Images of emaciated Iranian prisoner prompt outrage

Reuters Published February 4, 2023 


KARAJ: Imprisoned Iranian activist Farhad Meysami, who has gone on hunger strike, at Rajai Shahr prison in this social media image—Reuters

TEHRAN: Social media images purported to be of an emaciated jailed Iranian physician who went on hunger strike in support of demonstrations against the compulsory wearing of the hijab have caused outrage and warnings that he risks death.

Farhad Meysami, 53, who has been in jail since 2018 for supporting women activists protesting against the headscarf policy, began his hunger strike on Oct 7 to protest recent government killings of demonstrators, his lawyer said.

But the Iranian judiciary denied the hunger strike claim and said the photos that have gone viral on social media were from four years ago when Meysami did go on hunger strike.

As evidence, the semi-official student-led news agency Young Journalists Club posted what it said was Meysami’s latest photo, in which he does not look emaciated and is seen sitting on the floor of his prison cell with a bag of what looks like chips next to him. This news agency was unable to confirm when the pictures were taken.


Iran has been rocked by nationwide unrest following the death of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini on Sept 16 in police custody, posing one of the strongest challenges to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution.

Amini was arrested by morality police on charges of flouting the hijab policy, which requires women to dress modestly and wear headscarfs. Women have played a prominent role in the protests, many of them waving or burning their headscarfs.

Rights groups say more than 500 protesters have been killed and nearly 20,000 arrested. At least four people have been hanged, according to the Iranian judiciary.

“My client Farhad Meysami’s life is in danger,” tweeted lawyer Mohammad Moghimi. “He went on hunger strike to protest the recent government killings in the streets.” He said Meysami had lost 52 kg (115 lb).

Images of Meysami show him curled up on what looks like a hospital bed, and another standing, his ribs protruding.

“Shocking images of Dr Farhad Meysami, a brave advocate for women’s rights who has been on hunger strike in prison,” tweeted Robert Malley, Washington’s special envoy for Iran.

“Iran’s regime has unjustly denied him and thousands of other political prisoners their rights and their freedom. Now it unjustly threatens his life,” he said.

In a letter published by BBC’s Persian Service, Meysami made three demands: an end to executions, the release of political-civil prisoners and an end to forced-hijab harassment. “I will continue my impossible mission in the hope that it may become possible later on with a collective effort,” he wrote.

Award-winning Iranian film director Jafar Panahi was released on bail on Friday after he started a hunger strike to demand to be freed pending a retrial, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported, citing the Directors Guild of Iran. There was no official word from the judiciary on the release.

Panahi was detained in July and told he would serve a six-year prison sentence originally issued by a Tehran court in 2010 amid a stepped-up crackdown on dissent.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2023

Iranian director Jafar Panahi released on bail after hunger strike against his almost seven-month detention



AFP

He was arrested months before the current anti-regime protest erupted and his imprisonment became a symbol of the plight of artists speaking out against authorities.

Photo: AFP


Acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi has been released on bail after starting a hunger strike to protest against his almost seven-month detention, supporters said on Friday.

The director, a winner at all the big European film festivals, had been arrested months before the current anti-regime protests erupted. But his imprisonment became a symbol of the plight of artists speaking out against the authorities.

Panahi has been released from Tehran’s Evin prison “two days after starting his hunger strike for freedom”, the US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said on Twitter, while Iran’s reformist Shargh newspaper published an image of Panahi jubilantly embracing a supporter after being released on bail.

His wife Tahereh Saeedi posted a picture on Instagram of Panahi being driven from prison in a vehicle.

Cannes Film Festival director Thierry Fremaux expressed “great relief” at the news of his release.

“We do not forget all those, in Iran and around the world, who are subjected to violence and repression,” he told AFP. “The Cannes Film Festival will always remain alongside artists from all over the world in defence of freedom.”
‘Trapped in Iran’

Photos: AFP

The prize-winning director was arrested in July and went on a dry hunger strike on Wednesday to protest his continued detention.

“Mr Panahi was temporarily released from Evin prison with the efforts of his family, respected lawyers, and representatives of the cinema,” Iran’s House of Cinema, which groups together industry professionals, said in a statement.

The announcement that Panahi was going on a dry hunger strike sparked a wave of concern across the world about the director, who has won prizes at all of Europe’s top three film festivals.

“Today, like many people trapped in Iran, I have no choice but to protest against this inhumane behaviour with my dearest possession — my life,” Panahi had said in the statement published by his wife.

“I will remain in this state until perhaps my lifeless body is freed from prison,” he said.
‘Relief and joy’

Panahi, 62, was arrested on July 11 and had been due to serve a six-year sentence handed down in 2010 after his conviction for “propaganda against the system”.

On October 15, the Supreme Court quashed the conviction and ordered a retrial, raising hopes among his legal team that he could be released, but he remained in prison.

Panahi won a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2000 for his film The Circle. In 2015, he won the Golden Bear in Berlin for Taxi Tehran, and in 2018, he won the best screenplay prize at Cannes for Three Faces.

Panahi’s latest film, No Bears, which like much of his recent work stars the director himself, was screened at the 2022 Venice Film Festival when the director was already behind bars. It won the Special Jury Prize.



“It is extraordinary, a relief, a total joy. We express our gratitude to all those who mobilised yesterday,” his French distributor, producer Michele Halberstadt, told AFP.

“His next fight is to have the cancellation of his sentence officially recognised. He’s outside, he’s free, and this is already great.”

Panahi’s July arrest came after he attended a court hearing for fellow film director Mohammad Rasoulof, who had been detained a few days earlier.

Rasoulof was released from prison on January 7 after being granted a two-week furlough for health reasons and is still believed to be outside of jail.

Cinema figures have been among the thousands of people arrested by Iran in its crackdown on the protests sparked by the September 16 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, 22, who had been arrested for allegedly violating its strict dress code for women.

Star actor Taraneh Alidoosti, who had published images of herself without wearing the Islamic headscarf, was among those detained, although she was released in early January after being held for almost three weeks.

Pakistan fastest growing apps market worldwide in 2022: report

Dawn.com Published February 2, 2023  Updated 3 days ago

   

This graph shows the growth rate of app downloads in 2022. — Photo courtesy Data Darbar

The number of apps downloaded by Pakistanis in 2022 rose by 35.4 per cent compared to the preceding year, making the country the fastest-growing apps market in the world, according to a report by Data Darbar, a private markets intelligence platform.

The growth rate, which had been 26.8pc in 2021 and jumped to 35.4pc last year, was almost three times that of the next country on the list — China. The growth rates of the next three countries — India, Mexico and Indonesia — were below 10pc.

However, in absolute terms, Pakistan was ranked ninth, up three spots from the preceding year.

“With 3.5 billion downloads, Pakistan was ahead of all comparable markets except for Indonesia. That trend replicated on other metrics: the Southeast Asian nation had both the highest number of publishers and locally made apps,” the report added.

Pakistanis used mobile apps for 161bn hours in 2022, according to the report, placing the country sixth worldwide.

“Pakistan was only second to Indonesia in terms of the number of outstanding active apps by local publishers. However, in terms of traction and usage, very few of the locally developed apps make it to the top charts in Pakistani.”

WhatsApp Business was the most downloaded app according to the report, followed by Snapchat, WhatsApp Messenger, Capcut and TikTok. Among locally developed apps, Easypaisa was the most downloaded, followed by Jazz, Jazz Cash, Zong and Universal Remote TV.

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Most downloaded apps by category

Shopping

• Alibaba
• Daraz
• OLX
• Savyour
• Ali Express

Short-videos (excluding TikTok)

• SnackVideo
• Bigo Live
• Likee
• FunXD
• Chamet

Audio streaming

• Spotify
• Starmaker
• Bajao
• Soundcloud
• YouTube Music

Finance

• Easypaisa
• JazzCash
• Barwaqt
• Zindigi
• PK Loan

Video streaming

• Tamasha
• Netflix
• ARY Zap
• Tapmad

Now you can follow Dawn Business on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook for insights on business, finance and tech from Pakistan and across the world.

Taliban detain educator who assailed girls varsity ban

AFP Published February 4, 2023  

Ismail Mashal, a lecturer of journalism at three universities, speaks during

an interview with AFP in Kabul on Dec 30. — AFP

LISTEN TO ARTICLE

KABUL: Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities have “beaten and detained” an academic who voiced outrage on live television against their ban on women’s university education, his aide said on Friday.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights called on Taliban administration to release the university lecturer and education activist. “(I am) concerned about yesterday’s arrest of peaceful education activist and university lecturer Ismael Mashal by the Taliban,” UN rights rapporteur Richard Bennett said on Twitter, calling for his immediate and unconditional release.

Veteran journalism lecturer Ismail Mashal caused a storm by tearing his degree certificates to shreds on TV in December, protesting the edict ending women’s higher education.

In recent days, domestic channels showed Mashal carting books around Kabul and offering them to passers-by.

“Mashal was mercilessly beaten and taken away in a very disrespectful manner by members of the Islamic Emirate,” Mashal’s aide Farid Ahmad Fazli said, referring to the Taliban government.

A Taliban official confirmed the detention.

“Teacher Mashal had indulged in provocative actions against the system for some time,” tweeted Abdul Haq Ham­mad, director at the Min­istry of Information and Cult­ure. “The security agencies took him for investigation.”

Mashal — a lecturer for more than a decade at three Kabul universities — was detained on Thursday despite having “committed no crime”, Fazli said.

“He was giving free books to sisters (women) and men,” he added. “He is still in detention and we don’t know where he is being held.”

Footage of Mashal destroying his certificates on private channel TOLOnews went viral on social media.

In deeply conservative and patriarchal Afghanistan it is rare to see a man protest in support of women but Mashal, who ran a co-educational institute, said he would stand up for women’s rights.

“As a man and as a teacher, I was unable to do anything else for them, and I felt that my certificates had become useless. So, I tore them,” he said at the time. “I’m raising my voice. I’m standing with my sisters… My protest will continue even if it costs my life.”

A small group of male students also held a brief walkout protesting the ban.

The Taliban promised a softer regime when they returned to power in August 2021, but they have instead imposed harsh restrictions on women — effectively squeezing them out of public life.

In December, the authorities ordered all aid groups to stop their women employees coming to work. They have since granted an exemption to the health sector, allowing females to return to employment there.

Secondary schools for girls have also been closed for over a year, while many women have lost jobs in government sectors.

They have also been barred from going to parks, gyms and public baths.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2023