Happy Birthday

We arrived in Ireland two days ago. Many hours of delay because of Obama's arrival, and an elated crowd, much more excited than when the Queen of England visited a week before. However, the highlight of my day was not Obama's visit, it was celebrating the birthdays of Bahman Amouyi (husband of journalist Jila Bani-Jaqoub) and Masoud Bastani. These two men are political prisoners adopted by Amnesty's Ireland Iran group. The celebration is to let them and their families know that they are not forgotten.

Here's two articles that give you a bit of an idea of who these two men are:

http://www.radiozamaneh.com/english/content/iranian-journalist-protests-against-violation-prisoner-rights

http://www.rahana.org/en/?p=9322

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So this is it. two years pass since the mock elections of Iran, and when we get involved it's to comfort the relatives of those who stuck out their necks for the rest of us. Is there no one else who will raise his voice or his fist?

Maybe this is another reason why I obsessively follow the news in Syria and Libya, to comfort myself with their eventual success where Iran has failed, and hope that their success will inspire us.

Fight on, my brothers, fight on, my sisters. And with fight, I also mean dance, laugh and sing.