BERLIN // The daughter of a close associate of the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has applied for asylum in Germany after presenting a film about torture and totalitarianism at a cultural festival.
Narges Kalhor, 25, refused to return to Iran after attending the 12-day Film Festival for Human Rights in Nuremburg. Her 10-minute film, The Rake, about a deadly machine that tortures prisoners, indirectly criticises the Iranian regime and was featured at the festival.
She is living in a refugee centre in the town of Zirndorf, near Nuremburg in Bavaria, southern Germany, the spokesman for the festival, Matthias Rüd, told The National. "This came as a complete surprise to us. We will offer her whatever support we can," he said.
Her father, Mahdi Kalhor, advises Mr Ahmadinejad on cultural and media affairs and is regarded as a close confidant of the president.
Ms Kalhor told the Financial Times Deutschland, a business daily, that she had intended to travel back to Iran but received a phone call warning her that she would probably be arrested at the airport if she returned, because the Iranian authorities had learnt about her film through the internet.
"The film mirrors our psychological situation in Iran, I hope viewers will detect parallels," she said.
In an interview with a fellow Iranian filmmaker, Hana Makhmalbaf ,posted on YouTube on Monday, Narges Kalhor voiced support for Iran's reform movement and said she did not believe her father knew about her plans. "I'm certain he hasn't seen my film or knew about this festival or where I am," she said. "I came from my own desire, for cinema, and I have to continue." In the interview she wore a green scarf - the colour of the Iranian opposition.
Her father told Iran's official IRNA news agency that he knew nothing about his daughter's films or her plans to leave the country, and accused the Iranian opposition of exploiting her for its purposes.
"This issue is one of the symbols of a media and soft war that the opposition has launched," IRNA quoted him as saying. He said he had divorced Narges's mother a year ago and that she was an opponent of Mr Ahmadinejad. Ms Kalhor had been living with her mother.
The Rake is based on Franz Kafka's short story The Penal Colony and is set in Iran. The Rake is a machine that punishes convicted prisoners by carving the commandment they had disobeyed into their bodies. It is a symbol of totalitarian barbarism, the Nuremburg festival said on its website.
In the film, the protagonist "stops and destroys the machine - and with it the system for which it has stood", says the festival in a summary of the film, one of five shown in a special segment on Iran.
"The film was very well received," said Mr Rüd. He said Ms Kalhor had taken part in panel discussions during the festival.
It usually takes months for asylum requests to be processed in Germany. All asylum seekers in Bavaria have to live in the Zirndorf facility, a home for up to 500 people, in the initial stage of their application, before being moved to asylum-seeker homes across the state.
The number of Iranians seeking asylum in Germany has more than doubled since July after the Iranian government's clampdown on opposition protesters in the wake of the disputed re-election of Mr Ahmadinejad in June.
A total of 182 people from Iran applied for asylum in September, up from 84 in July. In the past three months, Iran has ranked third in the list of countries from which citizens have sought asylum, behind Iraq and Afghanistan, according to figures released by the German interior ministry on Monday.
The Iranian opposition leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi, this week accused hardliners of using Inquisition-style methods to suppress reformers after the election.
"It seems some people are trying to take us back to the Inquisition era," Mr Mousavi said on Saturday, referring to mass trials, the closure of pro-reform newspapers and restrictions on political parties in Iran, the Etemad newspaper reported on Monday.
The Inquisition was a Catholic tribunal intended to counter the Reformation in Europe. It used imprisonment and torture and reached its height in the 16th century.
Mr Mousavi, who finished second in the election, says the June 12 poll was rigged to secure Mr Ahmadinejad's re-election.
The Iranian authorities have rejected the allegations and in August began a series of mass trials of people accused of fomenting the opposition demonstrations in the days after the election.
The Iranian news agency ISNA reported on Saturday that a court had sentenced three people to death over the street unrest and links to exiled opposition groups.
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Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Three-day coronation
Royal purification
The entire coronation ceremony extends over three days from May 4-6, but Saturday is the one to watch. At the time of 10:09am the royal purification ceremony begins. Wearing a white robe, the king will enter a pavilion at the Grand Palace, where he will be doused in sacred water from five rivers and four ponds in Thailand. In the distant past water was collected from specific rivers in India, reflecting the influential blend of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology on the coronation. Hindu Brahmins and the country's most senior Buddhist monks will be present. Coronation practices can be traced back thousands of years to ancient India.
The crown
Not long after royal purification rites, the king proceeds to the Baisal Daksin Throne Hall where he receives sacred water from eight directions. Symbolically that means he has received legitimacy from all directions of the kingdom. He ascends the Bhadrapitha Throne, where in regal robes he sits under a Nine-Tiered Umbrella of State. Brahmins will hand the monarch the royal regalia, including a wooden sceptre inlaid with gold, a precious stone-encrusted sword believed to have been found in a lake in northern Cambodia, slippers, and a whisk made from yak's hair.
The Great Crown of Victory is the centrepiece. Tiered, gold and weighing 7.3 kilograms, it has a diamond from India at the top. Vajiralongkorn will personally place the crown on his own head and then issues his first royal command.
The audience
On Saturday afternoon, the newly-crowned king is set to grant a "grand audience" to members of the royal family, the privy council, the cabinet and senior officials. Two hours later the king will visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred space in Thailand, which on normal days is thronged with tourists. He then symbolically moves into the Royal Residence.
The procession
The main element of Sunday's ceremonies, streets across Bangkok's historic heart have been blocked off in preparation for this moment. The king will sit on a royal palanquin carried by soldiers dressed in colourful traditional garb. A 21-gun salute will start the procession. Some 200,000 people are expected to line the seven-kilometre route around the city.
Meet the people
On the last day of the ceremony Rama X will appear on the balcony of Suddhaisavarya Prasad Hall in the Grand Palace at 4:30pm "to receive the good wishes of the people". An hour later, diplomats will be given an audience at the Grand Palace. This is the only time during the ceremony that representatives of foreign governments will greet the king.
Sri Lanka squad
Dinesh Chandimal, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kaushal Silva, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Lahiru Thirimanne, Niroshan Dickwella, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Rangana Herath, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep, Lakshan Sandakan, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Jeffrey Vandersay, Milinda Siriwardana, Roshen Silva, Akila Dananjaya, Charith Asalanka, Shaminda Eranga and Dhammika Prasad.
Keep it fun and engaging
Stuart Ritchie, director of wealth advice at AES International, says children cannot learn something overnight, so it helps to have a fun routine that keeps them engaged and interested.
“I explain to my daughter that the money I draw from an ATM or the money on my bank card doesn’t just magically appear – it’s money I have earned from my job. I show her how this works by giving her little chores around the house so she can earn pocket money,” says Mr Ritchie.
His daughter is allowed to spend half of her pocket money, while the other half goes into a bank account. When this money hits a certain milestone, Mr Ritchie rewards his daughter with a small lump sum.
He also recommends books that teach the importance of money management for children, such as The Squirrel Manifesto by Ric Edelman and Jean Edelman.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Checks continue
A High Court judge issued an interim order on Friday suspending a decision by Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots to direct a stop to Brexit agri-food checks at Northern Ireland ports.
Mr Justice Colton said he was making the temporary direction until a judicial review of the minister's unilateral action this week to order a halt to port checks that are required under the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Civil servants have yet to implement the instruction, pending legal clarity on their obligations, and checks are continuing.
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
