Fariborz Shamshiri
Encyclopedia
Fariborz Shamshiri also known as Rotten Gods, is an Iranian blog
ger. He has been referred as one of the most important voices of the Iranian blogosphere. Rotten Gods was the most visited Iranian English blog during the 2009 Iranian disputed presidential election protests that kept news up-to-the-minute. He has a long online career in standing up for human rights.
Later he moved to Mideast Youth and then he titled his new blog Rotten Gods but it was soon blocked (or filtered) by Iran
ian government:
A Persian-English forum launched by Freedom House
defined Rotten Gods blog as:
In April 2008 he founded, Iranians' Blogs a directory of English blogs written by Iranians inside and outside of Iran.
About Iranians' Blogs he says:
Since July 2008 he started writing in Amnesty International
blogs about Human Rights
violation in Iran
. He called this blog Rotten Gods too.
.
Omidreza Mirsayafi
was a the 28-year old blogger who found dead in Evin prison. He wrote:
Yaghoob Mehrnehad (Mirnehad) was Iranian journalist blogger who was executed by Iranian authorities on the charges of terrorism, enemy of God (Mohareb) and corrupt on earth (Mofsed-e-filarz
). While some Iranian bloggers were trying to justify execution of Yaghoob Mehrnehad (Mirnehad), Fariborz defended him as a blogger and pointed out the great danger of Islamic Fascism in Iran.
In September 2008, he founded Persian Atheist to use reason and science to tackle religious issues and Islamic ideology that he believes, are the root cause of our problems in Iran. In Persian Atheist, he writes about human evolution and he translated articles and wrote introduction about scientific topics related to our understanding of nature and animals, for instance "Are animals devoid from conscience and understanding?" In an article titled "Before Islam, Allah was the name of an idol" he researched about history of Allah's name before it called God of Islam
and Arabian mythology
.
Although in "Iranian Atheist" he argues that it is too dangerous for Iranian atheists to come out of closet but he doesn't come short on asking Iranians that they shouldn't respect religions and beliefs because basically, they are not respectable.
He has written a detailed article about Apostasy in Iran and its deadly punishments.
In response to death threats that are all over in his comment sections of some of his writings he wrote:
Committee to Protect Bloggers has put together a full report about these threats to Fariborz's life:
Curt Hopkins from ReadWriteWeb mentioned death threats to Fariborz's life and wrote: "Iran's lucky to have him. And seriously. Maybe he'll have to explain himself before G-d, but he sure as hell shouldn't have to do so before a mob of sloe-eyed nitwits."
Israel's Channel 10 news program presented a piece about Fariborz blogs and the threats to his life that comes from radical Muslim groups. It said that he has gone hiding and he lives in total anonymity. This program broadcasted on 26 August 2010.
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
ger. He has been referred as one of the most important voices of the Iranian blogosphere. Rotten Gods was the most visited Iranian English blog during the 2009 Iranian disputed presidential election protests that kept news up-to-the-minute. He has a long online career in standing up for human rights.
Journalism
There is not much of information available about Shamshiri's Journalism practice except articles that he has written for different websites and papers. i.e. "One way street - Dialogue among civilizations or clash of civilizations?", "Fariborz Shamshiri, Iranain Blogger: I am not sure Iran is running! I would say it is dying", "Iranian Protesters Tortured in Prison" about torturing prisoners in aftermath of post-election protests in 2009 and one of his recent articles "Welcome to Islamic Republic of Sweden".Blogging & Censorship
Shamshiri explains his early blogging experince and censorship of his blogs:
I set up my first blog in Persianblog in 2004 and later wrote in my second blog in Blogfa, both are Persian language blogging systems. Authorities blocked both of my blogs and later they deleted them. I wasn't surprised because basically I was passed all red lines by criticizing clergies, their politics, human rights violations, religion and the whole shebang thing. I stopped blogging for awhile but later I decided to move on and write in Blogger.comBlogger (service)Blogger is a blog-publishing service that allows private or multi-user blogs with time-stamped entries. It was created by Pyra Labs, which was bought by Google in 2003. Generally, the blogs are hosted by Google at a subdomain of blogspot.com. Up until May 1, 2010 Blogger allowed users to publish...
that no one might delete my blog for its contents and at the same time I decided to write in English. I had other reasons to write in English language, probably I will discuss it sometime in future.
Later he moved to Mideast Youth and then he titled his new blog Rotten Gods but it was soon blocked (or filtered) by Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian government:
I chose "Rotten Gods" for this blog because Gods are rotten and only imaginary fantasies that some humans came with it but as you might know, this didn't sit well with Islamic Iran authorities so they have blocked it since the early days of this blog. So my fellow Iranian audience use proxy softwares and other tools in order to reach out to this blog and other blocked blogs.
A Persian-English forum launched by Freedom House
Freedom House
Freedom House is an international non-governmental organization based in Washington, D.C. that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom and human rights...
defined Rotten Gods blog as:
This blog focuses on discussing human rightsHuman rightsHuman rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
, covering everything from public stoningStoningStoning, or lapidation, is a form of capital punishment whereby a group throws stones at a person until the person dies. No individual among the group can be identified as the one who kills the subject, yet everyone involved plainly bears some degree of moral culpability. This is in contrast to the...
s and floggingsFlagellationFlagellation or flogging is the act of methodically beating or whipping the human body. Specialised implements for it include rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails and the sjambok...
to women’s rights in sports.
In April 2008 he founded, Iranians' Blogs a directory of English blogs written by Iranians inside and outside of Iran.
About Iranians' Blogs he says:
This directory is an ongoing effort to showcase Iranian's English blogs and bloggers from Iran.
Since July 2008 he started writing in Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
blogs about Human Rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
violation in Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. He called this blog Rotten Gods too.
Plight of Iranian Bloggers
Fariborz reported on the unfortunate situation of bloggers in the Islamic Republic of Iran, noting execution of Yaghoob Mehrnehad and death of Omidreza MirsayafiOmid Reza Mir Sayafi
Omid Reza Mir Sayafi , a 29-year old Iranian blogger and journalist died in Evin Prison in Tehran on March 18, 2009.Mir Sayafi was the first blogger to have died while in prison for his publication...
.
Omidreza Mirsayafi
Omid Reza Mir Sayafi
Omid Reza Mir Sayafi , a 29-year old Iranian blogger and journalist died in Evin Prison in Tehran on March 18, 2009.Mir Sayafi was the first blogger to have died while in prison for his publication...
was a the 28-year old blogger who found dead in Evin prison. He wrote:
Blogging is the last resort for people to express themselves
Yaghoob Mehrnehad (Mirnehad) was Iranian journalist blogger who was executed by Iranian authorities on the charges of terrorism, enemy of God (Mohareb) and corrupt on earth (Mofsed-e-filarz
Mofsed-e-filarz
Mofsed-e-filarz is the title of capital crime in the Islamic Republic of Iran, that has been translated in English language sources variously as "spreading corruption on earth", "spreading corruption that threatens social and political well-being", "corrupt of the earth; one who is...
). While some Iranian bloggers were trying to justify execution of Yaghoob Mehrnehad (Mirnehad), Fariborz defended him as a blogger and pointed out the great danger of Islamic Fascism in Iran.
Torturing
In December 2007, he founded Stop torturing us, a blog to watch the situation of torturing in Iran. "Stop torturing us" covers systematic torture in Iran.Atheism advocacy
In May 2008 he founded Iranian Atheist but it wasn't active until recently.In September 2008, he founded Persian Atheist to use reason and science to tackle religious issues and Islamic ideology that he believes, are the root cause of our problems in Iran. In Persian Atheist, he writes about human evolution and he translated articles and wrote introduction about scientific topics related to our understanding of nature and animals, for instance "Are animals devoid from conscience and understanding?" In an article titled "Before Islam, Allah was the name of an idol" he researched about history of Allah's name before it called God of Islam
Allah
Allah is a word for God used in the context of Islam. In Arabic, the word means simply "God". It is used primarily by Muslims and Bahá'ís, and often, albeit not exclusively, used by Arabic-speaking Eastern Catholic Christians, Maltese Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Mizrahi Jews and...
and Arabian mythology
Arabian mythology
Arabian mythology comprises the ancient, pre-Islamic beliefs of the Arabs. Prior to Islam the Kaaba of Mecca was covered in symbols representing the myriad demons, djinn, demigods, or simply tribal gods and other assorted deities which represented the polytheistic culture of pre-Islamic Arabia...
.
Although in "Iranian Atheist" he argues that it is too dangerous for Iranian atheists to come out of closet but he doesn't come short on asking Iranians that they shouldn't respect religions and beliefs because basically, they are not respectable.
He has written a detailed article about Apostasy in Iran and its deadly punishments.
Death threats
In an interview he stated that he has been receiving death threats since he strongly criticized Islamic republic of Iran’s establishment, Sharia law and Islamic barbaric rules.In response to death threats that are all over in his comment sections of some of his writings he wrote:
It seems couple of posts on this blog haven't sit well with Islamists and they took it personally, and we all know what happens then. I guess I have to clarify my position once again. I do not restrain myself because you think my thoughts are disrespectful to your religion, faith or whatever you believe in. I think the only valuable things that we, humans have are our free thoughts and reason and I will not let you take away that too.
Committee to Protect Bloggers has put together a full report about these threats to Fariborz's life:
One electronic threat was that someone would “cut his throat.” In another message they wrote “the death is coming to you soon soon.” He says he still doesn’t know who send these messages (they’re all anonymous), but he suspects — based on past experience — range from Basij militia, Revolutionary Guards Corps Cyber Affairs Division and/or some mullahs or students of seminary schools.
Fariborz said: “this is not the first time I am receiving this kind of threats but this is getting out of hand.” He keeps multiple blogs in English and Persian language. “I have been writing for many years, it seems I made more enemies in radical camp both inside and outside of Iran.”
“In order to shut me down, they have targeted me with malicious death threat campaign for sometime,” Fariborz wrote in one post. Later, he said, after examining the IP addresses of the senders, “I think threats to my life comes from Iran’s intelligence agents; it is organized and systematic.”
Curt Hopkins from ReadWriteWeb mentioned death threats to Fariborz's life and wrote: "Iran's lucky to have him. And seriously. Maybe he'll have to explain himself before G-d, but he sure as hell shouldn't have to do so before a mob of sloe-eyed nitwits."
Israel's Channel 10 news program presented a piece about Fariborz blogs and the threats to his life that comes from radical Muslim groups. It said that he has gone hiding and he lives in total anonymity. This program broadcasted on 26 August 2010.