By: Masih Alinejad

May 27, 2012

~ Tale of an imprisoned journalist and the world-renowned Persian Poet Ferdowsi as co-conspirators!

It is utterly surprising, not only for us, not even for certain authority figures in the country, but for Abolghasem Ferdowsi himself who would never have imagined his poetry to be used -- 1000 years later – as an excuse for imprisoning an Iranian journalist.

The following verse by the renowned Persian poet Ferdowsi was published in the June 2009 edition of Khordad-e-No Newspaper as Editor’s choice:

* [rough translation]

Blood of the seekers to be shed
Light of the cosmos to be dimmed
Such is word ringing around the city
Stars promise to descend a calamity

The poem however, was construed by Judge Pirabbasi as a blade used against the regime and a message to encourage anarchism.

Bahman Ahmadi-Amouie, Editor of the publication, along with his wife Zhila Bani-Yaghoub were consequently incarcerated shortly after the controversial presidential elections in June 2009.  Bahman has not been permitted to write anything other than letters from prison, ever since. But, what was he writing before prison days?

“I wish to share a synopsis of the letter which I’ve previously addressed to Mr. Larijani [Head of Iran’s Judiciary] with those members of the Parliament who are so certain that I would never publicize!” Says Bahman’s wife, Zhila Bani-Yaghoub. “It’s quite simple. I’ll provide you with my husband’s and other imprisoned colleagues’ case information and you could request access to their files.“  She adds, “in case of any doubts, the gentlemen could pay a visit to section 26 of the Revolutionary Court house and personally examine the files. The record of Judge Pirabbasi’s decision to issue a Five-Year jail sentence for Bahman, based on printing the epic poetry of Ferdowsi, is all there for everyone to see.”

My husband was charged with conspiracy and propagation against the regime, yet when asked to prove their claim, the authorities point to the articles in his private website or those published in Khordad-e-No or Sarmayeh News. Bahman had for years prior been warning against the spread of corruption inside the banking system and within the government. And Those warnings are the real reasons behind his jail sentence.

Missing her husband, she writes of the prison officials’ refusal to allow the couple live visitations: “I yearn to see his face in person sometimes, rather than always through the damn ugly double-layered glass windows. I yearn to hold his hands… Then again I think to myself, it is not us that I should feel sad about. I should instead feel sorry for those who had struggled for so long to "break" us and failed; so today they can only hang on to such desperate and petty measures as glass windows.”

http://soundcloud.com/frl-journalist/masih-alinejad-bahman-amoui

https://balatarin.com/permlink/2012/5/27/3037366