Monday February 17, 2003, Erbil, Kurdistan, Iraq

Daily life in Kurdistan under threat of war

People playing football in a new section of the provincial capital of Erbil. The area is named 'soldiers coat' because many militairy men and their families live there.

Credit: Newsha Tavakolian / Polaris

Friday February 14, 2003, Suleymaniya, Kurdistan, Iraq

Daily life in Kurdistan under threat of war

Young Kurds are enjoying a free day and strolling past Suleymaniya's main avenue. Security is high however. The authorities are expecting an attack by either Saddam Hussein or the Islamic group Ansar Al Islam.

Credit: Newsha Tavakolian / Polaris

Saturday February 22, 2003, Erbil, Kurdistan, Iraq

Peshmergas in Erbil

Peshmerga soldiers of the KDP in the streets of Erbil. They maintain security in this town scheduled to host in the coming days a meeting of groups opposed to the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein.

Credit: Newsha Tavakolian / Polaris

Sunday February 16, 2003, Erbil, Kurdistan, Iraq

Daily life in Kurdistan under threat of war

A weapons salesman preforms his daily prayers in his shop in the Erbil weapons market. An AK 47 machine gun costs about 60 dollars.

Credit: Newsha Tavakolian / Polaris

Thursday January 30, 2003, Suleymaniya, Iraq

Iraqi Kurdistan prepares for war

Soldiers of the elite PUK 'Cobra' unit during their training.

Credit: Newsha Tavakolian / Polaris

Thursday February 6, 2003, Sulaymanyah, Iraq

Ahmed Chalabi Chairman of Iraqi National Congress

Iraqi national Congress (INC) leader Ahmed Chalabi making a satellite phone call on the roof of the Sulymaniya Palace hotel.

Credit: Newsha Tavakolian / Polaris

Thursday December 19, 2002, Tehran, Iran

Women in Iran

A young Iranian girl talking on her mobile phone in front of a mosque in the center of Tehran. The texts on the mosaic in the background are from the Quran, about opening your heart for Allah.

Credit: Newsha Tavakolian / Polaris

2002, Island of Kish, Iran

Women in Iran

A young girl passes a Benetton commercial on the Iranian island of Kish. Iranian women are allowed to buy western clothes but not to wear them in public, mainly because they are regarded as too sexy. On the Iranian mainland a commercial like this would be banned, but Kish is a little bit more liberal.

Credit: Newsha Tavakolian / Polaris

Thursday December 19, 2002, Tehran, Iran

Women in Iran

Negin (15) puts on lip gloss as her mother walks in the room. Many Iranian families are very tolerant towards their children.

Credit: Newsha Tavakolian / Polaris

Thursday December 5, 2002, Tehran, Iran

End of Ramadan in Iran

Iranian family gathering at the last day of Ramadan. Mariam prepares to pray before breaking the fast. Noushin (4) plays in the room.

Credit: Newsha Tavakolian / Polaris

2002, Tehran, Iran

Women in Iran

Roonak (25) works at a beauty saloon. She likes piercings because they look modern, but when she visits government places she takes them off because people are not used to them.

Credit: Newsha Tavakolian / Polaris

December 2002, Tehran, Iran

Khomeini murals in Tehran

Flags with faces of the deceased leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the new leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, hanging from a pedestrian bridge in central Tehran.

Credit: Newsha Tavakolian / Polaris

2002, Tehran, Iran

Women in Iran

A young woman waits in the entrance of a restaurant in Tehran. She's waiting for friends. Not everybody can live as freely as this girl from the richer part of the Iranian capital.

Credit: Newsha Tavakolian / Polaris

October 2002, Tehran, Iran

Women in Iran

A fashion show with Islamic clothes created by designer Mahra Zamani. Even though women in Iran are obliged to wear long coats and scarves, there are a lot of variations in Islamic dresses.

Credit: Newsha Tavakolian / Polaris

2002, Tehran, Iran

Women in Iran

Procession during Moharram a religious festival during the holy month of Ashura, when Shiites remember the death of the third Iman Hussein.

Credit: Newsha Tavakolian / Polaris

December 2002, Tehran, Iran

Khomeini murals in Tehran

Celebration for the return of the remains of Iranian soldiers died in the Iran Iraq war (1980-1988). A painting is made of the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (died 1988) and his successor Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (R).

Credit: Newsha Tavakolian / Polaris

June 2001, Tehran, Iran

Khomeini murals in Tehran

Election gathering in a central Tehran mosque. Painting of the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (died 1988).

Credit: Newsha Tavakolian / Polaris

2002, Tehran, Iran

Ayatollah Ali Khamanei

President of Iran, Ayatolah Khamanei.

Credit: Newsha Tavakolian / Polaris

Tuesday November 19, 2002, Tehran, Iran

Students protest

Iranian students behind the gates of Tehran's Modarres University building. They are protesting against the death sentence passed on one of their professors, Hasjem Agajeri.

Credit: Newsha Tavakolian / Polaris

2002, Tehran, Iran

Women in Iran

A man and a women sit in Laleh park. Because of Islamic laws it is not easy to have relations before marriage.

Credit: Newsha Tavakolian / Polaris

Monday December 9, 2002, Tehran, Iran

Students protest

Iranian students fight among each other at Amir Kabir technical university. Reformist students were attacked by the Baseej students who accuse them of insulting the supreme leader of Iran, ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Police were nearby but did not intervene. Four people were wounded. There have been demonstrations in Iran for the past three weeks. What started as a protest against the death sentence of a liberal academic is now turning into broader protest against the lack of freedom in Iran.

Credit: Newsha Tavakolian / Polaris

Tuesday November 19, 2002, Tehran, Iran

Students protest

Iranian students climbing over the gates of Tehran's Modarres University which has been closed. They want to protest there.

Credit: Newsha Tavakolian / Polaris

Friday November 29, 2002, Tehran, Iran

Jerusalem day protest in Tehran

"Quds day" (Jerusalem) celebrations on Tehran's main street. Baseej militia members return home in busses after having protested against what they see as the Israeli occupation of Jerusalem. This boy has dressed himself up as a Palestinian.

Credit: Newsha Tavakolian / Polaris

Thursday February 13, 2003, Zewa, Iraq

Zewa, Iraq along the Turkish/Iraqi/Kurdish border

A Kurdish girl in the town of Zewa looks out the window. She lives one kilometer from a group of Turkish tanks which are based in a safety zone that is ten kilometer wide. She is afraid of the tanks.

Credit: Newsha Tavakolian / Polaris

Wednesday October 2, 2002, Erbil, Kurdistan, Iraq

Kurdish bride

Kurdish bride at wedding party in Erbil.

Credit: Newsha Tavakolian / Polaris

Wednesday March 5, 2003, Rania, Kurdistan, Iraq

Violence in Kurdistan

Family members of five Islamists who were mistaken for terrorists cry for the loss of their loved ones.

Credit: Newsha Tavakolian / Polaris

Wednesday February 19, 2003, Erbil, Kurdistan, Iraq

Iraqi Kurdistan under threat of war

Pejan (9) is handicapped. She lives in a tent camp for families who have been deported from the city of Kirkuk. She and her family had to leave the city three years ago because the oldest son of the family had fled to the Kurdish North. The administration of Saddam Hussein forced them to follow him. Now the family of twelve lives in a mud hut.

Credit: Newsha Tavakolian / Polaris

Sunday February 16, 2003, Kalak, Iraq

Daily life in Kurdistan under threat of war

Near the Kalak border point with Iraq, a small Kurdish girl is afraid of adults who are shouting that all children should get out of the Iraqi line of fire.

Credit: Newsha Tavakolian / Polaris

October 2002, Erbil, Kurdistan, Iraq

Daily life in Kurdistan

A boy rushes his cart full of bread through the rain at the Abril Bazaar.

Credit: Newsha Tavakolian / Polaris

Newsha Tavakolian