked back at some of the highlights from the pages of our website. Those included:
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December 28, 2011
December 28, 2011
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DEC — Iran’s House of Cinema Declared Illegal

The Iran Public Culture Council ruled that Iran's House of Cinema was illegal. The decision was made to settle a lawsuit filed in early December against the organization by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.The House of Cinema, which began as a government sponsored initiative becoming independent in 1993, has been criticized a number of times for its positions. A few months earlier, in September, the organization received an official rebuke for its statement about the arrest of six Iranian documentary filmmakers, accused of "collaboration with the BBC Persian service."Later, the minister of culture and Islamic guidance questioned the organization's legitimacy, claiming the real issue was amendments to the House of Cinema's charter."Consequently, the guild faces a serious question about its legitimacy," stated the culture minister, Mohammad Hosseini.As a result, a lawsuit was filed by the ministry against the House of Cinema.
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