https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...erican-navy-veteran-michael-white/3143671001/ Iran released Michael White after he was sentenced to 10 years for the horrible offense of insulting Iran's "Supreme Leader". Quick, show me some more tourist pictures and tell me how great Iran is.
I am not sure anyone visiting Iran should be engaged in insulting Iran's Supreme Leader, when that is a crime and, especially, since whatever worthy needs to be said, could be said without insults. But I would imagine that behavior would be even more unusual for a visiting US citizen, chasing a 'girlfriend' who reportedly had broken off relations with him -- and didn't want to continue those relations and who had complained about the guy releasing personal photos and harassing her. In any case, there are more Iranians languishing in American prisons than vice versa. Those Iranians, other than being of Iranian descent, have little else in common. They include: people held without any charges, those who were arrested and extradited to the US for transactions with Iran that are only a crime in America and not where they had lived, and even some who (like the Iranian scientist released the other day) had been exonerated by US courts of the bogus charges against them. And the include even ones that appear to have very curious links, not the ones which appear from their public resume but what appears when you dig deeper. Links that should make them more suspicious for Iran than the US I suppose. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-case-being-dropped-by-u-s-despite-conviction Iran Sanctions Case Being Dropped by U.S. Despite Conviction
So in the beautiful country of Iran you can get sentenced to 10 years in the pokey for simply insulting the “supreme leader”. How does that work? Is there a level of insult that is allowed, like calling him a ninny? How about just an eye roll when he speaks? Would that get you at least an overnight in a re-education camp? Or is it all just made up bullshit if you are American?
You and your ilk -- including all those who write these 'reports' about cases in Iran -- have NEVER been interested in facts or the law. And you aren't interested even now. Nonetheless, I will address the issue: Under Iranian law, specifically Article 514 of the penal code, insulting the Supreme Leader in punishable by a prison term from minimum of 6 months to maximum of 2 years. Obviously, this fellow didn't get simply convicted for insulting Iran's supreme leader. He had committed other crimes. I touched on them already. The basic story from the actual reports on the case show that he was chasing some 'girlfriend' in Iran. And the "girlfriend", who didn't want to continue the relationship, complained that he was harassing her, posting private photos between them without her permission on social media, and insulting her country and its officials to vent off his anger at being rejected. From what I have gathered, your new 'hero" is a first class idiot. A MAGA supporters. An obsessive personality who couldn't handle rejection.
Why are you missing the point that insulting someone shouldn’t be a crime penalized by incarceration? And what is my “ilk” exactly?
And what you missed is that, regardless of any legitimate criticism you might have on any issue, including on this point, most of what you say is simply a product ignorance, propaganda, and an attempt to paint the adversary in a negative light. Otherwise, you would know that he wasn't convicted of spending "10 years" in prison for insulting Iran's Supreme Leader -- and there is probably a lot more to the case that you are NOT being told. Or, in some reports, being told in one or two words in a vague and understated way, while emphasizing what was the least of his crimes that got him convicted. Your ilk are those who I described above in this message. Those who, thanks for a term I learned here from another poster moments ago, engage in "Iransplaining".
So why don't you tell me EXACTLY what he did, not in vague terms like you described, but EXACTLY what he was convicted for. Just remember, you did say Which is still unbelievably oppressive in any definition.
This is a good point, and one of the many reasons I will never visit Iran, as much as I'd like to. (The other big one being that, as a matter of principle, I don't travel to any place where I can't enjoy a beer at an outdoor cafe.) That supreme leader fella sure sounds like a sensitive asshole.
No problem and what you said up to this point in your comments, which are not false. Iran does not allow you to enjoy an (alcoholic) beer in an "outdoor cafe". And insulting Iran's Supreme Leader is a crime punishable by 6 months to 2 years imprisonment in Iran. If that keeps you from wanting to travel to the country, that is absolutely your right.
How do you get any Western tourists with such restrictions? The hotels look swell and all. But people generally want to kick back on vacation.
What if I phrase it better? Like "with all due respect, Supreme Leader sir, you have the breath of a yak"
When in Rome, I suppose... It is a shame though. So many interesting places to see. I could certainly keep mum about whatever authoritarian, but I'm not wasting my sparse vacation time in my one, short lifetime not being able to enjoy a cold one or a glass of wine at the end of a day of exploring. Or even worse, having to drink it in some posh chain hotel with a bunch of businessmen douchebags.
I am not getting through to you apparently, but I am stubborn: 1- Almost ALL the reports and videos I post about Iran are from western visitors to the country. Even when you post something from someone who has been to Iran, even when they are posting things I disagree with (like the article you cited from the New Yorker), I am okay with it. They at least speak to a part of Iran that exists too. Not some fictional country that hardly exists at all. 2- Iran's tourism industry, like tourism industries everywhere else, has been hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Before that, explicit US sanctions and measures to discourage tourism to Iran (including denying US visa free travel to Europeans who go to Iran) had hurt a bit. Still, Iran got a good number of such visitors from Europe, not in the millions that it could despite its own restrictions if not for the US restrictions, sanctions and propaganda, but in the hundreds of thousand each year.
I keed. But as a CFnwside said, I like a few adult beverages to chill. Can't they give tourists exemptions to the alcohol laws?
Don't worry about the 'worse' in Iran. You can't drink alcohol in any hotels either. To drink alcohol, in fact, you will need to visit people's home and the parties they regularly hold.
No, and I am glad there is no discriminatory laws like that in Iran. The only exception is for Christians drinking alcohol as part of their religious services, something that allowed the Armenian community in Iran to control a large chunk of the thriving illicit market in booze. Once that became profitable, many account now suggest that the revolutionary guards is itself heavily involved in alcohol distribution, sale and smuggling too. Regardless, while you can't drink publicly in Iran, it is easy to get a drink. You pick up the phone (or these days, use your smart phone) and call your dealer and it is delivered to your door. Iran has 3 times the average alcohol consumption than elsewhere in the ME outside of Turkey (which has a similar rate of alcohol consumption, despite not having any restrictions like those in Iran). But western tourists who travel to Iran, are generally not those who are traveling to Iran to drink and lay by the pool in some foreign dominated resort. They come to Iran for other things. Occasionally, some of them do get to attend Iranian parties -- and when they do, they will notice alcohol being quite easily served and readily available.
Then you shouldn’t visit Holland, Poland, Thailand, Indonesia, and Turkey either, since insulting the head of state in those countries carries a much bigger punishment than in Iran. Everyone and their mother insults Khamanei everyday in Iran, during Taxi rides and or at the various Cafes etc and nothing happens to them. People who are charged with this stupid law, are either journalists or political activists who may have said something in writing someone didn’t like and they use this law to settle scores with them, or this perverted MAGA idiot who was apparently posting naked pictures of his girlfriend and various insults against her, her family and anyone and everyone publicly on social media while in Iran, in the most conservative Iranian city, Mashhad. The only reason he got arrested though, is because of the harassment complaint, the other charges etc were added on after that, based on his social media posts that were submitted to the court by the victim’s family.
Well, I was speaking broadly about Muslim countries, although I didn't know there weren't even tourist hotels with beer for Westerners. When I was in high school in LA, my mom's best friend (Polish) was (is) married to an Iranian guy. We spent many a party in their house eating fantastic, catered Persian food and consuming rivers of Johnny Walker Black.
There's a law in Poland, indeed, although not enforced. However: A. Beer. B. I wouldn't encourage anyone to visit Poland, especially while PiS is in power. Don't give the fvckers any of your money. C. Beer. D. Beer.
It is the same pretty much if you attend a party in many parts of Iran, especially north Tehran. Elsewhere, you can still find plenty of parties with booze being served, but the drinks won't be Johnny Walker or other brands (they are too expensive these days for all but the more affluent classes in Iran). They will be a Persian version of vodka called 'Aragh" and other home brews and wines. They are cheap and very good.
First of all, alcohol is not forbidden for non-Muslim in Iran. Non-Muslims can produce, sell and buy alcohol legally in Iran. Secondly, most Iranians in Tehran and other mega cities drink alcohol and Iran has a higher alcohol consumption than even some European countries. Iranian “Aragh Sagi” is 80% pure alcohol lol
I know because I watch Anthony Bourdain. But when you're on your hard-earned vacation, there's nothing like sitting in a shaded cafe on a hot day, people-watching, and drinking a cold beer.
As I said already, Iran is probably not for you. There are still others who feel very differently, after having traveled to Iran. Not because they can have the drink in the setting they could have anywhere else, but because of things they will find only in Iran. Here are things that surprised one western tourist visiting Iran the most. Almost everything on the list is replicated in literally thousands of reports from those who have visited Iran. In better reports than even the one by the (late) Anthony Bourdain. In this list, the one that is slightly less common (as most western visitors are very nervous breaking any laws, much more than locals) is the one about alcohol. https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/dest...431338/10-things-that-surprised-me-about-iran 10 things that surprised me about Iran Lorna Thornber 09:07, May 06 2019 ...