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RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
_________________________________________ ____________________
RFE/RL Iran Report
Vol. 9, No. 25, 12 July 2006
A Review of Developments in Iran Prepared by the Regional Specialists
of RFE/RL's Newsline Team
******************************************** ****************
HEADLINES
* NEW ANTI-ISRAEL CAMPAIGN IN IRAN
* IRANIAN NUCLEAR DECISION NOT FORTHCOMING
* IRAN DEVELOPS NEW LINE OF MISSILES
* ARMENIAN PRESIDENT AND IRAQI SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT VISIT IRAN
* IRANIANS AMONG CASUALTIES IN IRAQI SUICIDE BOMBING
* IRAN ATTACKS KURDS IN IRAQ
* TEHRAN ATTRIBUTES ETHNIC STRIFE TO FOREIGN INVOLVEMENT
* IRANIAN MINORITIES EXPERIENCE HOUSING DIFFICULTIES
* UNPAID WORKERS PROTEST IN NORTHWEST IRAN
* TRUCK CRASH SHAKES SHIRAZ
* INTELLECTUAL LABELED U.S. AGENT
* JOURNALIST THREATENS MASS HUNGER STRIKE TO FREE POLITICAL PRISONERS
**************************************** ********************
NEW ANTI-ISRAEL CAMPAIGN IN IRAN. The Students' Justice-Seeking
Movement and the Students' Headquarters for the Support of
Palestine will raise funds in Tehran for Israel's annihilation,
Fars News Agency reported on July 6. The first collection will take
place after the Friday Prayers on July 7. On July 8, according to
Fars, "Global Slumber and the Need to Support Palestine" will be
shown at the Kosar Hall next to the Mellat Bank in Tehran.
In Isfahan, fundraising has commenced at 80 local Basij
Resistance Force bases and 92 student Basij bases, provincial
television reported on July 5. Colonel Moradi, commander of the Basij
in the town of Shahreza, said he expects the fundraising drive --
called Labayk Ya Khamenei (We are ready to give a positive response
to your call O' Khamenei) -- to raise some $55,000.
A July 5 statement from the Isfahan Province Islamic
Publicity Coordination Council called on people to participate in
anti-U.S. and anti-Israel rallies after the July 7 Friday Prayers,
Isfahan Provincial television reported. According to the statement,
"Usurper Israel has realized its own futility and worthlessness and,
supported by criminal America, it has increased the fire of its
grudge and bloodthirstiness to maximum and is continuing its
indiscriminate murder of the oppressed people of Palestine." (Bill
Samii)
IRANIAN NUCLEAR DECISION NOT FORTHCOMING. The visit to Brussels of
Iran's top nuclear negotiator, which was scheduled for July 5,
was postponed for a day for security reasons, according to Iranian
news agencies. Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali
Larijani was scheduled to meet with EU High Representative for Common
Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana, and an anonymous "informed
source" said the presence of Israeli assassins in Brussels led to the
delay, Mehr News Agency reported. An unnamed Iranian "security
official" said the alleged hit teams were backed by Israel and
"certain European states," the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA)
reported. Iranian Speaker of Parliament Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel gave a
less precise explanation, telling state television, "A technical
reason, rather than a political issue, has been behind the
postponement of the visit."
Larijani attended a dinner with Solana in Brussels on July 6,
AFP reported. Larijani said Iran will not respond right away to the
international community's proposal that purportedly calls on Iran
to suspend its uranium-enrichment activities in exchange for various
incentives until international inspectors confirm that the
country's nuclear program has no military applications. Solana
delivered the proposal to Tehran in early June. Larijani said the
response would not come either at that evening's dinner or on
July 11, when talks with officials from the countries behind the
proposal are scheduled to take place. Tehran has said repeatedly that
it must consider the proposal carefully, but also has said that the
proposal is vague in some key areas.
Tehran's slow response to the international nuclear
proposal has led to calls for it to act with greater haste.
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Muhammad el-Baradei said on
July 6 in Ankara, "We hope that Iran will respond promptly and
positively, we hope, to the offer that was made by the six
countries," Radio Farda reported. He added, "we need to get the
parties to start the negotiations, and the earlier we get the parties
to the negotiating table the better for everybody.... I hope that
Iran also understands that the international community is getting
somewhat impatient, and the earlier they can provide an answer the
better for everybody."
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said on July 6
in Paris, "We call on the Iranians to give a rapid response to our
offer. It is important that we receive rapid, concrete answers," AFP
reported.
European Commission spokeswoman Emma Udwin said on July 5 in
Brussels that there is "disappointment" in "Iran's slowness,"
Radio Farda reported.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on July 4 in London,
"What I'd like is a response [to the international offer of
incentives] as soon as possible because I don't really see what
more there is to talk about," Radio Farda reported. Blair voiced
concern that Tehran might harbor the false hope that it can "divide
the international community." (Bill Samii)
IRAN DEVELOPS NEW LINE OF MISSILES. Defense and Armed Forces
Logistics Minister Mohammad Mustafa Najjar said on June 28 in Tehran
that Iran is among the top six countries in the production of
armor-piercing missiles, IRNA reported. He went on to say that
country's defense industries are part of national development
plans for the next two decades. (Bill Samii)
ARMENIAN PRESIDENT AND IRAQI SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT VISIT IRAN.
Armenian President Robert Kocharian on July 6 concluded a two-day
visit to Iran during which he met with his counterpart, President
Mahmud Ahmadinejad, international news agencies reported. Kocharian
was accompanied by Energy Minister Armen Movsisian, Foreign Minister
Vartan Oskanian, and Deputy Foreign Minister Armen Kirakosian. The
Iranian and Armenian sides signed seven memorandums of understanding;
most related to energy issues, but several dealt with legal matters
and cultural preservation. Noyan Tapan and the Armenian "Lragir"
newspaper reported on July 6 that the most important topic of
discussion was the construction of a natural-gas pipeline connecting
the two countries. RFE/RL's Armenian Service reported on July 6
that another important topic was connection of the two countries'
electricity grids.
Mahmud al-Mashhadani, speaker of the Iraqi parliament, met
with Ayatollah Abbas Vaez-Tabasi, head of the Imam Reza Shrine
Foundation and the provincial representative of Iran's Supreme
Leader, during a visit to the western Iranian city of Mashhad on July
6, IRNA reported. During the meeting, al-Mashhadani said the United
States is occupying Iraq because it wants to create a "Greater
Israel," IRNA reported. Al-Mashhadani added that the United States
and Israel are working against stability in Iraq, and he attributed
the rule of the former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to the United
States, saying, "Saddam was appointed in Iraq by the United States
itself to help it materialize its arrogant goals." Al-Mashhadani
called for a greater Iranian role in his country's
reconstruction. Al-Mashhadani arrived in Iran on July 3 at the
invitation of his Iranian counterpart, Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel. (Bill
Samii)
IRANIANS AMONG CASUALTIES IN IRAQI SUICIDE BOMBING. Thirteen people
were killed and another 41 were wounded on 6 July when a suicide
bomber's vehicle exploded between two buses carrying Iranian
pilgrims in the city of Al-Kufah, which is north of Al-Najaf,
Al-Sharqiyah Television and Reuters reported. Munther al-Athari, the
head of Najaf's health service, said eight of the dead were
Iranians, Reuters reported. Islamic Republic of Iran News Network
Television reported that five Iranian pilgrims lost their lives and
22 others were wounded.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Assefi
condemned the incident and blamed the U.S., Islamic Republic of Iran
News Network Television reported. He described this as a barbaric act
that only benefits Iraq's enemies. He added, "The wrong policy of
the American occupiers and their refusal to accept responsibility in
Iraq have led to the growth of terrorism and ruthless behavior in
that country; and the terrorists by counting on America's
erroneous approach, continue their crimes." (Bill Samii)
IRAN ATTACKS KURDS IN IRAQ. An Iranian army spokesman announced on
July 1 that Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) forces sustained heavy
losses when Iranians attacked their positions in the northern Iraqi
town of Sidikan, Iran's Arabic-language Al-Alam television
reported. The spokesman said the attack was in response to PKK
activities near the Iranian city of Salmas. The next day, a statement
from the PKK-affiliated People's Defense Forces (HPG) said
Iranian and Turkish armed forces suffered great losses during clashes
with the HPG, Roj Television reported. The HPG statement claimed that
18 Iranian soldiers and two local militiamen were killed near the
Iranian towns of Marivan and Baneh on June 28. Turkish personnel
reportedly were killed on June 29. Two HPG members lost their lives
as well, it claimed. (Bill Samii)
TEHRAN ATTRIBUTES ETHNIC STRIFE TO FOREIGN INVOLVEMENT. Minister of
Intelligence and Security Hojatoleslam Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Ejei
said on July 2 in Tehran that his agency has countered many
conspiracies by Iran's enemies over the last 10 months, state
television reported. He said the United States has the greatest
motivation to act against Iran, Mehr News Agency reported, and he
indicated that the U.S. intervention is motivated by Iran's gains
in military power. Mohseni-Ejei also mentioned the funds for
democracy legislation requested by U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice in February, and added that, in fact, much more
money than that has been spent by Washington to destabilize Iran.
Mohseni-Ejei claimed that the United States has dispatched many spies
to Iran since the election of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad in June
2005. Referring to the continuing ethnic disturbances in the
northwest, southwest, and southeastern parts of Iran, Mohseni-Ejei
said ethnic groups in these areas deserve more attention because the
United States is trying to exploit them.
On July 1, in Mahabad, legislator Alaedin Borujerdi said
government investigations show that the United States and Britain are
behind unrest in the Khuzestan and Sistan va Baluchistan provinces,
IRNA reported. (Bill Samii)
IRANIAN MINORITIES EXPERIENCE HOUSING DIFFICULTIES. UN special
rapporteur Miloon Kothari released a report on housing on June 29,
and part of that document focused on Iran. According to the report,
Kothari visited neighborhoods in and around Tehran, as well as the
Boyerahmad va Kohkiluyeh, Fars, Kerman, Kermanshah, and Khuzestan
provinces, and he heard testimony relating to Ilam and Sistan va
Baluchistan provinces. Rural land is being expropriated and its
inhabitants evacuated to make way for agricultural and petrochemical
projects, the report notes. "In some regions, these expropriations
seem to have targeted disproportionately property and land of
religious and ethnic minorities, such as Baha'i cemeteries, but
also houses" -- some 640 Baha'i properties, including cemeteries
and shrines, have been confiscated since 1980. People are not fairly
compensated. There are "allegations of procedural irregularities and
bias against ethnic and religious minorities" in cases of
expropriation. Minorities face "disproportionately poor living
conditions" -- for example, Arabs, Kurds, and Muslim Sufis have
"extremely unsatisfactory" living conditions in Kermanshah and
Khuzestan. Laws relating to inheritance are harmful to minorities,
according to the report, and favor Muslims. (Bill Samii)
UNPAID WORKERS PROTEST IN NORTHWEST IRAN. Employees of a china and
porcelain factory in the northwestern city of Tabriz staged a protest
on June 27 against five-months of wage arrears, the Iranian Labor
News Agency (ILNA) reported. During that time, workers told ILNA,
they only received a onetime payment of 500,000 rials (roughly $57).
The factory's managing director told ILNA he would pay the
employees as soon as he can, but there has been a slump in demand for
the products. (Bill Samii)
TRUCK CRASH SHAKES SHIRAZ. A truck carrying 8,000 liters of gasoline
crashed into a high-voltage electricity pole in the city of Shiraz on
June 26, and fuel that leaked into the sewage system exploded, state
radio reported. Gholam-Hussein Monshi, an official with the city
sanitation department, stressed that the underground sewage system
was not damaged because the gas leaked into surface canals only, IRNA
reported. Fars Province Governor-General Ebrahim Azizi said the blast
killed one person and injured four others, IRNA reported. More than
20 cars were reported damaged. The Shiraz emergency hospital reported
that six people who fell into the canal received immediate medical
treatment.
In eastern Iran on June 26, 22 people lost their lives when a
bus and a truck crashed head-on, Reuters reported. The accident took
place on the highway connecting Birjand and Nahbandan. (Bill Samii)
INTELLECTUAL LABELED U.S. AGENT. Minister of Intelligence and
Security Hojatoleslam Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Ejei discussed the cases
of jailed intellectual Ramin Jahanbegloo and former Tehran
parliamentary representative and student activist Ali Akbar
Musavi-Khoeni on July 2, Radio Farda reported. Mohseni-Ejei said
Jahanbegloo was trying, at U.S. instigation, to bring about a
nonviolent, "Velvet-type" revolution in Iran. The investigation into
Jahanbegloo's case is continuing, Mohseni-Ejei added, and he
claimed that the United States is training members of NGOs at
overseas locations. Turning to Musavi-Khoeni, Mohseni-Ejei said the
former legislator's participation in a women's rights rally
on June 12 was illegal and that is why he was arrested, Radio Farda
reported. Most other people arrested then have been released, but
Mohseni-Ejei did not explain this inconsistency. (Bill Samii)
JOURNALIST THREATENS MASS HUNGER STRIKE TO FREE POLITICAL PRISONERS.
Dissident Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji has threatened to organize a
hunger-strike "movement" in several Western cities if the government
does not release three Iranian political prisoners as soon as
possible and unconditionally. The most prominent of the three is
noted scholar and author Ramin Jahanbegloo, who is accused of working
with the United States to bring down Iran's Islamic regime
through a nonviolent revolution. Former reformist legislator and the
head of the alumni association of Iran's main reformist student
group, Ali Akbar Musavi-Khoeni, and bus-driver union leader Mansur
Osanlu are the others.
Akbar Ganji reiterated his call for Iranian officials to
release Ramin Jahanbegloo, Mansur Osanlu, and Ali Akbar Musavi-Khoeni
during an interview with Radio Farda on June 30 while he was in
Germany.
Ganji said that Osanlu and Musavi-Khoeni represent Iran's
intellectual, workers', and student movements whose members, he
says, have been under pressure.
He said they should be freed and he has called on all
freedom-loving Iranians and human rights defenders to join him.
"We've called on the regime to free these three prisoners
immediately," he said. "If they will not be freed soon, I have
planned with some friends a hunger strike against the Iranian regime
in England, in France, in Germany, in the U.S. and across the world
to bring the world's attention to the vast human rights
violations in the Islamic Republic of Iran."
Ganji -- one of Iran's most prominent investigative
journalists -- was freed in March after spending more than five years
in prison because of his critical articles.
During his jail term he remained defiant and on at least two
occasions he went on a long hunger strike to protest his conditions.
Ganji has been on a European tour for the last month and has
condemned human rights abuses in Iran wherever he speaks.
"Iran's Islamic regime is continuing its political
repression and human rights violations like before," he said. "One of
the tools for political repression is arbitrary and illegal arrests.
They arrest people because of their opinions and because of dissent."
Ganji noted that many human rights activists and
intellectuals have called for the release of Jahanbegloo,
Musavi-Khoeni, and Osanlu.
He added that since Iranian authorities have not paid
attention to these calls, a general hunger strike seems to be the
only way to press for their release.
In recent weeks several separate statements have been issued
by activists and intellectuals in protest of the detentions of the
three men.
In the case of Jahanbegloo, personalities such as Nobel Peace
Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Literature Prize winner J.M.
Coetzee, acclaimed Italian writer Umberto Eco, and prominent
historian and author Timothy Garton Ash have joined the call for his
release.
Jahanbegloo is a well-known philosopher who has published
several books in French, English, and Persian on issues as ranging as
intellectual thought in Iran and Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi and his
nonviolent resistance.
He has been detained since April 27 without access to a
lawyer.
Minister of Intelligence and Security Hojatoleslam
Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Ejei said on July 2 that Jahanbegloo is one of
the people who was arrested "in line with the U.S. effort to
instigate a velvet [or] soft revolution in Iran."
Some of Jahanbegloo's colleagues and friends have
expressed concern that he could be under pressure to make forced
confessions.
This method has been used -- though largely unsuccessfully --
by Iran in the past to discredit critics.
There is also growing concern about Musavi-Khoeni, who was
arrested in Tehran during a June 12 women's rights gathering.
Seventy men and women were arrested for attending the protest
against legal gender discrimination. All have been freed except for
Musavi-Khoeni.
Former legislator Fatemeh Haghighatjoo tells RFE/RL that
Musavi-Khoeni's case is being reviewed by the hard-line
revolutionary court.
"This is a matter of concern because it is possible that they
will bring new charges against him such as espionage or toppling the
regime," he said. "During his term in the parliament he worked hard
for the closure of secret and illegal prisons; he also defended the
rights of political prisoners. These are among issues that can lead
to new cases against him especially because he has been a defender of
student rights and also the rights of women and workers."
Human rights activists are also worried about the fate
Osanlu, the president of the Syndicate of Workers of the Tehran Bus
Company.
He has been in jail since last December on unspecified
charges. He reportedly helped organize demonstrations against bus
drivers' work conditions.
On June 30, the student website advarnews.com reported that
student leader Abdullah Momeni welcomes Ganji's call for the
release of Osanlu and other prisoners.
Momeni is quoted as saying that Ganji's resistance while
imprisoned provides a lesson for all Iranians who are longing for a
change.
He added: "I think students and those close to the students
have the capacity to express their readiness for a protest."
Iran's most prominent living poet, Simin Behbehani, has
also expressed support for Ganji's initiative.
Behbehani told Radio Farda that any action that would lead to
the release of Iran's political prisoners is "necessary." (By
Golnaz Esfandiari; Radio Farda correspondent Nazi Azima contributed
to this report.)
**************************************** *****************
Copyright (c) 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.
The "RFE/RL Iran Report" is a weekly prepared by A. William Samii on
the basis of materials from RFE/RL broadcast services, RFE/RL
Newsline, and other news services. It is distributed every Monday.
Direct comments to A. William Samii at [email protected].
For information on reprints, see:
http://www.rferl.org/about/content/request.as p
Back issues are online at http://www.rferl.org/reports/iran-report/
_________________________________________ ____________________
RFE/RL Iran Report
Vol. 9, No. 25, 12 July 2006
A Review of Developments in Iran Prepared by the Regional Specialists
of RFE/RL's Newsline Team
******************************************** ****************
HEADLINES
* NEW ANTI-ISRAEL CAMPAIGN IN IRAN
* IRANIAN NUCLEAR DECISION NOT FORTHCOMING
* IRAN DEVELOPS NEW LINE OF MISSILES
* ARMENIAN PRESIDENT AND IRAQI SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT VISIT IRAN
* IRANIANS AMONG CASUALTIES IN IRAQI SUICIDE BOMBING
* IRAN ATTACKS KURDS IN IRAQ
* TEHRAN ATTRIBUTES ETHNIC STRIFE TO FOREIGN INVOLVEMENT
* IRANIAN MINORITIES EXPERIENCE HOUSING DIFFICULTIES
* UNPAID WORKERS PROTEST IN NORTHWEST IRAN
* TRUCK CRASH SHAKES SHIRAZ
* INTELLECTUAL LABELED U.S. AGENT
* JOURNALIST THREATENS MASS HUNGER STRIKE TO FREE POLITICAL PRISONERS
**************************************** ********************
NEW ANTI-ISRAEL CAMPAIGN IN IRAN. The Students' Justice-Seeking
Movement and the Students' Headquarters for the Support of
Palestine will raise funds in Tehran for Israel's annihilation,
Fars News Agency reported on July 6. The first collection will take
place after the Friday Prayers on July 7. On July 8, according to
Fars, "Global Slumber and the Need to Support Palestine" will be
shown at the Kosar Hall next to the Mellat Bank in Tehran.
In Isfahan, fundraising has commenced at 80 local Basij
Resistance Force bases and 92 student Basij bases, provincial
television reported on July 5. Colonel Moradi, commander of the Basij
in the town of Shahreza, said he expects the fundraising drive --
called Labayk Ya Khamenei (We are ready to give a positive response
to your call O' Khamenei) -- to raise some $55,000.
A July 5 statement from the Isfahan Province Islamic
Publicity Coordination Council called on people to participate in
anti-U.S. and anti-Israel rallies after the July 7 Friday Prayers,
Isfahan Provincial television reported. According to the statement,
"Usurper Israel has realized its own futility and worthlessness and,
supported by criminal America, it has increased the fire of its
grudge and bloodthirstiness to maximum and is continuing its
indiscriminate murder of the oppressed people of Palestine." (Bill
Samii)
IRANIAN NUCLEAR DECISION NOT FORTHCOMING. The visit to Brussels of
Iran's top nuclear negotiator, which was scheduled for July 5,
was postponed for a day for security reasons, according to Iranian
news agencies. Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali
Larijani was scheduled to meet with EU High Representative for Common
Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana, and an anonymous "informed
source" said the presence of Israeli assassins in Brussels led to the
delay, Mehr News Agency reported. An unnamed Iranian "security
official" said the alleged hit teams were backed by Israel and
"certain European states," the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA)
reported. Iranian Speaker of Parliament Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel gave a
less precise explanation, telling state television, "A technical
reason, rather than a political issue, has been behind the
postponement of the visit."
Larijani attended a dinner with Solana in Brussels on July 6,
AFP reported. Larijani said Iran will not respond right away to the
international community's proposal that purportedly calls on Iran
to suspend its uranium-enrichment activities in exchange for various
incentives until international inspectors confirm that the
country's nuclear program has no military applications. Solana
delivered the proposal to Tehran in early June. Larijani said the
response would not come either at that evening's dinner or on
July 11, when talks with officials from the countries behind the
proposal are scheduled to take place. Tehran has said repeatedly that
it must consider the proposal carefully, but also has said that the
proposal is vague in some key areas.
Tehran's slow response to the international nuclear
proposal has led to calls for it to act with greater haste.
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Muhammad el-Baradei said on
July 6 in Ankara, "We hope that Iran will respond promptly and
positively, we hope, to the offer that was made by the six
countries," Radio Farda reported. He added, "we need to get the
parties to start the negotiations, and the earlier we get the parties
to the negotiating table the better for everybody.... I hope that
Iran also understands that the international community is getting
somewhat impatient, and the earlier they can provide an answer the
better for everybody."
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said on July 6
in Paris, "We call on the Iranians to give a rapid response to our
offer. It is important that we receive rapid, concrete answers," AFP
reported.
European Commission spokeswoman Emma Udwin said on July 5 in
Brussels that there is "disappointment" in "Iran's slowness,"
Radio Farda reported.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on July 4 in London,
"What I'd like is a response [to the international offer of
incentives] as soon as possible because I don't really see what
more there is to talk about," Radio Farda reported. Blair voiced
concern that Tehran might harbor the false hope that it can "divide
the international community." (Bill Samii)
IRAN DEVELOPS NEW LINE OF MISSILES. Defense and Armed Forces
Logistics Minister Mohammad Mustafa Najjar said on June 28 in Tehran
that Iran is among the top six countries in the production of
armor-piercing missiles, IRNA reported. He went on to say that
country's defense industries are part of national development
plans for the next two decades. (Bill Samii)
ARMENIAN PRESIDENT AND IRAQI SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT VISIT IRAN.
Armenian President Robert Kocharian on July 6 concluded a two-day
visit to Iran during which he met with his counterpart, President
Mahmud Ahmadinejad, international news agencies reported. Kocharian
was accompanied by Energy Minister Armen Movsisian, Foreign Minister
Vartan Oskanian, and Deputy Foreign Minister Armen Kirakosian. The
Iranian and Armenian sides signed seven memorandums of understanding;
most related to energy issues, but several dealt with legal matters
and cultural preservation. Noyan Tapan and the Armenian "Lragir"
newspaper reported on July 6 that the most important topic of
discussion was the construction of a natural-gas pipeline connecting
the two countries. RFE/RL's Armenian Service reported on July 6
that another important topic was connection of the two countries'
electricity grids.
Mahmud al-Mashhadani, speaker of the Iraqi parliament, met
with Ayatollah Abbas Vaez-Tabasi, head of the Imam Reza Shrine
Foundation and the provincial representative of Iran's Supreme
Leader, during a visit to the western Iranian city of Mashhad on July
6, IRNA reported. During the meeting, al-Mashhadani said the United
States is occupying Iraq because it wants to create a "Greater
Israel," IRNA reported. Al-Mashhadani added that the United States
and Israel are working against stability in Iraq, and he attributed
the rule of the former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to the United
States, saying, "Saddam was appointed in Iraq by the United States
itself to help it materialize its arrogant goals." Al-Mashhadani
called for a greater Iranian role in his country's
reconstruction. Al-Mashhadani arrived in Iran on July 3 at the
invitation of his Iranian counterpart, Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel. (Bill
Samii)
IRANIANS AMONG CASUALTIES IN IRAQI SUICIDE BOMBING. Thirteen people
were killed and another 41 were wounded on 6 July when a suicide
bomber's vehicle exploded between two buses carrying Iranian
pilgrims in the city of Al-Kufah, which is north of Al-Najaf,
Al-Sharqiyah Television and Reuters reported. Munther al-Athari, the
head of Najaf's health service, said eight of the dead were
Iranians, Reuters reported. Islamic Republic of Iran News Network
Television reported that five Iranian pilgrims lost their lives and
22 others were wounded.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Assefi
condemned the incident and blamed the U.S., Islamic Republic of Iran
News Network Television reported. He described this as a barbaric act
that only benefits Iraq's enemies. He added, "The wrong policy of
the American occupiers and their refusal to accept responsibility in
Iraq have led to the growth of terrorism and ruthless behavior in
that country; and the terrorists by counting on America's
erroneous approach, continue their crimes." (Bill Samii)
IRAN ATTACKS KURDS IN IRAQ. An Iranian army spokesman announced on
July 1 that Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) forces sustained heavy
losses when Iranians attacked their positions in the northern Iraqi
town of Sidikan, Iran's Arabic-language Al-Alam television
reported. The spokesman said the attack was in response to PKK
activities near the Iranian city of Salmas. The next day, a statement
from the PKK-affiliated People's Defense Forces (HPG) said
Iranian and Turkish armed forces suffered great losses during clashes
with the HPG, Roj Television reported. The HPG statement claimed that
18 Iranian soldiers and two local militiamen were killed near the
Iranian towns of Marivan and Baneh on June 28. Turkish personnel
reportedly were killed on June 29. Two HPG members lost their lives
as well, it claimed. (Bill Samii)
TEHRAN ATTRIBUTES ETHNIC STRIFE TO FOREIGN INVOLVEMENT. Minister of
Intelligence and Security Hojatoleslam Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Ejei
said on July 2 in Tehran that his agency has countered many
conspiracies by Iran's enemies over the last 10 months, state
television reported. He said the United States has the greatest
motivation to act against Iran, Mehr News Agency reported, and he
indicated that the U.S. intervention is motivated by Iran's gains
in military power. Mohseni-Ejei also mentioned the funds for
democracy legislation requested by U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice in February, and added that, in fact, much more
money than that has been spent by Washington to destabilize Iran.
Mohseni-Ejei claimed that the United States has dispatched many spies
to Iran since the election of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad in June
2005. Referring to the continuing ethnic disturbances in the
northwest, southwest, and southeastern parts of Iran, Mohseni-Ejei
said ethnic groups in these areas deserve more attention because the
United States is trying to exploit them.
On July 1, in Mahabad, legislator Alaedin Borujerdi said
government investigations show that the United States and Britain are
behind unrest in the Khuzestan and Sistan va Baluchistan provinces,
IRNA reported. (Bill Samii)
IRANIAN MINORITIES EXPERIENCE HOUSING DIFFICULTIES. UN special
rapporteur Miloon Kothari released a report on housing on June 29,
and part of that document focused on Iran. According to the report,
Kothari visited neighborhoods in and around Tehran, as well as the
Boyerahmad va Kohkiluyeh, Fars, Kerman, Kermanshah, and Khuzestan
provinces, and he heard testimony relating to Ilam and Sistan va
Baluchistan provinces. Rural land is being expropriated and its
inhabitants evacuated to make way for agricultural and petrochemical
projects, the report notes. "In some regions, these expropriations
seem to have targeted disproportionately property and land of
religious and ethnic minorities, such as Baha'i cemeteries, but
also houses" -- some 640 Baha'i properties, including cemeteries
and shrines, have been confiscated since 1980. People are not fairly
compensated. There are "allegations of procedural irregularities and
bias against ethnic and religious minorities" in cases of
expropriation. Minorities face "disproportionately poor living
conditions" -- for example, Arabs, Kurds, and Muslim Sufis have
"extremely unsatisfactory" living conditions in Kermanshah and
Khuzestan. Laws relating to inheritance are harmful to minorities,
according to the report, and favor Muslims. (Bill Samii)
UNPAID WORKERS PROTEST IN NORTHWEST IRAN. Employees of a china and
porcelain factory in the northwestern city of Tabriz staged a protest
on June 27 against five-months of wage arrears, the Iranian Labor
News Agency (ILNA) reported. During that time, workers told ILNA,
they only received a onetime payment of 500,000 rials (roughly $57).
The factory's managing director told ILNA he would pay the
employees as soon as he can, but there has been a slump in demand for
the products. (Bill Samii)
TRUCK CRASH SHAKES SHIRAZ. A truck carrying 8,000 liters of gasoline
crashed into a high-voltage electricity pole in the city of Shiraz on
June 26, and fuel that leaked into the sewage system exploded, state
radio reported. Gholam-Hussein Monshi, an official with the city
sanitation department, stressed that the underground sewage system
was not damaged because the gas leaked into surface canals only, IRNA
reported. Fars Province Governor-General Ebrahim Azizi said the blast
killed one person and injured four others, IRNA reported. More than
20 cars were reported damaged. The Shiraz emergency hospital reported
that six people who fell into the canal received immediate medical
treatment.
In eastern Iran on June 26, 22 people lost their lives when a
bus and a truck crashed head-on, Reuters reported. The accident took
place on the highway connecting Birjand and Nahbandan. (Bill Samii)
INTELLECTUAL LABELED U.S. AGENT. Minister of Intelligence and
Security Hojatoleslam Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Ejei discussed the cases
of jailed intellectual Ramin Jahanbegloo and former Tehran
parliamentary representative and student activist Ali Akbar
Musavi-Khoeni on July 2, Radio Farda reported. Mohseni-Ejei said
Jahanbegloo was trying, at U.S. instigation, to bring about a
nonviolent, "Velvet-type" revolution in Iran. The investigation into
Jahanbegloo's case is continuing, Mohseni-Ejei added, and he
claimed that the United States is training members of NGOs at
overseas locations. Turning to Musavi-Khoeni, Mohseni-Ejei said the
former legislator's participation in a women's rights rally
on June 12 was illegal and that is why he was arrested, Radio Farda
reported. Most other people arrested then have been released, but
Mohseni-Ejei did not explain this inconsistency. (Bill Samii)
JOURNALIST THREATENS MASS HUNGER STRIKE TO FREE POLITICAL PRISONERS.
Dissident Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji has threatened to organize a
hunger-strike "movement" in several Western cities if the government
does not release three Iranian political prisoners as soon as
possible and unconditionally. The most prominent of the three is
noted scholar and author Ramin Jahanbegloo, who is accused of working
with the United States to bring down Iran's Islamic regime
through a nonviolent revolution. Former reformist legislator and the
head of the alumni association of Iran's main reformist student
group, Ali Akbar Musavi-Khoeni, and bus-driver union leader Mansur
Osanlu are the others.
Akbar Ganji reiterated his call for Iranian officials to
release Ramin Jahanbegloo, Mansur Osanlu, and Ali Akbar Musavi-Khoeni
during an interview with Radio Farda on June 30 while he was in
Germany.
Ganji said that Osanlu and Musavi-Khoeni represent Iran's
intellectual, workers', and student movements whose members, he
says, have been under pressure.
He said they should be freed and he has called on all
freedom-loving Iranians and human rights defenders to join him.
"We've called on the regime to free these three prisoners
immediately," he said. "If they will not be freed soon, I have
planned with some friends a hunger strike against the Iranian regime
in England, in France, in Germany, in the U.S. and across the world
to bring the world's attention to the vast human rights
violations in the Islamic Republic of Iran."
Ganji -- one of Iran's most prominent investigative
journalists -- was freed in March after spending more than five years
in prison because of his critical articles.
During his jail term he remained defiant and on at least two
occasions he went on a long hunger strike to protest his conditions.
Ganji has been on a European tour for the last month and has
condemned human rights abuses in Iran wherever he speaks.
"Iran's Islamic regime is continuing its political
repression and human rights violations like before," he said. "One of
the tools for political repression is arbitrary and illegal arrests.
They arrest people because of their opinions and because of dissent."
Ganji noted that many human rights activists and
intellectuals have called for the release of Jahanbegloo,
Musavi-Khoeni, and Osanlu.
He added that since Iranian authorities have not paid
attention to these calls, a general hunger strike seems to be the
only way to press for their release.
In recent weeks several separate statements have been issued
by activists and intellectuals in protest of the detentions of the
three men.
In the case of Jahanbegloo, personalities such as Nobel Peace
Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Literature Prize winner J.M.
Coetzee, acclaimed Italian writer Umberto Eco, and prominent
historian and author Timothy Garton Ash have joined the call for his
release.
Jahanbegloo is a well-known philosopher who has published
several books in French, English, and Persian on issues as ranging as
intellectual thought in Iran and Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi and his
nonviolent resistance.
He has been detained since April 27 without access to a
lawyer.
Minister of Intelligence and Security Hojatoleslam
Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Ejei said on July 2 that Jahanbegloo is one of
the people who was arrested "in line with the U.S. effort to
instigate a velvet [or] soft revolution in Iran."
Some of Jahanbegloo's colleagues and friends have
expressed concern that he could be under pressure to make forced
confessions.
This method has been used -- though largely unsuccessfully --
by Iran in the past to discredit critics.
There is also growing concern about Musavi-Khoeni, who was
arrested in Tehran during a June 12 women's rights gathering.
Seventy men and women were arrested for attending the protest
against legal gender discrimination. All have been freed except for
Musavi-Khoeni.
Former legislator Fatemeh Haghighatjoo tells RFE/RL that
Musavi-Khoeni's case is being reviewed by the hard-line
revolutionary court.
"This is a matter of concern because it is possible that they
will bring new charges against him such as espionage or toppling the
regime," he said. "During his term in the parliament he worked hard
for the closure of secret and illegal prisons; he also defended the
rights of political prisoners. These are among issues that can lead
to new cases against him especially because he has been a defender of
student rights and also the rights of women and workers."
Human rights activists are also worried about the fate
Osanlu, the president of the Syndicate of Workers of the Tehran Bus
Company.
He has been in jail since last December on unspecified
charges. He reportedly helped organize demonstrations against bus
drivers' work conditions.
On June 30, the student website advarnews.com reported that
student leader Abdullah Momeni welcomes Ganji's call for the
release of Osanlu and other prisoners.
Momeni is quoted as saying that Ganji's resistance while
imprisoned provides a lesson for all Iranians who are longing for a
change.
He added: "I think students and those close to the students
have the capacity to express their readiness for a protest."
Iran's most prominent living poet, Simin Behbehani, has
also expressed support for Ganji's initiative.
Behbehani told Radio Farda that any action that would lead to
the release of Iran's political prisoners is "necessary." (By
Golnaz Esfandiari; Radio Farda correspondent Nazi Azima contributed
to this report.)
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Copyright (c) 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.
The "RFE/RL Iran Report" is a weekly prepared by A. William Samii on
the basis of materials from RFE/RL broadcast services, RFE/RL
Newsline, and other news services. It is distributed every Monday.
Direct comments to A. William Samii at [email protected].
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