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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>
* In an interview yesterday with the Frankfurter Allgemeine, reformist MP Mohsen Mirdamadi, head of the Majles national security and foreign relations committee, predicted that the conservative Guardians Council will approve or will compromise on a version of President Khatami's bills to expand presidential powers and reform the election law, but in an interview with the Reuters news agency, hardline daily Kayhan's publisher Hasan Shariatmadari said that the Guardians Council would reject the bills. He said Khatami and his reformist followers bluffed 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 by the GC. Zeydabadi says the rejection of these bills would mean an end to the reform movement and would show that the regime cannot be reformed. (Maryam Ahmadi)
<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 Death Toll Rises 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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كمال خرازي، وزير امورخارجه جمهوري اسلامي كه امروز براي ديدار با مقامات يونان، رئيس ادواري اتحاديه اروپا، وارد آتن شد، گفت: جنگ با عراق ضرورتي ندارد زيرا بغداد به طور كامل با بازرسان سازمان ملل همكاري مي كند. خرازي در خاتمه ديدار خود با جرج پاپاندرو، وزير امورخارجه يونان، گفت جمهوري اسلامي نگران اوضاع خاورميانه و خليج فارس است و بر اين نظر است كه جنگي بيهوده عليه عراق به ويژه اگر بدون نظرپرسي از كشورهاي همجوار عراق انجام شود، عواقب ناگواري براي منطقه به همراه خواهد داشت. وي افزود ايران از هجوم پناهندگان عراقي به ايران نگران است و از اتحاديه اروپا براي كمك به آوارگان احتمالي كمك خواست. وي گفت عراق در اسلحه هاي شيميائي عليه نيروهاي آمريكا استفاده خواهد كرد.
