RADIO FARDA - DO ZABAANEH

December 18, 2008
Collapsing Oil Prices Hitting Iran Hard
December 14 -- A U.S.-based scholar tells Radio Farda that sliding oil prices threaten to destabilize the regime. [Listen to the interview in Persian] [Read about the impact of massive job lossess in Iran in English]

Presidential Politics and a National Unity Government
December 15 -- As the Iranian presidential election nears, authorities are calling for the establishment of a national unity government consisting of Iran's two main factions. In Radio Farda's weekly roundtable, "Viewpoints", journalists and scholars in Tehran, London and Paris discuss this plan. [Read more in Persian]

Iranian Blogosphere a Place for Protest
December 11 -- Although Tehran is cracking down on bloggers and restricting Internet access, one Iranian blogger tells Radio Farda that the government is failing in its efforts to police the virtual space: "The Internet is actually a place for protest in today's Iran," he says. [Listen to the interview in Persian or read the story in English]

Systematic Censorship Continues in Iran
December 13 -- Iranian Poet Hafez Mousavi says the Culture Ministry's general policy over the last two years has been to deny permission for the publication of books. He says censors systematically delay or prevent publications "for no good reason." [Read more in Persian]

Does Amputation as Punishment Prevent Crime?

December 17 -- As authorities in Kermanshah recently carried out a hand-amputation sentence, Radio Farda asked Abdolkarim Lahiji of the International Federation of Human Rights about this medieval form of punishment. Lahji noted that, despite the amputations carried out in Iran over the past 30 years, the crime rate has substantially increased. [Read more in Persian]

Women's, Students' Movements Share Goals

December 14 -- Radio Farda's weekly program on women's issues, "The Other Voice," looks at the similarities between the movement for women's rights and the students' movement. [Listen to the program in Persian]