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Summary of Iran Stories of Today's BroadcastsBehnam NateghiThursday, January 09, 2003
<b> Khatami's Possible Reactions to Reform Bills' Rejection</b>
* Reformist MP Mohsen Mirdamadi, head of the Majles national security and foreign relations committee, predicted yesterday in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine that the conservative Guardians Council will approve or compromise on a version of President Khatami's bills to expand presidential powers and reform the election law, but Hasan Shariatmadari, the conservative publisher of the hard-line evening newspaper Kayhan, said in an interview with the Reuters news agency that the Guardians Council would reject the bills. He said Khatami and his reformist followers were only bluffing when they threatened to exit the regime through mass resignations.
* Tehran-based reformist journalist Ahmad Zeydabadi tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that Khatami had said that it would not be necessary to remain in office after the rejection of his reform bills. Zeydabadi says the rejection of these bills by the Guardians Council would mean an end to the reform movement and would show that the regime cannot be reformed. (Maryam Ahmadi, Washington))
<b>Judiciary Jails Dissident Students</b>
* Hossein Zarehzadeh, secretary of the committee to defend political prisoners in Iran and a spokesman of the dissident party the democratic front (Jebheh-ye Demokratik-e Iran), tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that he was summoned to a branch of the Tehran Islamic Revolutionary Court on Wednesday for interrogation on charges of anti-regime activity and insulting top Islamic officials in interviews with foreign radios. In an interview, he says, he charged that with his official statements, the Supreme Leader boosts the hardliners who beat protesting students. He says Kianoush Sanjari, another Democratic Front board member, was convicted to five years in prison. He adds that several other Democratic Front activists and supporters were sentenced to jail terms from 3 to 8 years. He says the Democratic Front founder Heshmatollah Tabarzadi has for the past six months been in solitary confinement at the Evin prison, and the judiciary has apparently decided to keep his case in limbo. (Iraj Arianpour)
<b>Congressman Gutknecht Sees Iran Ripe for Change</b>
* Congressman Gil Gutknecht (R-Minnesota) tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that Iran is ripe for change. He says the more people of Iran can be confronted with the facts through <b>Radio Farda</b> or through other media opportunities, the better chances they would to make necessary changes happen in Iran. People of Iran obviously desire change, he adds. Gutknecht tells young Iranians that history is always on the side of those who demand freedom and opportunities. (Mahtab Farid)
<b>Sexual Discrimination and the Spread of AIDS in Iran</b>
* Yale University public health professor Dr. Ramin Ahmadi tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that respect for women's rights and gender equality are the cornerstones of a healthy and disease-free sexual life. (Maryam Ahmadi)
<b>Iraqi Kurdish Leader Talabani Meets with Tehran-based Saddam Opposition</b>
* Jalal Talabani, secretary-general of the patriotic union of Iraqi Kurdistan, in Iran on a four-day visit, met with head of the Tehran-based Shiite opposition group High Council of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq. They agreed to hold the meeting of the opposition's coordinating committee in Arbil, Iraq. (Mahdieh Javid)
<b>Amnesty International Protests Amputation of Limbs</b>
* Amnesty International said yesterday that four young men have been sentenced by Shiraz judiciary to amputation of limbs on charges of armed anti-regime activity and robbery. Amnesty said it has documented at least 9 cases in 2002 in which amputation of limbs was ordered by Iranian courts, but the actual number could be much higher. (Golnaz Esfandiari)
<b>Judge Transfers Abdi Out of Solitary</b>
* Saleh Nikbakht, a lawyer for pollster and political activist Abbas Abdi said yesterday that judge Sa'id Montazeri transferred Abdi and his co-defendants in the pollsters' case to a group cellblock at Evin prison. Abdi, Hossein Ghazian and Behruz Geranpayeh, officials of two padlocked polling agencies, have spent more than two months in solitary confinement. They were arrested on charges of spying for the US and selling secret government documents after the publication of a poll that showed 74 percent of the respondents favor the resumption of US-Iran relations. The Islamic Iran Participation Front, the pro-reform party of which Abdi is a board member, said in a statement yesterday that Abdi's long solitary confinement amounted to torture. But Abdi's lawyer said Abdi has not been physically or mentally harmed. (Mina Baharmast)
* Minister of Information Ali Yunesi said the secret documents the pollsters have been accused of selling to foreign powers were three pages of intelligence ministry reports stamped "Top Secret," but the contents of the documents were not secret. The judiciary has not made public the nature of the secret documents. (Mehdi Khalaji)
<b>Police State, Barracks State: Hajjarian Condemns Totalitarianism</b>
* In an article in the monthly Aftab, presidential advisor and leading reformist strategist Sa'id Hajjarian said the ruin of ideology leads to the rise of the police state, monopoly of power and authoritarianism. (Mehdi Khalaji)
<b>Afghan FM in Tehran</b>
* In his talks with Iranian officials today, Afghan foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah is to discuss Afghanistan's blocking of the Hirmand River into Iran. (Ardavan Niknam)
<b>Car Crash Victims Increase by 15 Percent</b>
* Deputy transportation minister Ahmad Majidi said 118,000 died in car crashes last year, 15 percent more than the previous year. With the current budget, it would take 74 years for the transportation ministry to fix all the 500 accident prone turns in Iran's roads and highways, he added. (Baktash Khamsehpour)
<b>Young Iranians Indifferent to the Regime's Factions</b>
* In an article on the youth population in Iran, the Paris daily Le Monde writes that young Iranians are indifferent to the regime and the on-going conflict among its two factions. (Jean Khakzad)
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در حاليكه گمانه زني در باره سرنوشت دو لايحه تببين اختيارات رئيس جمهوري و اصلاح قانون انتخابات ادامه دارد، روز سه شنبه، روزنامه فرانكفورتر آلگماينه به نقل از محسن ميردامادي از اعضاي شوراي مركزي جبهه مشاركت نوشت شوراي نگهبان احتمالا يا اين لوايح را مي پذيرد يا دست به مصالحه مي زند، بنابراين اصلاح طلبان خود را از حاكميت كنار نخواهند كشيد. حسين شريعتمداري، نماينده رهبر جمهوري اسلامي در موسسه انتشاراتي كيهان، در مصاحبه با خبرگزاري رويتر گفت دو لايحه مذكور با شرع قانون اساسي مغايرت دارد. وي احتمال استعفاي خاتمي در صورت رد اين لوايح و تهديد اصلاح طلبان به خروج از حاكميت را بلوف سياسي خواند.
احمد زيدآبادي، روزنامه نگار اصلاح گرا، در مصاحبه با راديوفردا مي گويد: خود خاتمي گفته است كه ماندنش بر سر قدرت بعد از رد اين دو لايحه ديگر ضرورت ندارد. وي مي افزايد: در ايران شرايط بن بستي به وجود آمده است و رد لوايح خاتمي نشان خواهد داد كه اصلاحات شكست خورده است و نظام اصلاح پذير نيست.
