| On January 10th, well-known literary translator Mohammad Soleimaninya was reportedly arrested after security guards searched his house and confiscated electronic devices and documents. His current whereabouts are unknown. Also, in mid-January, authorities arrested a prominent singer, Ghalib Manabi Salehi, and his brother Hassan, from their home in Ahwaz, a city whose residents are predominantly from the Arab minority. Their whereabouts are also unknown at this time. It is not only living artists that the Iranian regime seeks to muzzle. In August, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance refused a publishing house permission to reprint one of Iran's classic epic poems, "Khosrow and Shirin" by Nezami Ganjavi. Renowned contemporary Iranian poet Simin Behbahani noted that the poem has existed for nine centuries, and no one before this thought parts of it should be censored. "Nothing would be left [of it] by now," she said. "Those who talk about censoring the poem should be ashamed." The Iranian people, as President Barack Obama has said, have a great and storied history and culture. Instead of supporting this proud tradition, the Iranian regime seeks to stifle the people's creativity. |
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