Summary of Iran Stories in Today's BroadcastsBehnam NateghiWednesday, January 21, 2004
<b>Cabinet Ministers Threaten to Resign, VP Says</b>
• Cabinet ministers and provincial governors threatened to resign if negotiations with the conservative Guardians Council do not resolve the issue of mass disqualifications of election candidacy applicants, vice president for legislative affairs Mohammad-Ali Abtahi said. It is being said that 180 of the 270 Majles seats have already been assigned, he added. On the eleventh day of the sit-in protest of 83 Majles MPs banned by the Guardians Council from running for reelection, the MPs urged the Guardians Council to seriously consider calls for review of the disqualifications of nearly half of 8,000 applicants. In response to an open letter from the coordination council of the reformist faction, in which he had been given until Thursday January 22 to resolve the disqualifications dispute, President Khatami wrote that it is evident time is of essence. However, he said he was optimistic about the outcome. Meanwhile, secretary-general of the pro-reform party Hambastegi <b>Ebrahim Asgarzadeh</b> angered his fellow reformists by calling their sit-in protest useless and suggesting behind-the-scenes lobbying as a more effective means to achieve their goals. The conservatives, including attorney general Ayatollah Abdolnabi Namzi condemned the MPs' sit-in protest as illegal. There may be unpleasant consequences to the MPs sit protest, secretary-general of the fundamentalist party Motaleh-ye Eslami Habibollah Asgaroladi warned. (Fereydoun Zarnegar)
• The reformists would lose their majority in the Majles, even if the Guardians Council had not banned some of their candidacy applicants from running, “moderate conservative” deputy judiciary chief for international affairs Mohammad-Javad Larijani said in an interview with the Reuters news agency. (Maryam Ahmadi)
• “I have the intention to continue my task and my service to the people,” President Khatami said in an interview with Swiss TV SF DRS's Tageschau news bulletin, ruling out quitting over the Guardians Council ban on pro-reform MPs and 3000 others from running in the February 20 Majles elections. “I am convinced that this crisis, if you want to call it that, will be resolved and has no significance,” vice president for physical training Mohsen Mehralizadeh said after meeting Austrian President Thomas Klestil in Vienna on Wednesday.
• As a goodwill gesture, the Guardians Council should overturn the disqualifications of at least 618 applicants whom it had previously approved, interior minister Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari said, calling on the Guardians Council to implement the Supreme Leader's order. In a meeting with the Guardians Council members last Wednesday, the Supreme Leader said those who had been approved to run in previous elections should be allowed to run, unless there were solid proofs against them.
• The Guardians Council approved the qualifications of 200, or less than 5 percent, of the disqualified applicants, but the Majles MPs said on the 11th day of their sit-in that they would carry on with the protest. (Keyvan Hosseini)
• The UN Secretary General and Germany's foreign minister called for free and fair elections in Iran.
• Voting in these elections would mean legitimizing an illegitimate regime, jailed former student <b>Omid Abbasqolinezhad</b>, member of the central committee of independent opposition party Democratic Front (Jebheh-ye Demokratik-e Iran), who is out on a five-day furlough, tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. He calls for a free referendum on Iran's future form of government, under the supervision of international observers. He says he has been sentenced to jail after he was arrested for the third time following the July 9, 1999 student uprising, and was denied access to a lawyer in a trial that sentenced him to nearly four years in jail. (Amir Armin)
• In vetting Majles candidacy applicants, the Guardians Council should assume that everyone is guilty until proven otherwise, Assembly of Experts member Ahmad Khatami said in an interview with the state-run “students” news agency ISNA. The disqualified applicants should file their complaints through legal means, he added, denouncing the MPs' sit-in protest. (Maryam Ahmadi))
• The mass disqualifications of reformist candidates by the conservatives shows the discrepancy between the clerical rule and democracy, London Arabic daily <i>al-Hayat</i> writes. (Farideh Rahbar)
<b>Khatami Attends World Economic Forum</b>
• Iran has never been after weapons of mass destruction, President Khatami told a news conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland, where he delivered a keynote speech. “We vehemently oppose the manufacture and production of nuclear weapons. For this reason we extend sincere and honest cooperation with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency),” Khatami declared. In his speech, Khatami lauded the value of dialogue in international relations. However, in his press conference he ruled out resumption of relations with the US, claiming that the Islamic government, noting a change of tone, had not sensed that Washington was ready yet for a dialogue based on mutual respect. (Maryam Ahmadi)
• Khatami's presence in Davos is an indication of the Islamic government's attempts to melt the ice in foreign relations, reformist daily <i>Yaas-e Now</i>. By going to Davos, Khatami is signaling at economic extroversion, Tehran economic daily <i>Donya-ye Eqtesad</i> writes. (Fereydoun Khavand, Paris)
<b>Dutch Ministers Confirm Transfer of Nuclear Technology to Iran</b>
• Two government ministers in the Netherlands acknowledged Monday that highly sensitive nuclear technology developed by a Dutch company may have been transferred to Libya and North Korea along with Iran and Pakistan. The disclosure in the Dutch parliament marked the first public confirmation of assertions that centrifuge technology for enriching uranium apparently found its way to Libya and North Korea. It was already known that Pakistan and Iran had the technology. (Ardavan Niknam)
<b>Iran Continues Building Uranium Enrichment Plants, IAEA Sources Say</b>
• Iran is continuing construction work on centrifuge devices at the uranium enrichment plant in Natanz, sources close to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) told reporters in Vienna, adding that the news has caused a new dispute arising from diverse interpretation of Iran's pledge to IAEA to suspend work on uranium enrichment. The IAEA says and the US and EU governments agrees that the agreement requires Iran to halt all nuclear activity, including construction of nuclear sites and installation of related equipment. (Fariba Mavedat)
<b>US Iranians Send Two Planeloads of Aid for Bam Earthquake Victims</b>
• Two cargo planes with 140 tons of goods donated by Iranians living in the US arrived in Tehran, the second largest aid package, after the US government, Iran's official news agency reported. (Fariba Mavedat)
• The 25 million rials per household in financial aid and 50 million rials per household in home reconstruction loans offered by the housing and urban development ministry is not enough for the earthquake victims who have lost everything and have no incomes, head of Bam city council Abbas Esmaili said. (Baktash Khamsehpour)
• The city is completely ruined, Amsterdam-based musician <b>Ali Soltani</b> who has lost more than one hundred relatives in the earthquake, tells <b>Radio Farda</b> on his return from a two-week visit to his hometown Bam. He distributed donations collected from Iranians and others in the Netherlands among the survivors and collected information about their needs, he says. In addition to many orphaned children and widowed women, many handicapped by the earthquake are in need of assistance, he says. (Shahram Mirian, Cologne)
• Six-thousand school backpacks filled with school supplies were shipped to Iran, spokesman of the Orange, California-based Bonyad-e Koodak (Child Foundation) <b>Dr. Esmail Yasai</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b> (Firouzeh Khatibi, Los Angeles)
<b>Judiciary Chief Condemns Mistreatment of Prisoners</b>
• Judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi said officers in courts and prisons abuse their legal powers and mistreat prisoners and defendants. This is not the first time that the judiciary chief has raised this issue, but there is a great distance between talk and action, Tehran-based lawyer <b>Ahmad Bashiri</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. Almost everyday we read in one newspaper or another complaints of abuse and maltreatment in jails, but little has ever been done about it, he adds. If the judiciary could rid itself of such accusations, it would be ideal, he adds, allowing that the UN General Assembly's recent censure of Iran on human rights may have motivated the judiciary chief's comment. (Shireen Famili)
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فريدون زرنگار (راديوفردا): در پايان نشست امروز هيات دولت، عبدالواحد موسوي لاري، وزير كشور از شوراي نگهبان خواست با درك واقعيت هاي كشور هرچه زودتر به بحران ردصلاحيت ها پايان دهند. به گفته وزير كشور، بعد از دستور رهبر جمهوري اسلامي به شوراي نگهبان و ديدار رئيس مجلس و رئيس جمهوري اسلامي با اعضاي شوراي نگهبان، تا اين لحظه حركتي از سوي اين شورا ديده نشده است.
محمدعلي ابطحي، معاون رئيس جمهوري اسلامي نيز امروز در پايان نشست هيات دولت با ذكر اينكه از قرار معلوم كرسي هاي 180 نماينده دوره هفتم از پيش پر شده است، گفت هنوز كساني كه اعلام استعفا كرده بودند، بر روي تصميم خود پافشاري مي كنند و در صورت به نتيجه نرسيدن مذاكرات، استعفا خواهند داد. پيش از اين، محمد خاتمي، رئيس جمهوري اسلامي، در پاسخ به نامه سرگشاده شوراي هماهنگي جبهه دوم خرداد كه در آن از رئيس جمهوري اسلامي خواسته شده بود تا پايان وقت اداري روز پنجشنبه تكليف بحران رد صلاحيت ها را روشن كند، نوشت همگي بايد بر انتخابات آزاد و امكان رقابت جدي تكيه كنيم و آن را حدو مرز توقع منطقي و معقول و قانوني خود قرار دهيم. من به سهم خود از تمام و امكان خود در اين زمينه بهره خواهم گرفت.
محمد خاتمي، بدون اشاره به مهلتي كه در پايان نامه سرگشاده به وي داده شده است، نوشت البته بديهي است كه زمان نيز اهميت دارد زيرا گروه ها و تشكل ها بايد بتوانند در شناخت و معرفي نامزدهاي مورد نظر خود در فرصت كافي اقدام كنند. من با اميدواري به آينده مي نگرم.
با گذشت 11 روز از آغاز تحصن و روزه سياسي شماري از نمايندگان مجلس در اعتراض به رد صلاحيت بيش از 3 هزار نفر از داوطلبان نامزدي در انتخابات مجلس شوراي اسلامي، آنان همچنان بر خواست خود مبني بر پس گرفتن رد صلاحيت ها از سوي شوراي نگهبان پافشاري مي كنند.
نمايندگان متحصن در دهمين بيانيه خود از شوراي نگهبان خواستند خواسته هاي قانوني نمايندگان متحصن را جدي گرفته و مورد توجه و عمل قرار دهد.
در اين ميان، اظهارنظر ها در باره تحصن نمايندگان همچنان ادامه دارد. در حاليكه نمايندگان متحصن و بسياري از اصلاح طلبان حركت اعتراضي خود را موفق ارزيابي مي كنند، دبيركل حزب همبستگي، تحصن را بيفايده دانست و خواستار استفاده بيشتر از لابي هاي پشت پرده شد.
ابراهيم اصغرزاده، كه مدتهاست راه خود را از اصلاح طلبان جدا كرده است، برخلاف ديگر اعضاي اين حزب كه در تحصن شركت دارند، با اين موضعگيري خود نه تنها خشم نمايندگان متحصن را برانگيخته است بلكه به اختلافات درون حزب همبستگي هم دامن مي زند.
از سوي ديگر، تهديدهاي مخالفان نمايندگان مجلس روز به روز آشكارتر مي شود. عبدالنبي نمازي، دادستان كل كشور، تحصن نمايندگان را غيرقانوني خواند و گفت كساني كه خود در كسوت و لباس قانونگذاري هستند و شعار آنها قانونگذاري است و ديگران را به قانونمداري دعوت مي كنند، اكنون با اين كار خود عملي غيرقانوني انجام داده اند.
اسدالله عسگراولادي، از رهبران هيات موتلفه هم به نمايندگان هشدار داد و به طور سربسته گفت ممكن است درواكنش به تحصن آنان، واكنش هاي ناخوشايندي شود. در پايان نشست امروز هيات دولت، عبدالواحد موسوي لاري، وزير كشور از شوراي نگهبان خواست با درك واقعيت هاي كشور هرچه زودتر به بحران ردصلاحيت ها پايان دهند. محمدعلي ابطحي، معاون رئيس جمهوري اسلامي امروز گفت از قرار معلوم كرسي هاي 180 نماينده دوره هفتم از پيش پر شده است. وي گفت در صورت به نتيجه نرسيدن مذاكرات، برخي از وزرا و استانداران استعفا خواهند داد. رئيس جمهوري اسلامي، در پاسخ به نامه سرگشاده شوراي هماهنگي جبهه دوم خرداد كه در آن از وي خواسته شده بود تا پايان وقت اداري روز پنجشنبه تكليف بحران رد صلاحيت ها را روشن كند، نوشت البته بديهي است كه زمان نيز اهميت دارد. با گذشت 11 روز از آغاز تحصن در اعتراض به رد صلاحيت بيش از 3 هزار نفر از داوطلبان نامزدي در انتخابات مجلس، متحصنين از شوراي نگهبان خواستند خواسته هاي قانوني آنها جدي گرفته شود. ابراهيم اصغرزاده، دبيركل حزب همبستگي، به جاي تحصن، خواستار استفاده بيشتر از لابي هاي پشت پرده شد. عبدالنبي نمازي، دادستان كل كشور، تحصن نمايندگان را غيرقانوني خواند. عسگراولادي، از رهبران هيات موتلفه در باره واكنش هاي ناخوشايند به نمايندگان متحصن هشدار داد.
