Throughout June, in association with BBC Persian, we will be joined by experts, journalists and commentators to make sure you are up to date with events in the country. We will be offering a portrait of outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, analysing the candidates and, following the election, we will be asking what the result means for the future of the country.
Sneak Preview BBC Persian screening: Ahmadinejad – The Populist and the Pariah
Monday 3 June 2013, 7:00 PM
The screening is organised by BBC Persian Service.
Since his election in 2005, Iran’s President Ahmadinejad has become the most well-known Iranian since the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomeini. Produced by the BBC Persian Service, this documentary looks at the rise of Ahmadinejad and explains how this provincial politician with a PhD in traffic management became a personality to be reckoned with.
Followed by a panel discussion with: Sadeq Saba, head of BBC Persian; Bozorgmehr Sharafedin, filmmaker and journalist and Kasra Naji, special correspondent for BBC Persian TV.
First Wednesday: Who will be the next president of Iran and why does it matter?
Wednesday 5 June 2013, 7:00 PM
On 14 June Iranians will go to to the polls to vote for a president to replace Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but what significance does this election hold? Join us to analyse the approaching election, the main players and what the result will mean for the future of Iran. With: Kelly Golnoush Niknejad, founder and editor-in-chief of the award-winning Tehran Bureau; Roberto Toscano, Italian Ambassador to Iran (2003-2008); Saeed Barzin, Iran analyst with BBC Persian Service and the BBC Monitoring service since 2006; and Roger Cohen, a journalist, author and op-ed columnist for The New York Times.
Iran after Ahmadinejad
Wednesday 26 June 2013, 7:00 PM
Following the presidential election in Iran, we will be bringing together a panel of experts to deliberate the results and what they mean for the future of the country. In association with BBC Persian Service, we will be taking an in-depth look at Iran’s new president, exploring his affiliations and policies both at home and internationally. With: Mark Fitzpatrick, director of the Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Programme at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS); Saeed Barzin, Iran analyst with BBC Persian Service and the BBC Monitoring service since 2006. Additional speakers to be confirmed.
In association with BBC Persian:
Since his election in 2005, Iran’s President Ahmadinejad has become the most well-known Iranian since the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomeini. He’s challenged his country’s Supreme Leader and goaded the United States, earning him both admiration and loathing. He cannot run for re-election in June 2013 but he’s seeking to continue his influence by backing a candidate whose outspoken comments defy the conservatives who have dominated Iran since the 1979 Revolution.
Produced by the BBC Persian Service, this documentary looks at the rise of Ahmadinejad and explains how this provincial politician with a PhD in traffic management became a personality to be reckoned with.
Followed by a panel discussion with:
Sadeq Saba, head of BBC Persian.
Bozorgmehr Sharafedin, filmmaker and journalist. His previous documentary for BBC Persian was The Ayatollah’s Seal, about the Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Kasra Naji, special correspondent for BBC Persian TV and author of Ahmedinejad: the Secret History of Iran’s Radical Leader.
The screening is organised by BBC Persian Service
Join us at the Frontline Club for this reactive briefing to discuss the detainment of the filmmakers, the battle for press freedom in Iran and the regime's relationship with foreign media.
]]>Almost two weeks after their arrest, little has been heard about the fate of the six Iranian filmmakers who are currently being held in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison with no access to their lawyers.
Accused of collaborating secretly with BBC Persian and illegally supplying content portraying Iran in a negative light, they have been condemned as “a group of terrorists, Bahais, communists and devil worshippers” by Iran’s Minister of Intelligence.
Iran insists that the filmmakers are part of the British Secret Service working under the guise of the BBC – allegations the BBC has denied.
In a statement released last week the BBC said that the filmmakers currently detained in Iran are independent documentary makers and BBC Persian television had bought the rights to broadcast their film. Iran and the BBC have had a tense relationship since the 2009 revolution, when Iran accused the BBC of fostering the unrest that followed the elections.
These latest arrests also raise concerns about what appears to be a wider crackdown: two leading Iranian filmmakers, Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof have been arrested and imprisoned in the past year.
Join us at the Frontline Club for this reactive briefing to discuss the detainment of the filmmakers, the battle for press freedom in Iran and the regime’s relationship with foreign media.
Chaired by Lindsey Hilsum International Editor for Channel 4 News.
With:
Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari who was detained in Iran during the 2009 uprising;
Drewery Dyke, Amnesty International’s Iran researcher;
Bozorgmehr Sharafedin, BBC Senior Correspondent and producer of The Ways of the Ayatollah;
Saeed Kamali Dehghan, award-winning Iranian journalist who writes for The Guardian. He was named 2010 Journalist of the Year at the Foreign Press Association Awards;
Picture Credit:
An image taken from award-winning Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s This is Not a Film that documents his house arrest as he waits for a court verdict that, when it comes, could mean he will spend six years in jail and be banned from writing or filming for the next 20 years. The film was codirected by Mojtaba Mirtahmasb one of those who has been arrested. We will be screening the film in October.
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