Summary of Iran Stories in Today&apos;s BroadcastsBehnam NateghiWednesday, December 17, 2003 <b> Iran to Sign NPT Protocol on Thursday, Atomic Energy Chief Says </b> • Iran will on Thursday sign the additional protocol to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, head of the atomic energy organization Golamreza Aghazadeh said today. He did not say who would sign the protocol on behalf of Iran. After signing, the protocol will be referred to the cabinet for approval and to the Majles for ratification and to the Guardians Council for final approval, cabinet spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh said last week. • A part of the heavy water processing plant being built near Arak is already operational, Aghazadeh said. Heavy-water reactors can use natural, non-enriched uranium as fuel, which can then be reprocessed to extract weapons-grade plutonium. “The project has made 80 percent progress in general, and 90 percent in equipment and installation,” he added. Iran has told the International Atomic Energy Agency it plans to build a 40-megawatt heavy-water reactor at Arak for research and development and the production of radioisotopes for medical and industrial use. (Amir-Mosaddegh Katouzian) <b>NYC Comptroller Asks Halliburton to Reconsider Iran Contract</b> • New York City controller William Thomson, an elected official who oversees pension funds of the city&apos;s police and fire departments, asked Houston-based oil services company Halliburton to reconsider its deals with Iran. A confidential report Halliburton filed with the city and published by the comptroller on his website shows that through a Cayman Island-registered UAE-based subsidiary and several British and Swedish companies, Halliburton holds $39 million worth of oil service contracts with Iran&apos;s oil companies. Thomson said the company failed to report the “reputational” risks inherent in its deals with Iran. “If we are trying to eradicate terrorism, we must ensure that companies in our portfolio are not using offshore subsidiaries to legally evade United States sanctions against terrorist-sponsoring states," Thompson said in a statement. The New York City&apos;s fire and police departments own $31 million worth of Halliburton stock, but the city workers&apos; pension funds altogether own $149 million. A Halliburton spokesman said the company has nothing to add to the report it submitted to city. (Behnam Nateghi, New York) <b>State-owned Enterprises Turn Into Semi-state-owned Monopolies</b> • The result of the flawed privatization process has turned the control of large state-owned enterprises to semi-state-owned institutions and monopolies – such as the workers&apos; retirement insurance fund; semi-governmental monopolies threaten to dominate the national economy, warned finance and economic affairs minister Tahmasb Mazaheri. Transferring government enterprises to semi-governmental entities such as the workers&apos; retirement fund cannot be called privatization, deputy finance minister Mehdi Karbasian said. The government has speeded up such transfers in order to realize the budgeted revenue of 14,000 billion rials. Meanwhile, the state-own companies are mushrooming, deputy finance minister Ali Mirzai said, adding that there are now five generations of state-owned companies. (Fereydoun Khavand) <b>Supreme Leader on Saddam&apos;s Capture</b> • A decadent, wild animal, tyrant, aggressor, arrogant and ignorant dictator Saddam Hussein has fallen to such lows that he now lives in a hole and for the sake of his worthless life he is ready to bear any humility, the Supreme Leader said in a speech in Qazvin, his first remarks since Saddam&apos;s capture. “Now that he is captured, the world of Islam, and all those who know what this beast was, feel happy; and the Iranian people are also very happy at the news of Saddam&apos;s capture, he added. “The US President has told Saddam that the world is much better without him, and I want to tell the American president that the world would be a much better place without Bush and (Israeli Prime Minister) Sharon, the Supreme Leader said. (Bahman Bastani) • Iran sold Saddam to the Americans, claimed Italian newspaper <i>La Padonia</i>. It says Saddam had secretly contacted Iran to arrange for his asylum there, but Iranian secret police with the help of Iraqi governing council member Jalal Talabani turned him over to the US forces, the paper added. (Ahmad Ra&apos;fat, Rome) <b>No Golden Key to Unlock Prison Doors, Ebadi Says</b> • I am sorry that along with the Nobel Peace Prize, they did not give me a golden key to unlock prison gates and free all the political prisoners, including my own clients, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate <b>Shirin Ebadi</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b> in an interview in Paris, where she stopped to meet French president, foreign minister and other officials and take part in several parties and ceremonies in her honor. The Nobel Peace Prize has given her a platform from which she can publicize her goals, she says, otherwise she remains her humble self. She says she opposes the French government&apos;s ban of the Islamic hejab for girls in state-owned schools. The new regulation would give the fundamentalists what they are after, which is keeping their daughters at home after the age of seven, Ms. Ebadi says. The anti-hejab law is as patriarchal and anti-women as any law that would make hejab mandatory for all women in a society, she says. “I am against any law that would limit women&apos;s freedoms,” she adds. (Mir-Ali Hosseini) <b>Iran-Egypt Relations</b> • Despite official invitation from the Islamic government, it is unlikely that Egyptian President would visit Iran on the anniversary of the Islamic revolution, internationally syndicated columnist <b>Amir Taheri</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. The invitation extended to Husni Mubarak does appear to have the approval of the conservative faction, which holds the main levers of power in Iran, he adds. (Jean Khakzad) Khakzad) • The Egyptian President&apos;s trip to Iran would be possible if the street named after the killer of President Anwar Sadat is given another name by Iran, Cairo&apos;s <i>al-Mossavar</i> newspaper Mohammad Ahmad wrote. (Massoud Malek) <b>Sixty Hunger Strikers Challenge Swiss Government&apos;s Decision on Asylum Applications</b> • Some of the sixty asylum seekers on hunger strike since last Thursday at Zurich&apos;s Saint Jacob church, fell ill and have been taken to area hospitals, Zurich University professor <b>Majid Moshayyedi</b>, a spokesperson for the strikers, tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. Some of the strikers refuse water, and face serious problems, he adds. The hunger strikers demand to be allowed to stay in Switzerland and want the Swiss government to add Iran to its list of dangerous countries. On December 15, a delegation from the strikers was invited by the Red Cross to start negotiations with the government&apos;s office in charge of political asylum applications. Strikers want a representative from the UN High Commissioner for the Refugees to be present at the negotiations. (Shahram Mirian) <b>Protesting Student Takeover Tabriz&apos;s Sahand University</b> • Protesting students in Tabriz&apos;s Sahand University took control of the campus, member of the university&apos;s Islamic student council <b>Behruz Safari</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. The takeover followed three days of sit-in protest against remarks by the university&apos;s president which students found offensive. Sahand&apos;s president Cheraqlou had created a fearful police atmosphere in the university, and summoned the students who dared to express their opinions to the disciplinary committee, he says, adding that students have asked the university president to resign. (Nima Tamadon) • Out of town university students, half of Tehran&apos;s student population faces serious shortages, both economic and cultural. (Arash Qavidel, Tehran) <b>Kidnapped Europeans in Good Health, Says Interior Minister</b> • The two German and one Irish tourists who were kidnapped last week as they traveled on bicycles between Bam and Zahedan, in the Sistan-va-Baluchestan province, are in good health, interior minister Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari said. Their captors will soon release them, he added. The kidnappers, thought to belong to drug trafficking tribes have demanded $6 million in ransom. (Nima Tamadon) • The authorities are in touch with the kidnappers, Zahedan-based journalist <b>Mahmoud Barahoui-Nezhad</b>, editor of the local weekly <i>In Marz-e Por Gohar</i> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. They may have given assurances or promises to the kidnappers in order to settle the matter peacefully and get the hostages released, he adds. We don&apos;t think that the kidnappers are native of the area, he says. (Nima Tamadon) <b>Iran Ready to Give Amnesty to MKO Rank and File, Khatami Says</b> • The government is ready to offer amnesty to most of the members of the Iraq-based anti-regime group the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), President Khatami said. Those who have committed crimes against Iran must return to stand trial, he added. More then 3,800 MKO members face deportation by Iraq by January 20. (Maryam Ahmadi) . ليلي آرمان (راديو فردا): ايران پروتكل الحاقي پيمان منع گسترش سلاحهاي اتمي را امضا مي كند. غلامرضا آقازاده، رئيس سازمان انرژي اتمي ايران پس از جلسه هفته اي هيات وزيران گفت: ايران احتمالا روز پنجشنبه پروتكل الحاقي را در وين امضا مي كند. با امضاي اين پروتكل، بازرسان آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي امكان دستيابي بي قيد وشرط به تاسيسات هسته اي ايران را خواهند داشت. از ز ماني كه آمريكا و سه قدرت اروپا به دسترسي ايران به سلاح اتمي مشكوك شدند، سعي كردند ايران را وادار به امضاي پروتكل الحاقي پيمان منع گسترش سلاحهاي كشتار جمعي كنند. ايران در تاريخ 21 اكتبر، همزمان با ديدار وزراي خارجه بريتانيا، فرانسه و آلمان از ايران، اعلام كرده بود كه پروتكل را امضا مي كند، ولي تاخير در امضاي پروتكل اين شبهه را به ميان آورد كه ايران در حال شانه خالي كردن از پروتكل الحاقي است. گمان مي رود كه رهبران محافظه كار جمهوري اسلامي با امضاي اين پروتكل مخالفند، زيرا آنرا نوعي واگذاري قدرت حاكميت خود مي پندارند. غلامرضا آقازاده، معاون رئيس جمهور و رئيس سازمان انرژي اتمي ايران گفت: پروتكل الحاقي در وين و با حضور وزير خارجه جمهوري اسلامي امضا مي شود. وي ذكر نكرد كه امضاي چه كسي پاي پروتكل الحاقي خواهد بود. وين مقر آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي، ديده بان هسته اي سازمان ملل است. طبق قوانين فعلي، بازرسان سازمان بين المللي انرژي اتمي بايد براي بازرسي از تاسيسات مشكوك هسته اي در ايران، اجازه قبلي داشته باشند، ولي پروتكل الحاقي چنين محدوديتهايي را براي بازرسان بين المللي از بين خواهد برد. درحالي كه آمريكا پي در پي ترديد خود را درباره برنامه هسته اي ايران و دسترسي جمهوري اسلامي به بمبهاي اتمي اعلام مي كند، حكومت ايران نيز در عقيده خود مبني بر صلح آميز بودن برنامه هسته اي خود تاكيد مي كند و مي گويد اين تاسيسات صرفا براي توليد انرژي برق داخل كشور و آزاد كردن منابع سوختهاي فسيلي و براي صادرات است، اما ايران ماه اكتبر اعتراف كرد كه دستگاه گريز از مركز غني سازي اورانيوم را حدود بيست سال است از بازرسان سازمان ملل مخفي كرده است. ماه گذشته آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي ايران را به علت عدم شفافيت در فعاليتهاي هسته ايش توبيخ كرد و به ايران هشدار داد در آينده از قوانين پيروي كند و براي جامعه جهاني اين موضوع را روشن كند كه در حال توليد سلاحهاي اتمي نيست. به هر حال مديران آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي طبق خواسته آمريكاييان پيش نرفتند كه مي گفتند پرونده ايران بايد به شوراي امنيت سازمان ملل ارجاع شود. چيزي كه افزايش تهديد اقدام جمهوري اسلامي را مي توانست به دنبال داشته باشد. مقامات آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي مي گويند: ايران بايد به همكاري شفاف خود ادامه دهد. ايران از ماه اكتبر به بعد تاكيد كرده است كه پروتكل الحاقي را امضا مي كند، اما عبدالله رمضانزاده، سخنگوي دولت جمهوري اسلامي چندي پيش به خبرنگاران گفت: پيش از امضاي پروتكل طبق قانون ايران، چند مرحله بايد طي شود. آقاي رمضانزاده افزود: پروتكل الحاقي پس از امضا براي تصويب به دولت ارجاع مي شود، سپس دولت آنرا به لايحه به مجلس تسليم مي كند تا مجلس آنرا تاييد كند و در مرحله نهايي پروتكل بايد به تصويب شوراي نگهبان برسد و در قانون گنجانده شود. طبق قانون اساسي جمهوري اسلامي، هرگونه توافقنامه بين المللي، بايد به تصويب مجلس شوراي اسلامي و شوراي نگهبان برسد. از طرف ديگر روسيه، شريك اصلي ايران در تاسيسات اتمي بوشهر، چندين بار اعلام كرده است تا زماني كه ايران تكليف پروتكل الحاقي را روشن نكند، با ارسال سوخت هسته اي لازم براي نيروگاه بوشهر توافق نخواهد كرد. غلامرضا آقازاده، رئيس سازمان انرژي اتمي جمهوري اسلامي گفت که ايران احتمالا روز پنجشنبه پروتكل الحاقي پيمان منع گسترش سلاح هاي اتمي را در وين امضا خواهد كرد. با امضاي اين پروتكل، بازرسان آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي امكان دستيابي بي قيد و شرط به تاسيسات هسته اي ايران را خواهند داشت. آقاي آقازاده گفت که پروتكل الحاقي در وين و با حضور وزير خارجه جمهوري اسلامي امضا مي شود، ولي وي ذكر نكرد كه امضاي چه كسي پاي پروتكل الحاقي خواهد بود. عبدالله رمضانزاده، سخنگوي دولت جمهوري اسلامي چندي پيش گفت که پروتكل الحاقي پس از امضا براي تصويب به دولت ارجاع مي شود، سپس دولت آنرا به لايحه به مجلس تسليم مي كند تا مجلس آنرا تاييد كند و در مرحله نهايي پروتكل بايد به تصويب شوراي نگهبان برسد و در قانون گنجانده شود.