The Centre for the Supporters of Human Rights: Seyyed Mehdi Musavi and Fatemeh Ekhtesari have been under arrest and detention since 17 Azar 1392 [8 December 2013] by the intelligence directorate of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps [IRGC]. Before their arrests, these two poets had been summoned by the Magistrate Court of Evin. They have both been banned from travelling abroad for some time now and they have not been able to publish their works and writings due to censorship and other restrictions.
Reporting on this development, the website of Radio Farda said that the friends and associates of these two poets have confirmed the news about their detention, and based on their written statements, in the wake of the ban on their travel abroad, Seyyed Mehdi Musavi and Fatemeh Ekhtesari had received the summons of the Evin Magistrate Court on 16 Azar [7 December], but had refrained from attending the summons. They were arrested and detained immediately after that date, and have been in detention since 17 Azar.
The Kalameh website has also reported the arrests, writing: Seyyed Mehdi Musavi and Fatemeh Ekhtesari, who are under the pressure of the interrogators of the IRGC intelligence directorate, are currently enduring difficult conditions in Ward 2-A of the prison. Furthermore, accordingly, at the moment, the interrogators and cyber space agents of the IRGC intelligence directorate are in control of the content of the social media websites which belong to these two poets.
Seyyed Mehdi Musavi
Dr Seyyed Mehdi Musavi was born in 1355 [year ending 21 March 1977]. He is an Iranian poet and a literature scholar, who is one of the pioneers of the post-modern genre of sonnets. In addition to composing poetry, he has also been active in the fields of story writing, literary criticism, and cinema. His works and articles have been published in a number of publications and media outlets both inside and outside Iran.
Among his other activities, one can mention the establishment of poetry and story writing workshops in different towns and cities of Iran – including for instance Tehran, Karaj, Shahrud, Mashhad and other places – during the years 1376 to 1388 [1997 to 2009]. His workshops were closed down in the wake of his first arrest in 1389.
Moreover, in 1386 and 1387, he was the managing editor of the publication called “Hamin Farda” [“This very tomorrow”!] which was a specialist publication on the subject of post-modern sonnets. However, its publication licence was revoked after the 10th presidential elections in Iran [in June 2009 when Mahmud Ahmadinezhad was controversially re-elected for a second term]. Afterwards, he also taught at the free classes organized by the “Panjereh-ye Hekmat” [“the window of knowledge”] Institution.
Musavi became active in the field of on-line media from 1379 [year ending 21 March 2001] with his website called “the post-modern sonnet”. In addition, starting in 1389, he published a weblog under the same title. However, this weblog was filtered [by the state] in 1389. After changing his Internet address several times because his weblogs were constantly blocked by the official filters, finally, he began to publish his writing in a new address. [Click to access the URL]
He also has also produced some song lyrics, and these, together with his other poetical works, have been performed by singers such as Shahin Najafi, Yasin Sefatian and others.
The titles of some of Musavi’s books are as follows:
“I am full of stars, but…” (1376); “The angels have committed suicide” (1381 [year ending March 2002]; published underground); “I am publishing these only for your sake” (1384); “The little bird was neither a bird nor little” (1389 – the book is banned); “Basic introduction in simply language to rhythm in poetry” (1390; on-line publication); “Even the house number tile” (1391 [year ending March 2013]; war poetry); “A man who comes back even before going away” (1391; The Ruba’iyat [couplets] of Seyyed Mehdi Musavi, illustrated by the photographs of Mohammad Sadeq Yarhamidi); “His food is aubergine” (Na-Koja publications, Paris); “Drowning in the aquarium” (1392 [current Iranian year, ending 21 March 2014])
Fatemeh Ekhtesari
Fatemeh Ekhtesari was born in 1365 [ending March 1987] in Kashmar. She is among the poets following the post-modern sonnet genre during the 1380s decade. In recent years, she has been present in several poetry festivals and she has won awards at some of these as well.
Her book, “A feminist debate before cooking the potatoes” (copies of which were rounded up and removed from the Tehran Book Fair in 1389) managed to reach the final stage of the third Iranian Women Poetry Award competition, known also as “Khorshid”. Among her other literary and cultural activities, one can mention her membership of the board of judges at the Post-Modern Sonnet Festival in 1386; her role as the editor in chief of the specialist post-modern sonnet publication “Hamin Farda” between the years 1385 and 1388 (this publication was banned and its licence was revoked in Khordad 1388) [June 2009]; and her selection of the works published in the anthology “Crying over a box of eggs”.
Her weblog was blocked by the official state filters based on the Judiciary’s orders after her first arrest in 1389, and since then, she has been writing in a new weblog. Some of her activities in her new weblog include the establishment of a virtual poetry and story writing workshop. During the early years of the 1380s decade, she was active in the radio as a writer and presenter as well. Among her other activities, one can mention her contribution an album by [controversial rap singer] Shahin Najafi as lyricist and song-writer, in collaboration with Seyyed Mehdi Musavi, Afshin Moqaddam and Yaghma Golru’i. Her poetry workshops were closed down in 1391, after the publication of a report by the Young Reporters Club, which was transmitted by other news agencies and websites supporting the principle-ist political faction. It should also be noted that Ekhtesari was expelled while studying for a doctorate in midwifery.
In the wake of banning her first book and turning it into pulp, none of her new books has managed to receive a publication licence from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Her latest weblog can be accessed at this Internet address.
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