عليرضا طاهري
Summary of Today's BroadcastRFE/RL Persian ServiceSunday, July 14, 2002 - Tehran reacts to Bush's support for democracy - Reformists' new Internet site - Reformist activists gets 16 years in jail - Taheri cites economic problems - Iran-Iraq relations - Tehran's vulnerability to earthquake Tehran Reacts to Bush's Support for Democracy in Iran * Foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi today said President Bush's statement on Friday in support of democracy in Iran constituted interference in Iran's internal affairs. He also said that the statement signals a deepening of disagreement over Iran within the US administration. Also, former deputy interior minister Mostafa Tajzadeh, a board member of the leftist Mojahedin-e Enqelab-e Eslami, said the best service the US could provide to Iran's reformists is to avoid interfering in the country's internal affairs. (Alireza Taheri) Reformists' New Internet Site * A new website, www.emrooz.org (Today), reflecting the positions of the Tehran regime's reform faction, appeared on the Internet last week. The site's editor is former intelligence ministry deputy Said Hajjarian, a Khatami advisor and owner of the banned reformist newspaper "Sobh-e Emrooz." "People have the right not to know," writes Hajjarian in the first editorial of the site, which displays the logo of his closed newspaper, mirroring that newspaper's "people have the right to know" motto. Hajjarian said people have the right to refuse to hear the conservatives' propaganda. The new website, which claims to be serving the Islamic Republic, prints articles and news that the reformist newspapers are banned from touching. In its recent edition, the website featured the resignation of Esfahan's prayer leader Ayatollah Taheri in his own handwriting and carried various groups' statements of support for Taheri. The national security council had banned any mention of the letter in Iran's newspapers. Among other interesting items in the Emrooz website is the news of the release from jail of Said Askar, Hajjarian's assailant in an assassination attempt that paralyzed Hajjarian two years ago and for which Askar was sentenced to 15 years in jail. (Mehdi Khalaji) Reformist Activist Gets 16 Years in Jail in Khorramabad * A court in Khoramabad, Lorestan province, sentenced writer Mohammad-Ali Gudarzi, head of the coalition of reformist parties in the town of Borujerd, to 16 years in jail and six years exile to the town of Maraqeh, for "insulting" conservative bodies such as the Expediency Council and the Guardians Council. In an interview with RFE/RL, Gudarzi says only a reporter from the conservative newspaper Keyhan was allowed to attend his trial in which the judge selected all the jury and represented the plaintiff judiciary. He says charges against him were based on his recent articles in a local weekly about the assassination of Said Hajjarian and the Expediency Council. He says he has appealed the sentence but cannot afford to hire a lawyer. (Golnaz Esfandiari) Taheri Cites Economic Mismanagement * Ayatollah Jalaledin Taheri, Esfahan prayer leader, cited the dire conditions of the economy as a reason for his shock resignation last week. Iran's per-capita income has fallen by 50 percent in the past 23 years and is lower than that of Tunisia. Iran's influence is linked to its economic power and the protest movement within Iran's clergy is pointing this out. (Fereydoun Khavand, Paris) Iran-Iraq Relations * Deputy foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met with Iraqi foreign minister Naji Sabri to discuss exchange of war prisoners and remains of dead soldiers, expressing Iran's interest to resolve differences with Iraq. (Alireza Taheri) Russian Atomic Energy Minister Meets Tehran's Moscow Envoy * In a meeting with Gholamreza Shafei, Tehran's ambassador, Russia's atomic energy minister Alexander Rumyantsev discussed the phase two of the Bushehr nuclear plant. (Mani Kasravi) Tehran Vulnerable to Earthquake * One million people would die in Tehran in a first few hours after an earthquake in Tehran, writes the AP, reporting on a Tehran City Council bill that would have all Tehran structures examined for vulnerability to earthquake. (Fariba Mavedat, London) Iran's Success in Reducing Pregnancy and Childbirth Deaths * Iran has improved childbirth mortality rate to the level of European countries and has reduced its population growth rate to that of industrial nations, says Daniela Colombo, head of the Rome-based NGO "Associazione Internazionale Donne e Sviluppo (AIDOS)," who returned from a trip to Iran as a consultant to the UN Population Fund. She tells RFE/RL that Islamic rules separating men and women in hospitals have encouraged hospital visits by pregnant women. Iran's more than 40,000 social workers also helped in reducing pregnancy related deaths. Official discrimination against women is a reason for the substantial growth in women activism in Iran, and considering the fact that 60 percent of all university students and recent graduates are women, the discriminations cannot resist the new cultural wave that the Iranian women have created. (Ahmad Ra'fat, Rome) Too Many Airports, Too Few Flights More than 90 percent of Iran's airports have no meaningful economic justification. Most airports do not even have one flight per day, according to MP Vali Azarbakhsh, reporter of the Majles development committee. * Tehran-based transportation reporter Masud Mohajer says most airports were built at the pressure of the Majles deputies and in some localities the public were made to pitch in. He tells RFE/RL that there are no flights in nearly 30 percent of airports and most airports have only one flight per day. Even the new Tehran international airport, the construction of which began before the revolution, does not have economic justification. Transferring the management of the airports to the private sector is the only solution for the airport glut problem. (Shahran Tabari) Return of Censorship Ruins Iranian Cinema In a letter to President Khatami, MP Ahmad Pournejati, head of the Majles culture committee, criticized government policies on the arts, particularly the cinema. He said in 23 years the Islamic Republic has not produced any major, long-lasting art, because authorities consider arts and culture consumer products. * Esfahan-based film critic and scholar Zaven Ghukasian says after a short period of relaxed rules, heavy censorship has returned to Iranian cinema, but the audience does not want to return to the conditions of years past. He tells RFE/RL that people are tired of banal family dramas and sentimental moral fables, but look for films that reflect their lives and their pains. He adds that a part of the recent financial crisis in Iran's cinema is an outcome of the unification of the exchange rate, which increased the cost of film production materials. Government help for the art movies is necessary, but no movie can earn its cost without ticket sales. Cinema and book publishing are two most threatened forms of expression. Movies do not make money and for the past three months nearly no book was permitted to publish. (Mehdi Khalaji) Iran on the Brink? * Paramilitary forces loyal to conservatives may stage a coup in Iran, which is on the verge of explosion, writes the Italian popular weekly newsmagazine Panorama. (Ahmad Ra'fat, Rome) WORLD * India considers Pakistan-based Muslim extremists responsible for the killing of 27 Hindus in Kashmir. (Fariba Mavedat, London) * President Jacque Chirac unhurt in assassination attempt. (Jean Khakzad, Paris) * Morocco's invasion of a Mediterranean island that it claims may bring it head to head with Spain. (Ahmad Ra'fat, Rome) * UN says positive gains in Afghanistan may be lost if the world community does not make good on the pledges of financial aid made during last year's Tokyo conference. (Golnaz Esfandiari) * A popular Russian news website reports that Yeltsin may by planning to replace foreign minister Igor Ivanov. (Mani Kasravi, Moscow) * Germany's head of intelligence says bin Laden is hiding somewhere in the Afghan-Pakistani border area. (Shahram Mirian, Cologne) * China releases its longest held prisoner, a Tibetan. (Golnaz Esfandiari) * More then 400,000 young people dance in the streets during the love parade, but the number was almost half of last year's. (Shahram Mirian, Cologne) * A 58-year-old French skydiver prepares for a record breaking dive from 40,000 feet, using a special outfit developed in ten years of preparation for the dive. (Jean Khakzad, Paris) ARTS AND IDEAS Canadian Photographer Yousuf Karsh Dies at 93 * Obituary (Alireza Taheri) Power and Government in the Passage of Time: A Historical Review * Tehran-based professor of political history Gholamreza Mirza Saleh compares the western and eastern empires. Weekly medical advice (Dr. Mansur Moslehi, Los Angeles)
حميدرضا آصفي، سخنگوي وزارت امورخارجه جمهوري اسلامي گفت بيانيه رئيس جمهوري آمريكا نشان دهنده فقدان درك صحيح از تحولات ايران و دوگانگي روزافزون در هيات حاكمه آمريكا است. رئيس جمهوري آمريكا در بيانيه اخير خود كوشيد حساب مردم ايران را از حساب محافظه كاراني كه فرمانرواوايان واقعي ايران هستند، جدا كند. همچنين مصطفي تاج زاده، معاون سابق وزارت كشور و عضو سازمان مجاهدين انقلاب اسلامي گفت: بزرگترين خدمت آمريكا به اصلاح طلبان اين است كه در امور داخلي ايران دخالت نكند. رئيس جمهوري آمريكا در پيام خود تاكيد كرد كه اگر به مردم اگر حق انتخاب داده شود، آزادي را انتخاب مي كنند و خواهان همان آزادي ها و حقوقي هستند كه مردم سراسر جهان مي خواهند. رئيس جمهوري آمريكا در پيام خود يادآور شد كه اكثريت مردم ايران در سه انتخابات اخير به اصلاحات راي دادند اما مقامات غيرانتخابي كه فرمانرواي واقعي ايران هستند به خواست مردم توجه نشان ندادند.
Summary of Today's BroadcastRFE/RL Persian ServiceSunday, July 14, 2002 - Tehran reacts to Bush's support for democracy - Reformists' new Internet site - Reformist activists gets 16 years in jail - Taheri cites economic problems - Iran-Iraq relations - Tehran's vulnerability to earthquake Tehran Reacts to Bush's Support for Democracy in Iran * Foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi today said President Bush's statement on Friday in support of democracy in Iran constituted interference in Iran's internal affairs. He also said that the statement signals a deepening of disagreement over Iran within the US administration. Also, former deputy interior minister Mostafa Tajzadeh, a board member of the leftist Mojahedin-e Enqelab-e Eslami, said the best service the US could provide to Iran's reformists is to avoid interfering in the country's internal affairs. (Alireza Taheri) Reformists' New Internet Site * A new website, www.emrooz.org (Today), reflecting the positions of the Tehran regime's reform faction, appeared on the Internet last week. The site's editor is former intelligence ministry deputy Said Hajjarian, a Khatami advisor and owner of the banned reformist newspaper "Sobh-e Emrooz." "People have the right not to know," writes Hajjarian in the first editorial of the site, which displays the logo of his closed newspaper, mirroring that newspaper's "people have the right to know" motto. Hajjarian said people have the right to refuse to hear the conservatives' propaganda. The new website, which claims to be serving the Islamic Republic, prints articles and news that the reformist newspapers are banned from touching. In its recent edition, the website featured the resignation of Esfahan's prayer leader Ayatollah Taheri in his own handwriting and carried various groups' statements of support for Taheri. The national security council had banned any mention of the letter in Iran's newspapers. Among other interesting items in the Emrooz website is the news of the release from jail of Said Askar, Hajjarian's assailant in an assassination attempt that paralyzed Hajjarian two years ago and for which Askar was sentenced to 15 years in jail. (Mehdi Khalaji) Reformist Activist Gets 16 Years in Jail in Khorramabad * A court in Khoramabad, Lorestan province, sentenced writer Mohammad-Ali Gudarzi, head of the coalition of reformist parties in the town of Borujerd, to 16 years in jail and six years exile to the town of Maraqeh, for "insulting" conservative bodies such as the Expediency Council and the Guardians Council. In an interview with RFE/RL, Gudarzi says only a reporter from the conservative newspaper Keyhan was allowed to attend his trial in which the judge selected all the jury and represented the plaintiff judiciary. He says charges against him were based on his recent articles in a local weekly about the assassination of Said Hajjarian and the Expediency Council. He says he has appealed the sentence but cannot afford to hire a lawyer. (Golnaz Esfandiari) Taheri Cites Economic Mismanagement * Ayatollah Jalaledin Taheri, Esfahan prayer leader, cited the dire conditions of the economy as a reason for his shock resignation last week. Iran's per-capita income has fallen by 50 percent in the past 23 years and is lower than that of Tunisia. Iran's influence is linked to its economic power and the protest movement within Iran's clergy is pointing this out. (Fereydoun Khavand, Paris) Iran-Iraq Relations * Deputy foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met with Iraqi foreign minister Naji Sabri to discuss exchange of war prisoners and remains of dead soldiers, expressing Iran's interest to resolve differences with Iraq. (Alireza Taheri) Russian Atomic Energy Minister Meets Tehran's Moscow Envoy * In a meeting with Gholamreza Shafei, Tehran's ambassador, Russia's atomic energy minister Alexander Rumyantsev discussed the phase two of the Bushehr nuclear plant. (Mani Kasravi) Tehran Vulnerable to Earthquake * One million people would die in Tehran in a first few hours after an earthquake in Tehran, writes the AP, reporting on a Tehran City Council bill that would have all Tehran structures examined for vulnerability to earthquake. (Fariba Mavedat, London) Iran's Success in Reducing Pregnancy and Childbirth Deaths * Iran has improved childbirth mortality rate to the level of European countries and has reduced its population growth rate to that of industrial nations, says Daniela Colombo, head of the Rome-based NGO "Associazione Internazionale Donne e Sviluppo (AIDOS)," who returned from a trip to Iran as a consultant to the UN Population Fund. She tells RFE/RL that Islamic rules separating men and women in hospitals have encouraged hospital visits by pregnant women. Iran's more than 40,000 social workers also helped in reducing pregnancy related deaths. Official discrimination against women is a reason for the substantial growth in women activism in Iran, and considering the fact that 60 percent of all university students and recent graduates are women, the discriminations cannot resist the new cultural wave that the Iranian women have created. (Ahmad Ra'fat, Rome) Too Many Airports, Too Few Flights More than 90 percent of Iran's airports have no meaningful economic justification. Most airports do not even have one flight per day, according to MP Vali Azarbakhsh, reporter of the Majles development committee. * Tehran-based transportation reporter Masud Mohajer says most airports were built at the pressure of the Majles deputies and in some localities the public were made to pitch in. He tells RFE/RL that there are no flights in nearly 30 percent of airports and most airports have only one flight per day. Even the new Tehran international airport, the construction of which began before the revolution, does not have economic justification. Transferring the management of the airports to the private sector is the only solution for the airport glut problem. (Shahran Tabari) Return of Censorship Ruins Iranian Cinema In a letter to President Khatami, MP Ahmad Pournejati, head of the Majles culture committee, criticized government policies on the arts, particularly the cinema. He said in 23 years the Islamic Republic has not produced any major, long-lasting art, because authorities consider arts and culture consumer products. * Esfahan-based film critic and scholar Zaven Ghukasian says after a short period of relaxed rules, heavy censorship has returned to Iranian cinema, but the audience does not want to return to the conditions of years past. He tells RFE/RL that people are tired of banal family dramas and sentimental moral fables, but look for films that reflect their lives and their pains. He adds that a part of the recent financial crisis in Iran's cinema is an outcome of the unification of the exchange rate, which increased the cost of film production materials. Government help for the art movies is necessary, but no movie can earn its cost without ticket sales. Cinema and book publishing are two most threatened forms of expression. Movies do not make money and for the past three months nearly no book was permitted to publish. (Mehdi Khalaji) Iran on the Brink? * Paramilitary forces loyal to conservatives may stage a coup in Iran, which is on the verge of explosion, writes the Italian popular weekly newsmagazine Panorama. (Ahmad Ra'fat, Rome) WORLD * India considers Pakistan-based Muslim extremists responsible for the killing of 27 Hindus in Kashmir. (Fariba Mavedat, London) * President Jacque Chirac unhurt in assassination attempt. (Jean Khakzad, Paris) * Morocco's invasion of a Mediterranean island that it claims may bring it head to head with Spain. (Ahmad Ra'fat, Rome) * UN says positive gains in Afghanistan may be lost if the world community does not make good on the pledges of financial aid made during last year's Tokyo conference. (Golnaz Esfandiari) * A popular Russian news website reports that Yeltsin may by planning to replace foreign minister Igor Ivanov. (Mani Kasravi, Moscow) * Germany's head of intelligence says bin Laden is hiding somewhere in the Afghan-Pakistani border area. (Shahram Mirian, Cologne) * China releases its longest held prisoner, a Tibetan. (Golnaz Esfandiari) * More then 400,000 young people dance in the streets during the love parade, but the number was almost half of last year's. (Shahram Mirian, Cologne) * A 58-year-old French skydiver prepares for a record breaking dive from 40,000 feet, using a special outfit developed in ten years of preparation for the dive. (Jean Khakzad, Paris) ARTS AND IDEAS Canadian Photographer Yousuf Karsh Dies at 93 * Obituary (Alireza Taheri) Power and Government in the Passage of Time: A Historical Review * Tehran-based professor of political history Gholamreza Mirza Saleh compares the western and eastern empires. Weekly medical advice (Dr. Mansur Moslehi, Los Angeles)
حميدرضا آصفي، سخنگوي وزارت امورخارجه جمهوري اسلامي گفت بيانيه رئيس جمهوري آمريكا نشان دهنده فقدان درك صحيح از تحولات ايران و دوگانگي روزافزون در هيات حاكمه آمريكا است. رئيس جمهوري آمريكا در بيانيه اخير خود كوشيد حساب مردم ايران را از حساب محافظه كاراني كه فرمانرواوايان واقعي ايران هستند، جدا كند. همچنين مصطفي تاج زاده، معاون سابق وزارت كشور و عضو سازمان مجاهدين انقلاب اسلامي گفت: بزرگترين خدمت آمريكا به اصلاح طلبان اين است كه در امور داخلي ايران دخالت نكند. رئيس جمهوري آمريكا در پيام خود تاكيد كرد كه اگر به مردم اگر حق انتخاب داده شود، آزادي را انتخاب مي كنند و خواهان همان آزادي ها و حقوقي هستند كه مردم سراسر جهان مي خواهند. رئيس جمهوري آمريكا در پيام خود يادآور شد كه اكثريت مردم ايران در سه انتخابات اخير به اصلاحات راي دادند اما مقامات غيرانتخابي كه فرمانرواي واقعي ايران هستند به خواست مردم توجه نشان ندادند.
