political prisoners are not nominees of opposition, at least in current Iran.

under the shah, we were entitled as savages by foreigners and they were payed for this, we couldn't send foreigners to trials, and we didn't have any rights at all. what you saw (or heard of) back then, were about 10% of the population, living in good conditions. PEOPLE overthrown the shah, because of the problems they were facing each day. now, girls are about 67% of those who can enter universities, and are working in almost every GO or NGO with a huge participation percent. in shah's times, we were nothing, now, we have everything, and most important of them is sovereignty, independence and freedom. revolution was not a one-day happening. people had been seeking it since mashrute (Constitutional Revolution) and gained it back in 1979.

__________________
Darkness imprisoning me
All that I see
Absolute horror
I cannot live
I cannot die
Trapped in myself
Body my holding cell

Land mine has taken my sight
Taken my speech
Taken my hearing
Taken my arms
Taken my legs
Taken my soul
Left me with life in hell

iran persecutes gays, women, and people of other religions, and the persecution is again on the rise behind mockminanutjob. Just one example of iran's total evil, of millions of possible examples:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7215043.stm

Iran jails Bahai 'propagandists'

Bahais, whose headquarters are in Haifa, are seen as heretics in Iran
Iran has sentenced three members of the Bahai faith to four years in jail for security offences and 51 others to suspended prison terms.

They were convicted for propaganda against the system in the southern city of Shiraz, a judiciary spokesman said, without giving details.

The Bahai faith is viewed as heresy by Iran's religious authorities.

The spokesman said the 51 suspended sentences were conditional on attending courses by state propaganda officials.

The defendants were arrested early last year, according to officials.

The authorities said they were proselytising in the southern city of Shiraz under the cover of helping the poor.

Speaking at his regular news conference, spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi said the 51 had already been freed.

Iran's constitution recognises only Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism as legitimate religions.

__________________
Qur'an:8:39 Fight them until all opposition ends and all submit to Allah.
Qur'an:8:67 It is not fitting for any prophet to have prisoners until he has made a great slaughter in the land.
Qur'an 8:12 I will terrorize the unbelievers...Strike off their heads and cut off each of their fingers and toes.
Qur'an 9:5 Fight and kill the disbelievers wherever you find them, take them captive, torture them, and lie in wait and ambush them using every stratagem of war.

Eleanor... I sincerely hope the majority of the people on this forum see past your facade. Ever comment I've read of yours is anti-Islamic and shows that you have ZERO knowledge about the religion and it's teachings. Further, the quotes from the Qur'an in your signature are the same one-line quotes that EVERY Islamophobe quotes. Read the sentences before and after those verses, and the message is completely different.

I hope everyone else here gets that, or this country is in worse shape than I thought.