سياوش اردلان، مصاحبه با محمدحسين جعفريان، احمدنقيب زاده، پيروز مجتهدزاده
Summary of Today's BroadcastRFE/RL Persian ServiceThursday, July 25, 2002 - Exchange of Iran-Iraq POW remains - Menem denies Iran bribe - Nowruz to resume under Khatami's brother - Jailed student afraid to appeal his sentence - Tehran city council votes to impeach mayor - Majles calls for Guardians deliberations to be public - Morality police squads to be punished for violations Iran-Iraq Exchange POW Remains * Thousands in Tehran participated yesterday in the official funeral for the 570 Iranians who died in captivity in Iraq as POWs of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. They were swapped with the remains of the Iraqi POWs who had died in Iran. Though officially the POWs had died of natural causes, conservative journalist Mohammad Hussein Jafarian says they were "martyred" under Iraqi torture. But he cautions that this should not give rise to factional disputes over issues such as Tehran's foreign policy in dealing with Iraq. Tehran University international relations professor Ahmad Naqibzadeh says most probably these POWs died under torture, and he asks whether the ambiguity surrounding the deaths may be the result of a tacit agreement between the two governments. Tehran University geopolitics professor Parviz Mojtahedzadeh says more important than the exchange of bodies are the still unresolved issues such as Iran-Iraq borders, war reparations and the implementation of the 1975 Algeria agreement, as had been promised by Saddam. (Siavash Ardalan) Menem Denies Taking Bribe from Iran * Former Argentine president Carlos Menem denied having received $10 million to cover up Tehran's role in the 1994 bombing of Buenos Aires Jewish center. The charge was repeated last Monday in an article in the New York Times, quoting a sealed report that Menem said was passed to the Times by his opponents in next year's presidential elections. The witness in the report quoted by NYT, Abolqasem Mesbahi, a former Iranian intelligence officer who defected to Germany in 1996, said Tehran also contributed to Menem's presidential campaign. (Fariba Mavedat, London) Nowruz May Resume Under New Publisher * The culture minister Ahmad Masjed-Jamei said the banned reformist newspaper Nowruz can resume publication as soon as its new publisher is approved by the press supervisory council. The council is expected to approve President Khatami's brother Mohammad Reza for the job in an emergency meeting scheduled for Saturday. An appeals court ordered the paper closed for six months and confirmed the six months jail sentence handed down by the press court to Nowruz publisher and head of the Majles national security and foreign relations committee Mohsen Mirdamadi. Reformist newspaper "Aftab Yazd" warned that Mirdamadi's absence might damage next week's trip to Tehran by EU representative Javier Solana. Also, Isa Saharkhiz, former director of the culture ministry's domestic press division, wrote in the reformist website emrooz.com that the press supervisory council blocks issuing new newspaper licenses. (Ardavan Niknam) Jailed Student's Father Says He Won't Appeal His Jail Sentence * The father of jailed student activist Farzad Hamidi says his son fears that an appeal court may increase his sentence and so will not appeal the one-year jail term he received on July 9 for contacting jailed student Manuchehr Mohammadi, leaking news from prison and calling for struggle against the regime. Hamidi tells RFE/RL that his son has been held in solitary confinement for the past six months and has been refused access to a lawyer. He adds that during the sentencing, the judge apologized to his son for the torture he had endured in prison. (Golnaz Esfandiari) Tehran City Council to Impeach Mayor on Air Rights * Five city council members voted to impeach Tehran mayor Mohammad-Hossein Malek-Madani over his decision to stop selling air rights in excess of planned capacity to high-rise developers in seven neighborhoods. His decision had nearly doubled real estate prices in Tehran and vicinity. Tehran-based urban affairs journalist Hamid Eslami says the city council did not hold a meeting for three weeks because the members disagreed on discussing the air rights issue behind closed doors or in open meeting. The mayor defended his decision in Wednesday's city council session but apologized for having made it without consultating the city council. He said a moratorium on selling air rights in congested neighborhoods would benefit Tehranis and should not be blamed for the high real estate prices. (Mahmonir Rahimi) Majles Bill Calls for Open Meetings of the Guardians Council * A bill proposed yesterday by a group of reformists MPs calls for making the Guardians Council's discussions of Majles bills open to the public. The MPs are certain that their bill, if approved by the Majles, would be rejected by the Guardians Council. RFE/RL's Mehdi Khalaji says the MPs want to make the closed-door meetings of the Guardians Council a campaign issue and remind the public of the dangers of decision-making in secret. Tehran Weighs Post-Saddam Options * Tehran is signaling clearly that it opposes any U.S. military intervention in Iraq, but behind the scenes, there are signs that Tehran is weighing how it might benefit from any overthrow of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, writes RFE/RL's Charles Recknagel. Police Chief Admits to "Violations" by Morality Police Units * The interior ministry's social deputy announced yesterday that officers of the recently deployed morality police units, Yekan-e Vizheh (Special Unit), would be punished for violations committed during their crackdown on "social corruption." Though the police chief says violations by the units have declined, their treatment of the young men and women they pull aside for their clothes, hair style or for walking with the opposite sex have met loud complaints from the Majles and the reformist press. A young Tehrani, who tells RFE/RL that the new force, Yekan-e Vizhe, can be distinguished from the city police by their uniforms and their cars, recently picked up a friend of his late at night for being in the street and confiscated his student ID. It took him a week to get it back. He says people generally believe that some of the members of the new elite police force are Arabs. (Ardavan Niknam) Young People and Summer Holidays * Head of national youth organization Ahmad Meshkini said due to conflicting interpretations of religion by the authorities, young people in Iran face a recreational crisis. RFE/RL interviews a high school student and a university student in Tehran about things they do during summer holidays. (Mahmonir Rahimi) ECO Agriculture Ministers Gather in Islamabad * The agriculture ministers of 17 member nations of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) gathered for the first time in a meeting in Islamabad, Pakistan. The ECO, which began with Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, now includes the six former Soviet republics in Central Asia and Afghanistan. Since seventy percent of the 300 million people covered by ECO live off the land, cooperation in the field of agriculture would be a logical place to start, if ECO countries decide to begin cooperating. (Fereydoun Khavand) WORLD * Arab League spokesman Talat Hamed tells RFE/RL that an emergency Arab League meeting in Cairo issued a statement condemning Israel's attack on residential neighborhood in Gaza. (Jamshid Chalangi, Cairo) * French president Chirac meets in Paris with the heads of Egypt and Jordan and Israel foreign minister Peres. (Jean Khakzad, Paris) * Iran and Syria seek to open a second front against Israel through the Hezbollah, writes Ambassador Dennis Ross in the Wall Street Journal. (Shahran Tabari) * UN social-economic council approves the anti-torture protocol, opposed by the US, Iran, Nigeria and Cuba. (Golnaz Esfandiari) * Anti-globalization activists demonstrate in Strassbourg. (Jean Khakzad, Paris) * AFP article on George de Paris, White House tailor for the past 40 years. (Jean Khakzad, Paris) * The only inhabitant of Perejil island off the coast of Morocco, claims to be the real owner of the Island. (Ahmad Ra'fat, Rome) * At a conference at Georgetown University. Seven transitional government ministers warn about shortage of funds for Afghanistan's reconstruction program. (Homayoun Majd, Washington) * A German expert on Afghanistan tells Frankfurter Allgemeine that Karzai needs to strengthen the central government by cutting the influence of local warlords. (Shahram Mirian, Cologne) * North Korea switches to Chinese style capitalism, writes AFP. (Jean Khakzad, Paris) * Twenty-third media studies conference gathers 700 experts from 72 countries in Barcelona, Spain. (Ahmad Ra'fat, Rome) ARTS AND IDEAS Los Angeles Report Meeting Veteran Pop Singer Sakhai * Veteran pop singer and media executive Manuchehr Sakhai tells RFE/RL about his start in radio thirty years ago and his new CDs. (Fahimeh Barati) Drumming Doctor * Prominent Los Angeles physician Dr. Reza Torshizi tells RFE/RL that he always makes time to play the Persian drum in amateur and professional ensembles. (Fahimeh Barati, Los Angeles) * Weekly soccer news and commentary. (Mehrdad Masudi, London)
هزاران نفر از مردم تهران ديروز در مراسم رسمي تشييع جنازه 570 سربازي كه اعلام شد در اسارت عراق جان خود را از دست داده اند، شركت كردند. محمدحسين جعفريان، روزنامه نگار محافظه كار و رزمنده سابق جنگ ايران و عراق كه در اين مراسم شركت داشت، در مصاحبه با راديوآزادي آنها را «شهيد» مي خواند و مي گويد «در اثر آزار و اذيت در اسارت» جان خود را ازدست داده اند. جعفريان مي گويد بزرگداشت اسراي جنگي جان باخته نبايد تحت الشعاع عدم توانائي جمهوري اسلامي در ستاندن مطالبات ايران از عراق يا اختلافات دوجناح حاكم قرار گيرد. احمد نقيب زاده، استاد روابط بين الملل در دانشگاه تهران در مصاحبه با راديوآزادي مي گويد: «به احتمال زياد اين عده زير شكنجه فوت شده اند ولي چرا دولت ايران اين مسئله را تعقيب نمي كند، جاي سئوال دارد.» وي مي افزايد: وجود ابهام در چگونگي كشته شدن اين اسراي جنگي ممكن است ناشي از توافق ضمني ميان دو حكومت ايران و عراق باشد، زيرا بيش از 1100 جسد اسراي عراقي در ايران نيز در جريان مبادله به عراق انتقال يافت. وي مي گويد وزيرامورخارجه جمهوري اسلامي به جاي مذاكره در باره غرامت جنگي با عراق، در باره تعداد زوار ايراني گفتگو كرد كه درآمد آن به جيب عراق مي رود. پيروز مجتهدزاده، كارشناس امورمنطقه، در مصاحبه با راديوآزادي مي گويد مسائل مهم تر ملي در روابط ايران و عراق به دست فراموشي سپرده شده اند. وي مي افزايد اختلاف بين دو كشور برسر قلمرو و مرزهاي ايران، دريافت غرامت جنگي و شط العرب است و بازگشت به قرارداد 1975 الجزاير كه صدام حسين قول آن را داده بود. وي مي افزايد به جاي خبر مذاكره در باره اين امور مهم ملي، آنچه از مذاكرات حكومت هاي ايران و عراق شنيده مي شود، موضوع تبادل اجساد است.
Summary of Today's BroadcastRFE/RL Persian ServiceThursday, July 25, 2002 - Exchange of Iran-Iraq POW remains - Menem denies Iran bribe - Nowruz to resume under Khatami's brother - Jailed student afraid to appeal his sentence - Tehran city council votes to impeach mayor - Majles calls for Guardians deliberations to be public - Morality police squads to be punished for violations Iran-Iraq Exchange POW Remains * Thousands in Tehran participated yesterday in the official funeral for the 570 Iranians who died in captivity in Iraq as POWs of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. They were swapped with the remains of the Iraqi POWs who had died in Iran. Though officially the POWs had died of natural causes, conservative journalist Mohammad Hussein Jafarian says they were "martyred" under Iraqi torture. But he cautions that this should not give rise to factional disputes over issues such as Tehran's foreign policy in dealing with Iraq. Tehran University international relations professor Ahmad Naqibzadeh says most probably these POWs died under torture, and he asks whether the ambiguity surrounding the deaths may be the result of a tacit agreement between the two governments. Tehran University geopolitics professor Parviz Mojtahedzadeh says more important than the exchange of bodies are the still unresolved issues such as Iran-Iraq borders, war reparations and the implementation of the 1975 Algeria agreement, as had been promised by Saddam. (Siavash Ardalan) Menem Denies Taking Bribe from Iran * Former Argentine president Carlos Menem denied having received $10 million to cover up Tehran's role in the 1994 bombing of Buenos Aires Jewish center. The charge was repeated last Monday in an article in the New York Times, quoting a sealed report that Menem said was passed to the Times by his opponents in next year's presidential elections. The witness in the report quoted by NYT, Abolqasem Mesbahi, a former Iranian intelligence officer who defected to Germany in 1996, said Tehran also contributed to Menem's presidential campaign. (Fariba Mavedat, London) Nowruz May Resume Under New Publisher * The culture minister Ahmad Masjed-Jamei said the banned reformist newspaper Nowruz can resume publication as soon as its new publisher is approved by the press supervisory council. The council is expected to approve President Khatami's brother Mohammad Reza for the job in an emergency meeting scheduled for Saturday. An appeals court ordered the paper closed for six months and confirmed the six months jail sentence handed down by the press court to Nowruz publisher and head of the Majles national security and foreign relations committee Mohsen Mirdamadi. Reformist newspaper "Aftab Yazd" warned that Mirdamadi's absence might damage next week's trip to Tehran by EU representative Javier Solana. Also, Isa Saharkhiz, former director of the culture ministry's domestic press division, wrote in the reformist website emrooz.com that the press supervisory council blocks issuing new newspaper licenses. (Ardavan Niknam) Jailed Student's Father Says He Won't Appeal His Jail Sentence * The father of jailed student activist Farzad Hamidi says his son fears that an appeal court may increase his sentence and so will not appeal the one-year jail term he received on July 9 for contacting jailed student Manuchehr Mohammadi, leaking news from prison and calling for struggle against the regime. Hamidi tells RFE/RL that his son has been held in solitary confinement for the past six months and has been refused access to a lawyer. He adds that during the sentencing, the judge apologized to his son for the torture he had endured in prison. (Golnaz Esfandiari) Tehran City Council to Impeach Mayor on Air Rights * Five city council members voted to impeach Tehran mayor Mohammad-Hossein Malek-Madani over his decision to stop selling air rights in excess of planned capacity to high-rise developers in seven neighborhoods. His decision had nearly doubled real estate prices in Tehran and vicinity. Tehran-based urban affairs journalist Hamid Eslami says the city council did not hold a meeting for three weeks because the members disagreed on discussing the air rights issue behind closed doors or in open meeting. The mayor defended his decision in Wednesday's city council session but apologized for having made it without consultating the city council. He said a moratorium on selling air rights in congested neighborhoods would benefit Tehranis and should not be blamed for the high real estate prices. (Mahmonir Rahimi) Majles Bill Calls for Open Meetings of the Guardians Council * A bill proposed yesterday by a group of reformists MPs calls for making the Guardians Council's discussions of Majles bills open to the public. The MPs are certain that their bill, if approved by the Majles, would be rejected by the Guardians Council. RFE/RL's Mehdi Khalaji says the MPs want to make the closed-door meetings of the Guardians Council a campaign issue and remind the public of the dangers of decision-making in secret. Tehran Weighs Post-Saddam Options * Tehran is signaling clearly that it opposes any U.S. military intervention in Iraq, but behind the scenes, there are signs that Tehran is weighing how it might benefit from any overthrow of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, writes RFE/RL's Charles Recknagel. Police Chief Admits to "Violations" by Morality Police Units * The interior ministry's social deputy announced yesterday that officers of the recently deployed morality police units, Yekan-e Vizheh (Special Unit), would be punished for violations committed during their crackdown on "social corruption." Though the police chief says violations by the units have declined, their treatment of the young men and women they pull aside for their clothes, hair style or for walking with the opposite sex have met loud complaints from the Majles and the reformist press. A young Tehrani, who tells RFE/RL that the new force, Yekan-e Vizhe, can be distinguished from the city police by their uniforms and their cars, recently picked up a friend of his late at night for being in the street and confiscated his student ID. It took him a week to get it back. He says people generally believe that some of the members of the new elite police force are Arabs. (Ardavan Niknam) Young People and Summer Holidays * Head of national youth organization Ahmad Meshkini said due to conflicting interpretations of religion by the authorities, young people in Iran face a recreational crisis. RFE/RL interviews a high school student and a university student in Tehran about things they do during summer holidays. (Mahmonir Rahimi) ECO Agriculture Ministers Gather in Islamabad * The agriculture ministers of 17 member nations of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) gathered for the first time in a meeting in Islamabad, Pakistan. The ECO, which began with Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, now includes the six former Soviet republics in Central Asia and Afghanistan. Since seventy percent of the 300 million people covered by ECO live off the land, cooperation in the field of agriculture would be a logical place to start, if ECO countries decide to begin cooperating. (Fereydoun Khavand) WORLD * Arab League spokesman Talat Hamed tells RFE/RL that an emergency Arab League meeting in Cairo issued a statement condemning Israel's attack on residential neighborhood in Gaza. (Jamshid Chalangi, Cairo) * French president Chirac meets in Paris with the heads of Egypt and Jordan and Israel foreign minister Peres. (Jean Khakzad, Paris) * Iran and Syria seek to open a second front against Israel through the Hezbollah, writes Ambassador Dennis Ross in the Wall Street Journal. (Shahran Tabari) * UN social-economic council approves the anti-torture protocol, opposed by the US, Iran, Nigeria and Cuba. (Golnaz Esfandiari) * Anti-globalization activists demonstrate in Strassbourg. (Jean Khakzad, Paris) * AFP article on George de Paris, White House tailor for the past 40 years. (Jean Khakzad, Paris) * The only inhabitant of Perejil island off the coast of Morocco, claims to be the real owner of the Island. (Ahmad Ra'fat, Rome) * At a conference at Georgetown University. Seven transitional government ministers warn about shortage of funds for Afghanistan's reconstruction program. (Homayoun Majd, Washington) * A German expert on Afghanistan tells Frankfurter Allgemeine that Karzai needs to strengthen the central government by cutting the influence of local warlords. (Shahram Mirian, Cologne) * North Korea switches to Chinese style capitalism, writes AFP. (Jean Khakzad, Paris) * Twenty-third media studies conference gathers 700 experts from 72 countries in Barcelona, Spain. (Ahmad Ra'fat, Rome) ARTS AND IDEAS Los Angeles Report Meeting Veteran Pop Singer Sakhai * Veteran pop singer and media executive Manuchehr Sakhai tells RFE/RL about his start in radio thirty years ago and his new CDs. (Fahimeh Barati) Drumming Doctor * Prominent Los Angeles physician Dr. Reza Torshizi tells RFE/RL that he always makes time to play the Persian drum in amateur and professional ensembles. (Fahimeh Barati, Los Angeles) * Weekly soccer news and commentary. (Mehrdad Masudi, London)
هزاران نفر از مردم تهران ديروز در مراسم رسمي تشييع جنازه 570 سربازي كه اعلام شد در اسارت عراق جان خود را از دست داده اند، شركت كردند. محمدحسين جعفريان، روزنامه نگار محافظه كار و رزمنده سابق جنگ ايران و عراق كه در اين مراسم شركت داشت، در مصاحبه با راديوآزادي آنها را «شهيد» مي خواند و مي گويد «در اثر آزار و اذيت در اسارت» جان خود را ازدست داده اند. جعفريان مي گويد بزرگداشت اسراي جنگي جان باخته نبايد تحت الشعاع عدم توانائي جمهوري اسلامي در ستاندن مطالبات ايران از عراق يا اختلافات دوجناح حاكم قرار گيرد. احمد نقيب زاده، استاد روابط بين الملل در دانشگاه تهران در مصاحبه با راديوآزادي مي گويد: «به احتمال زياد اين عده زير شكنجه فوت شده اند ولي چرا دولت ايران اين مسئله را تعقيب نمي كند، جاي سئوال دارد.» وي مي افزايد: وجود ابهام در چگونگي كشته شدن اين اسراي جنگي ممكن است ناشي از توافق ضمني ميان دو حكومت ايران و عراق باشد، زيرا بيش از 1100 جسد اسراي عراقي در ايران نيز در جريان مبادله به عراق انتقال يافت. وي مي گويد وزيرامورخارجه جمهوري اسلامي به جاي مذاكره در باره غرامت جنگي با عراق، در باره تعداد زوار ايراني گفتگو كرد كه درآمد آن به جيب عراق مي رود. پيروز مجتهدزاده، كارشناس امورمنطقه، در مصاحبه با راديوآزادي مي گويد مسائل مهم تر ملي در روابط ايران و عراق به دست فراموشي سپرده شده اند. وي مي افزايد اختلاف بين دو كشور برسر قلمرو و مرزهاي ايران، دريافت غرامت جنگي و شط العرب است و بازگشت به قرارداد 1975 الجزاير كه صدام حسين قول آن را داده بود. وي مي افزايد به جاي خبر مذاكره در باره اين امور مهم ملي، آنچه از مذاكرات حكومت هاي ايران و عراق شنيده مي شود، موضوع تبادل اجساد است.
