Hamed to Saber · Written in Sydney on 2 October 2026; published on the Persian site on 4 October 2026 Dear Saber, As always, I read your letter with all my heart. Today I realised that we have written more than ten letters to one another. I wonder whether we would have taken up our pens and written so recklessly …

Hamed to Saber · Originally published on 1 October 2026 Hello Saber. How are you? What a question. How could anyone be well in days like these? If you are asking about me, I am far worse than I was in 1401, the Persian year that began in March 2022. These days I have learnt that grief cannot be carried …

Hamed to Saber · Dated 18 September 2026; published on the Persian site on 19 September 2026 Hello Saber, Your letter from Rasht has reached me. According to the calendar, today is my birthday, and I am entering my thirty-sixth year. It is not that birthdays or numbers matter much. But, as people on engineering projects would say, a birthday …

Hamed to Saber · Dated 11 February 2026 in the original letter; published on the Persian site on 9 September 2026 Dear Saber, Your letter has reached me. If you are asking how I am, the answer is not very well. The city I live in bears no resemblance to the city that lives inside me. People here do not …

Hamed to Saber · Originally published on 27 June 2026 If you are asking how I am, the sorrow of migration is slowly giving way to a little happiness. Perhaps things at home have improved just enough to give us room to notice the world outside. Abroad is wet. I do not mean that metaphorically. Since the women here are …

A letter from Hamed to Saber · Originally published on 1 November 2025 My good friend Saber wrote me a humorous letter, so I wrote back in the same spirit. Greetings to the one and only economist of Iran’s oil industry, If you are asking how I am, there is plenty to be gloomy about, and being away from our …

English edition of Hamed Zat Ajam’s Persian commentary. Iran has one of the highest execution rates in the world. Yet imposing a death sentence requires legal procedures and safeguards that can, in ordinary circumstances, slow the work of the security apparatus. This essay examines how the choice of charges and court can be used to work around those safeguards. The …

I am at the airport again. But this time is different. I have always been a traveller. Most of the money I earned went towards travelling. Even during the pandemic, I kept going. I have seen something of the world and of Iran. But every time I left, I knew I would return. I have taken the road from home …

Why abolishing the death penalty does not mean abandoning accountability Whenever I argue against the death penalty, one question returns: what should happen to someone who commits murder? It deserves a serious answer. Behind it are bereaved families, fears about public safety, and the understandable demand that a terrible crime should have consequences. My answer begins with a distinction: opposing …