Jailed Iranian blogger taken to his college exams in handcuffs

Xeni Jardin:

25 year old Mojtaba Saminejad has been in prison in Iran since February, 2005 for “insulting the Supreme Guide” and inciting “immorality” on his blog. He was escorted in handcuffs to take exams at Azad University in Tehran last Saturday.

The human rights organization Reporters Without Borders issued a statement today “welcom[ing] the fact that the Iranian courts have allowed him to continue his university course,” and calling for Saminejad’s release. “We have never stopped our condemnation of the unfair conviction of this young student who has been imprisoned for nearly a year for posting a few messages on the Internet,” read the statement, “We urge the authorities to show leniency. Bloggers like Mojtaba represent no threat to Iranian society. On the contrary, they support the emergence of a citizen’s debate.”

Image: Saminejad photographed inside his school in Tehran, as he entered to take his exam. Here is his former blog: Link, and here is a new url.

What to do in Europe over the next few days

In bed with fever and a super flu. I hate that of course, but as this guy says…

Here’s a few interesting events for the healthy ones:
- MA 2006 EXPO : Thing/ks: an exhibition of prototypes and projects from the PG
Certificate level by students of MA Interactive Digital Media and MA Network Media Environments, Ravensbourne College of Art, London. At the CAVE Atrium from 4 PM today. Continuing 19-20th January 12 – 6 PM. (thanks Karel)

– What isn’t design? A discussion about the changing definition of contemporary design, together with Hilary Cottam, Jane Dillon, Mark Delaney of Plan and Marcus Fairs, in Script, the first of a new series of topical monthly design debates in the Design Museum, London. Monday 23 January. (Thanks Cristina Bisland.)

– In London again, if you’re into Gilbert and George.

– Debate Interrogating Interactive Art with Matt Amdams, Ross Cooper, Lauren Parker, and Stefan Roveda. T Bar, London, January 24.

Tuesday 24 January [7pm]
- The New Media, Visual Communication and Film & Video students at the Merz Akademie in Stuttgart will be presenting their works during the Winter Show to be held on January 27 and 28 (at least that’s what i gathered from the invitation written in german i received last week).

– The next Pecha Kucha London night will be on Thursday 9 February. Speakers include: Dunne & Raby, Plasma Studio, Julian & Sophie, David Kester, etc. Unsurprisingly tickets are sold out. ICA, The Mall, London.

– If you’re planning to go to LIFT06 in Geneva, Transmediale and dorkbot in Berlin, come and say hi. Also i’ll be in Aachen, Maastricht and Brussels from Saturday 21 till Wednesday 25, if there’s any show i should attend, suggestions are welcome.

A last tip: if you’re interested by one these events but can’t go cuz accomodations are pretty expensive, Henriette Weber Andersen has set up Can I Crash, sorf of couchsurfing but only for bloggers. Brilliant idea. I’m about to move to berlin, as soon as i’m a bit comfy there, i’ll add my address to the growing list.

Colombia plans teenage condom law

Colombian teenagers could be forced to carry condoms in an effort to stop unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

The man proposing the scheme says men over the age of 14 in the town of Tulua should have to carry condoms, just as they carry ID cards, or face a fine.

Last year, 14 people died in Tulua due to sexually transmitted diseases. This shows an increase of 50% from 2003.

“This is a country with a lot of sexual activity and Tulua is no exception,” explained Councillor William Pena.

Father Jesus Velasquez, however, describes the proposals as absurd. “It would be like selling guns on the streets,” he said. “What is needed is education and respect for moral and Christian values.”

The scheme, which has yet to be formally proposed, has had a mixed support from officials and elsewhere.

i figured Juan would appreciate me posting this…

Italians clash on gay ‘marriage’

Gay rights activists stage symbolic “gay marriages” in Rome, in a move sharply criticised by the Vatican.

European R&D falls behind rivals

EU spending on research and development is falling well behind that of the US and Japan according to new figures from the European Commission.

interesting…

How the World Works

Salon has just launched a new weblog on globalization, entitled “How the World Works.” Written by Salon’s Andrew Leonard (disclaimer: I’ve known Andrew for 7 or 8 years now), the blog will attempt to explore the manifestations and impact of globalization without hewing to the Tom Friedman “it’s all wonderful” or the Battle in Seattle “it’s all a disaster” lines. Given what we have seen over the years from Salon, as well as from Andrew Leonard (a major proponent of free/open source software), I expect that most WorldChanging readers will find his column to be worth reading, even if they don’t agree with all of his conclusions.

As with most things Salon these days, this falls into the “premium content” category: you’ll either have to subscribe at a modest fee, or sit through an advertisement, in order to read the site.

(Posted by Jamais Cascio in QuickChanges at 01:32 PM)

Falluja, my love

b.F Note: This is recent development on Italian TV — a documentary about the battle in Fallujah (last year) was broadcasted last week about the U.S. military’s usage of white phosphor as weapons (and the result is pictured below). This blog post below comes form Beppe Grillo and has a link to the video of the documentary available on the web.

Another article about this in English is here: Radio Netherlands, and talks about how white phosphor is not banned under international law.

The video documentary is here

Foto: www.uruknet.info

Iraq has been invaded by the United States and their allies because it was accused of hiding extermination weapons.
The weapons of mass destruction have not been found.
The Americans have not been discouraged and have used their own.

In Falluja the civilian population was killed with white phosphorus that is like polite napalm. It doesn’t make the terrible mess that we’ve seen with the bombing in Vietnam. It spreads through the air, burns human tissues and so that they can possibly be reused, saves the clothes.
It seems to have been invented by a fashion designer.

In a rainews24 film strip you can see well dressed skeletons and babies’ skulls.
War is always against the civilians.
Just wars do not exist, just as just slavery, just torture, just death penalties do not exist.
War should be abolished.

……. (more at his site)

Italy mulls 2006 Iraq withdrawal

Italy will probably withdraw its troops from Iraq by the end of 2006, according to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

EU challenged over flight data

A top legal adviser urges the EU to halt the transfer of air passenger data to the US authorities.

Passenger lists have been handed over to US customs since May last year, in what the US sees as a key measure to combat terrorism.

But the European parliament objected to the potential violation of privacy.

Migrants die on coast of Sicily

Italy finds nine dead migrants washed up on the Sicilian coast and picks up about 160 survivors.