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Summary of Iran Stories of Today's BroadcastsBehnam NateghiWednesday, January 22, 2003
<b>Conservative Publisher Encourages Palestinians to Kill US Soldiers</b>
* The Supreme Leader's representative and publisher of the conservative daily Kayhan Hossein Shariatmadari encouraged the militant Palestinians yesterday to use the present opportunity and kill as many as US soldiers as they can for what he called "revenge." Yale University medical professor and founder of the Griffin Center of Health and Human Rights Dr. Ramin Ahmadi tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that Shariatmadari's statement indicates that the regime continues to support terrorist acts and suicide bombings in the Middle East. He adds that Iran's rulers plan to provoke the US into attacking Iran, based on the assumption that a foreign attack would galvanize public sentiments in their support. Dr. Ahmadi adds that, based on recent opinion polls, this policy would no longer work. (Ali Sajjadi)
<b>Iran Disbands Car Smuggling Network</b>
* Police arrested the ring leaders of a car smuggling network that customs department's anti-smuggling official Nasser Babai said imported billions of dollars of cars through the southern and western borders. The daily <i>Hamshahri</i> said goods smuggling is choking Iran's economy and the customs department is incapable of stopping it. Babai said $4 billion of goods, including foreign-made vehicles, consumer electronics and everything else, find their way into Iran through smuggling. <i>Hamshahri</i> put the annual total at above $8 billion per year. <b>Radio Farda</b>'s Paris-based economic commentator Fereydoun Khavand says rules in place to protect domestic producers against foreign competition fuels the surge in smuggling, which is carried out mostly by the semi-governmental "institutions" that control some of Iran's ports and border posts and can even import goods through the Tehran airport without paying duties.
<b>Nationalist-Religious Coalition Protests against Jailing of Lawyer</b>
* The nationalist-religious coalition issued a statement today protesting yesterday's jailing of lawyer Abdolfatah Soltani, their defense attorney. Soltani was thrown in jail for spreading lies after he protested in the press against the torture and maltreatment of his clients in jail. The nationalist-religious coalition, whose members were tried on subversion charges but have not been sentenced, said Soltani's press statements about their maltreatment in jail were nothing but the truth. (Homayoun Majd)
<b>Pollster's Lawyer Submits His final Defense</b>
* In his final defense in the trail of pollster Abbas Abdi, his lawyer Saleh Nikbakht said the judiciary did not submit any evidence to prove that his clients engaged in spying for the US or sold secret government documents to foreign buyers. Abdi, a high-ranking Mosharekat official, is charged with spying for the US along with other officials of the two padlocked public opinion polling agencies after the publication of a poll that showed 74 percent of the respondents favor the resumption of Iran-US relations. (Fereydoun Zarnegar)
<b>Mosharekat's Boss Condemns Judiciary's Ban on <i>Nowruz</i></b>
* President Khatami's brother, deputy Majles speaker Dr. Mohammad-Reza, who heads the pro-reform party Jebheh-ye Mosharekat (the Participation Front) protested against the new ban on the daily <i>Nowruz</i> which planned to resume publication today under his management. The paper, which was owned by MP Mohsen Mirdamadi, head of the Majles national security and foreign relations committee, had been banned for six months by the press court. (Alireza Taheri)
<b>Conservative Newspaper Calls for an End to Dissident Cleric's House Arrest</b>
* The conservative daily <i>Resalat</i> called for an end to the five-year house arrest of the highest ranking clerical dissident of the Islamic regime Ayatollah Hosseinali Montazeri, 80. The former designated successor to Ayatollah Khomeini has been under arrest in his house in Qom since October 1997 for criticizing the Supreme Leader's power and his lavish trips around the country. (Ali Sajjadi)
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حسين شريعتمداري، نماينده رهبر جمهوري اسلامي در موسسه انتشاراتي كيهان، فلسطيني ها را تشويق كرد با كشتن سربازان آمريكائي در كشورهاي اطراف خليج فارس، به انتقامجوئي بپردازند. دكتر رامين احمدي، استاد پزشكي دانشگاه ييل Yale و بنيانگذار مركز بهداشت و حقوق بشر گريفين Griffin Center for Health and Human Rights، در مصاحبه با راديوفردا مي گويد اظهارات حسين شريعتمداري نشان مي دهد كه سياست مقابله نظامي، عمليات تروريستي و انتحاري از سوي رهبر جمهوري اسلامي و رئيس مجمع تشخيص مصلحت نظام دنبال مي شود. وي مي افزايد: مقامات بلندپايه جمهوري اسلامي اميدوار هستند با تحريك آمريكا و افزايش فعاليت هاي تروريستي در منطقه، آمريكا را به عكس العمل نظامي وادار كنند و اميدوار هستند حتي با يك واكنش كوچك از سوي آمريكا، از احساسات ساده مردم سوء استفاده كنندو مثل دوران گروگانگيري مردم را به خيابانها بكشانند و حواس آنها را به مبارزه با خارج معطوف كنند. وي مي گويد با توجه نظرسنجي هائي كه در ايران شده است، به نظرنمي رسد كه اين استراتژي با موفقيت توام باشد. وي مي افزايد: بيشتر به نظر مي رسد اميد حضرات به تكرار آن دوران، اميد واهي باشد و آن دوران، دوران سپري شده مردمان سالخورده است و تكرار ناپذير است.
