Status/الوضع

On August 10th 2021, Hamid Nouri, a former prosecutor in Iran, went on trial in Sweden for his alleged role in the executions of thousands of political prisoners in Iran in 1988. The historic trial against Nouri, will hear testimonies from dozens of witnesses and it will be the first time that one of the worst crimes of the past 40 years in Iran will be examined in a court of law.

In July 1988, the Islamic Republic of Iran agreed to bring an end to the brutal eight-year war with Iraq. Over the next two months, under the orders of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini, political prisoners around the country were secretly brought before a tribunal panel that would later become known as the Death Commission. Thousands of men and women were condemned to death, and many buried in mass graves in Khavaran Cemetery in the vicinity of Tehran.

Through eyewitness accounts of survivors, research by scholars and memories of children and spouses of the deceased, Nasser Mohajer's new book "Voices of a Massacre," reconstructs the events of that bloody summer, which has still not officially acknowledged by the Iranian government.

VOMENA host Malihe Razazan spoke with Nasser Mohajer about The 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners, the significance of Hamid Nouri and the charges against him.

A year after the blast in the port of Beirut, Lebanon sinks into a severe economic crisis which the World Bank ranks in the top 10, and possibly top 3, most severe crises episodes globally since the mid-nineteenth century. Electricity, gas and even medicine are in short supply in the country. Angry residents wait in line for hours to fill their car tanks while others lucky enough to be able to connect to the internet run online campaigns asking Lebanese expats visiting the country for the summer, to bring with them the much needed medicines for loved ones.

How did the blast from the Beirut port exacerbate the current economic and political crisis in the country and what's life like today for millions of Lebanese people and for the victims of the port blast and their families?

VOMENA Host Mira Nabulsi speaks with Lara Bitar, the editor in chief of The Public Source, a Beirut-based independent media organization dedicated to long-form and in-depth journalism in the public interest.

In this episode, Huma Gupta speaks with Rawan Maki about fast fashion and the question of sustainability in Bahrain and beyond. They explore the past, present, and speculative futures of the fashion industry. Maki traces the life-cycle of the clothing we wear everyday, mapping its geographies from the crops and petroleum necessary to produce organic and synthetic fibers, the individuals who farm, weave, and sew the garments to shipping, distribution, tailoring and purchasing networks. Since fast fashion is a leading contributor to pollution, resource depletion, and climate change, this episode evaluates the promise of alternative frameworks like "slow fashion" and the social, psychological, and artistic shifts that it requires.

In conversation with Malihe Razazan, Gianfranco Rosi discusses his film "Notturno" (2020) which was shot over a 3 year period along the borders between Syria, Iraq, Kurdistan, and Lebanon, giving voice to a human drama that transcends geographical divisions and time.

Courtesy of Voices of the Middle East and North Africa (VOMENA).

In this interview, Noah Black sat down with Issam Eido to discuss his work, key questions he approaches, and how he approaches them in his study of the epistemology of testimony and hadith studies.

In this interview, Noah Black sat down with Dr. Evren Altinkas to discuss his work, what brought him to it, and how he approaches key questions in the study of the intellectual history of Turkey.

Huma Gupta and Camille Cole speak with Dr. Caterina Scaramelli about Turkey's wetland ecosystems, which range from alluvial forests to fishing lagoons, salt marshes, and volcanic crater lakes. Scaramelli unpacks how these shallow water ecosystems are materially and discursively produced into a flattened category called 'wetlands' by conservationists, ornithologists, and government agencies engaged in swamp reclamation.

Huma Gupta speaks with Todd Reisz about the transformation of the marshy estuary known as Dubai Creek (خور دبي‎) into infrastructure – a process which was central to the city's architectural and urban development projects in the twentieth century. Reisz discusses the spatial, architectural, ecological and economic relationships between the creek, its inhabitants, and the city. These relationships were forever transformed in the mid-twentieth century through the 1955 Halcrow Plan for Dubai Creek and John Harris' 1959 Master Plan for Dubai, which necessitated the use of concrete and steel to harden the creek's fluid landscape in order to engender an expectation of predictability, economic growth, and real estate speculation.

In part 2, Chanelle and Isabella are joined by Jose Hamza Saldaña, the Director of Release Aging People in Prison, or RAPP. Mr. Saldana describes the unique health challenges of the aging incarcerated population, who often suffer from multiple chronic conditions that cannot be properly managed in prison. He challenges the racist and vengeful system of prolonged incarceration and advocates for compassionate release to allow for rehabilitation and re-entry into society. Chanelle and Isabella reflect on the accounts they heard of the inadequacies and injustices of prison health care and discuss some systemic changes to mediate these injustices. They end with recommendations to health care providers to ensure they are best meeting the needs of individuals with criminal justice involvement.

To learn more about RAPP: https://rappcampaign.com/about/

In part 1, medical students Chanelle Simmons and Isabella Giunta explore the impact of mass incarceration on the health of individuals and communities. Through collected anecdotes, they illustrate the failures of prisons to provide their inmates with adequate health care, even in life-threatening situations. They also describe the history of racist policies and practices that allow for this inhumane treatment. They are joined by Jarrell E. Daniels, a prison reform activist, mentor to youth emerging from juvenile detention, and research assistant at the Center for Justice at Columbia University. Jarrell shares the obstacles he faced while trying to access health care in prison and discusses the necessary changes to be made to ensure people in prison receive the care they need.