In an earlier diary I posted the news that Sean Penn, who is credentialed as a journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle, was making a trip to Iran to report on the election there. The five-day series is now available online at SFGate.com
Looks to me like it takes some courage for an American journalist to stroll the streets of Iran. A Canadian woman, an Iranian by birth was tortured and beaten to death in one of Iran’s notorious prisons.
Zahra Kazemi, a Montreal-based photojournalist, died in July 2003 after her skull was split after being arrested for taking photographs outside Tehran’s Evin prison where many political dissidents are held. Iran in Focus
…more…
August 22, 2005 Introduction:
DAY ONE
In June, Sean Penn and two friends traveled to Tehran. It was Penn’s first trip to the country. What he found was a culture in conflict. Although the nation is ruled by a very conservative, tradition-bound government, Penn talked to many younger Iranians who have a strong interest in Western culture and want their own country to liberalize its policies on individual rights. Beginning today, The Chronicle will publish a five-day series of his reports from Iran:
August 23, 2005, Introduction:
DAY TWO
After attending Friday prayer services in Tehran, Sean Penn, who visited Iran in June in the days before the country’s presidential election, prepares for a meeting with the son of a former president of Iran. Mehdi Rafsanjani was also a campaign director for his father.
August 24, 2005, Introduction:
DAY THREE
After a series of mysterious phone calls, arrangements are made to transport Sean Penn to a compound in the foothills of Tehran to meet with Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of Ayatollah. Penn visited Iran in June, in the days before the national elections.
August 25, 2005, Introduction:
DAY FOUR
During his visit to Iran in June, Sean Penn had the chance to witness a rare demonstration in support of women’s rights.The demonstration was to begin at 5 p.m. I wanted to refresh a bit, so I took a shower at the hotel and began to dress when, at about 4:30 p.m., my companions Reese Erlich, Norman Solomon and Babak knocked on my door. They’d gotten an update. What had been anticipated as likely violence the evening before was now considered certain. This is a guilty admission, but when you have come to a place that is unfamiliar, with the intention of gaining a familiarity, absolutely nothing is more seductive than to see its darkest sides. I am an optimist. I can always look up. But to see down is to be down. We headed down to the demonstration.
Update [2005-8-26 8:30:27 by sybil]:
August 26, 2005, Introduction:
DAY FIVE
Sean Penn Goes Home
It wasn’t easy to cut through the red tape necessary for Sean Penn to visit Iran in June, just a week before the country’s presidential election. But it was almost as difficult for him to get out of the country.The bomb had been detonated in Tehran’s central Imam Hussein Square. Reports of the number of dead ranged from one to 20. Evidently, this was not a weapon of great sophistication. However, four simultaneous blasts in Ahvaz, which had killed as many as 30 people, had evidently been the work of sophisticated extremists, with most suspicion focusing on the Mujahedeen-e Khalq Organization, MKO (also called MEK). Among those with whom I spoke, in and out of government, the consensus was that the bombings in Tehran and Ahvaz were intended to deter voting in the presidential election. MKO, formed in the 1960s, opposed U.S.-Iran relations under the Shah and participated in the assassinations of U.S. military and civilians. Following a power struggle upon Khomeini’s return to Iran and bombings that took the lives of more than 2,000 people, MKO’s leadership was exiled to Iraq. Since that time, they have propagandized their legitimacy and enlisted the support of conservative members of the U.S. Congress by supplying dubious information related to the nuclear weapons program in Iran. Reputable journalists for publications as varied as the Times of London and Newsweek have reported that the CIA has increasing ties with MKO. And it is feared the MKO may well be performing the misinformation tasks in Iran that the Iraqi National Congress has recently been exposed as playing in Iraq.
For an actor, the man sure can write. His attention to detail and mood carries the story along.