Iran

Five months after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Columbia there are no homosexuals in Iran, Dr. Janet Afary argued otherwise Wednesday evening in the International Affairs building. Her lecture was planned in response to both University President Lee Bollinger’s wish to increase campus awareness on the Islamic Republic of Iran and the recent rise in student interest in Iranian issues.

Columbians have already gained insight into Iranian politics and society by coming within yards of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad—so we might as well continue our investigation into a country that is the frequent subject of American political rhetoric.

In a rare show of dissent, Iranian students at the University of Tehran gathered outside school gates, demonstrating against the government as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke there yesterday, according to the British Broadcasting Corp.

Spectator’s editorial “Free Speech in Practice” (Sept. 25, 2007) pridefully congratulated the Columbia community, University President Lee Bollinger, and its own pages for their embrace of free speech, open debate, and not fearless approach to controversy.

While there is no direct causal link between the University’s invitation to the Iranian president and Tajbakhsh’s release, calls for his release from both President Lee Bollinger and Dean John Coatsworth kept the issue from disappearing from the public eye.

During his speech on Monday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad parried many of our direct questions concerning his denial of the Holocaust, his desire to destroy the state of Israel, and his government’s pursuit of nuclear technology.

Ever since Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accepted the invitation to speak on campus, students and observers have been searching everywhere for information regarding our latest lightning rod, so Spectator has provided you with a guide to this infamous world leader.

Mahmoud Asgari, 16, and Ayaz Marhoni, 18, were two teenagers from the province of Khuzestan, charged with rape and sodomy in a nation where both concepts are frequently conflated by a specious justice system.