External event notice:

Panel discussion on the human rights situation in Iran

Organizers: City of Osnabrück, German Foundation for Peace Research, human rights organization Hawar.help, Center for the Study of Conflict & Peace (CeCoP) at the University of Osnabrück

Monday, May 18, 2026, 7 p.m. – University Auditorium in Osnabrück Castle

As part of the city of Osnabrück's sponsorship of the imprisoned Iranian writer and human rights activist Golrokh Iraee, a panel discussion on the topic "The current developments in Iran and the challenges for human rights work" will take place on May 18, 2026 at 19 p.m. in the auditorium of the university in Osnabrück Castle.

The evening will focus on the current situation of the Iranian civilian population, possible political courses of action for Germany and the EU to improve the human rights situation, and support options for civil society and the opposition in Iran. The role of the Iranian diaspora and the impact of current conflicts on the human rights situation will also be discussed.

We will discuss:

• Dr. Lars Castellucci, Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid
• Mariam Claren from the human rights organization Háwar Help
• Diba Mirzaei from the GIGA Institute for Middle East Studies in Hamburg.

The event will be moderated by Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schneckener (CeCoP, University of Osnabrück).

Admission is free. Registration is not required, however, seating in the auditorium is limited.

Reading of "Dinosaur Child" (2025) with Maryam Aras

in cooperation with the Literature Office West Lower Saxony

Wednesday, May 20, 2026, 7 p.m. – Kunstraum hase29

During a film screening, Maryam Aras spots her father on the cinema screen. He is sitting on the floor among other students at a protest against the Shah's visit to Berlin in 1967. For her, it is the beginning of a search for traces – of her childhood in the Iranian diaspora in Cologne, the certainty that her father cannot travel to Iran, and the story of his and her politicization.

In this literary essay, Maryam Aras writes her father's political biography, tracing narrative threads between the 1953 coup in Iran, a transnational 1968 movement, the Cologne working-class district of Mülheim, and a family history in which the luxury of apolitical living never existed. By illuminating erased history within both the Iranian diaspora and German historiography, Dinosaur Child enables a multi-perspective understanding of our political present.

Maryam Aras was born in Cologne in 1982, where she studied Islamic Studies, English Studies, and Political Science. She writes literary criticism, essays, and academic works, and examines, from a critical perspective on power dynamics, patterns of reception in German-language cultural journalism, feminist Persian-language literature, and postcolonial analyses of German perceptions of Iran. She received a working grant from the Arts Foundation of North Rhine-Westphalia for her project *Dinosaurierkind* (Dinosaur Child). In 2025, she was awarded the Kurt Tucholsky Prize.

Book table: Bookshop zur Heide

No registration required, participation is donation-based

Artist talk with Parastou Forouhar and Nazanin Noori

Tuesday, November 09.06.2026th, 19, XNUMX p.m

Hosted by Eike Brahms

Concert with Ava Rasti

Friday, February 12.06.2026th, 19, XNUMX:XNUMX p.m.

Ava Rasti is an Iranian-born artist who lives and works in the capital city of Tehran. A pianist and bass guitarist, she founded a post-punk girl group in Tehran in her late teens. Since 2020, Rasti has been working as a solo artist, exploring the intersections of ambient, contemporary classical, and drone music. Her strong interest in storytelling has also led her to compose film scores, including the soundtracks for "The Great Yawn of History" and "1001 Frames," which was part of the... Berlinale was presented. After a series of sonically evolved singles, she self-released the albums "Ginestra" and "The Living Room". Meanwhile, the post-classical label 130701 of FatCat Records They signed her latest work, "The River".

No registration required, participation is donation-based

Film screening of "My Stolen Planet" (2024) by Farahnaz Sharifi (director, writer)

in cooperation with the European Media Art Festival

Tuesday, June 16, 2026, 7 p.m. / Warehouse Osnabrück

"My Stolen Planet" tells the story, in diary form, of Farah, a filmmaker born in Iran in 1979, after the Islamic Revolution. Through a collection of 8mm films, she compiles moments of joy and resistance, revealing the contrast between inner freedom and external oppression. By contacting Leila, a university professor who left Iran during the revolution, a face in Farah's archive is given a name and a story. Farah's mother, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, also motivates her to fight against oblivion. Then, in the autumn, the Zan Zendegi Azadi movement begins, marking a turning point for many Iranians.

The documentary "My Stolen Planet" tells a self-created story of Iran by showing moments of peace amidst the turmoil and revealing the complex connection between personal and political life in Iran.

(Persian with German subtitles / 82 min. / suitable for ages 12 and up)