Maziar Bahari

At the height of the Second World War, thousands of Polish-Jewish children escaped Nazi extermination in Europe by embarking on an arduous journey toward Palestine, travelling through Iran. The warmth and hospitality they encountered in Tehran, in contrast with the horrors of the Holocaust they had left behind, is a story that historian Mikhal Dekel has spent years working to unearth. She recounts her discoveries in this short IranWire film, produced as part of the Sardari Project in partnership with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (fonte: Iran Wire)… (mehr)

I first became interested in "Then They Came for Me" by Maziar Bahari, after hearing that Comedy Central's Jon Stewart was taking a break from his popular comedy news show to direct and produce a movie based on this book.
Stewart's interest in the story stems from the fact that Bahari was arrested by Iranian authorities shortly after being interviewed for Stewart's TV show, "The Daily Show", which did a brief segment with Bahari about the 2009 Iranian presidential election. Shortly after doing the skit, Bahari was arrested and accused of being a spy for a foreign government.
The movie is tentatively titled "Rosewater", which is the name Bahari used for his jailer and torturer after being arrested. Bahari's book details his imprisonment, and give us insights into the repressive and totalitarian political climate in Iran.
Based on the latest Iranian presidential election results in June, 2013, it appears that the Iranian people may be rejecting the ruling elite who called for the arrest of Bahari by choosing the relative moderate candidate Hasan Rowhani. It was also interesting to note that not one of former President Ahmadinejad ally's managed to capture a city council seat in Tehran. Not that Bahari's book had anything to do with these election results, but it's interesting to recognize that the policies of the ruling Party which Bahari criticizes seem to have been rejected by Iranian voters by their choosing an apparently more moderate leader. How significant this change will be remains to be seen, but this book, and the Stewart movie, can only serve to draw attention to the abuses of the former Ahmadinejad government, and perhaps changes will be made.… (mehr)