Summary of Iran Stories in Today's BroadcastsBehnam NateghiThursday, January 22, 2004
<b>US Calls for Free and Fair Elections</b>
• “We think it's important that Iran's leadership permit free and fair elections through an electoral process that meets international standards and that government needs to be responsive to the needs of the people,” US State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said today, in response to questions about news of threats of resignation by Khatami cabinet ministers over mass disqualification of reformist election candidacy applicants. “This is an evolving situation and there are a lot of developments every day,” he said, “We are watching these events carefully.” (Jamshid Zand)
<b>Striking MPs, Cabinet Ministers and Provincial Governors Pledge to Resign to Defend “People's Lawful Rights</b>
• As the sit-in protest of the 83 Majles MPs banned from running for reelection entered its 12 day, they were joined by a number other reformist MPs, cabinet ministers and their deputies and provincial governors. In an open letter read by the day's master of ceremonies Jalil Sazegarnezhad, the MPs vowed to resign, if “the people's lawful rights were trampled on.” In another letter, 100 provincial governors, deputy ministers and directors general asked President Khatami to excuse them from service, “if the country's affairs could not be returned to the path of democracy.” The country's provincial governors refuse to administer the February 20 elections, if it turns into “a funeral for democracy,” Fars governor Mohammad-Ebrahim Ansari said. (Maryam Ahmadi)
• The resignation of this or that official would have no influence on the elections' process, executive deputy of the Guardians Council Mohammad Jahromi said today. He announced that the disqualifications of 60 more candidacy applicants have been overturned, bringing the number of the re-admitted candidates to 260 out of more than 3000 rejected applicants. He said some applicants have been disqualified due to mistaken identity, and the Guardians Council has no qualms about overturning the disqualifications. (Fereydoun Zarnegar)
• A group of 200 plainclothes security forces, described as hardliners,or Hezbollah supporters, or pressure groups, beat speakers at a protest meeting attended by pro-reform politicians and student activists in Hamedan. The assailants injured a number of speakers, including Islamic student activist leader Said Razavi Fagih, reformist Hamedan MP Hossein Loghmanian and Hossein Mojahed, an official of pro-reform party, Islamic Iran Participation Front (Mosharekat), state-run news agency IRNA reported. (Fereydoun Zarnegar)
• The MPs started their sit-in protest at the Majles in order to revive the people's lost rights, head of the society for defense of press freedoms MP <b>Abbas Safaifar</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. The MPs are defending those rejected candidacy applicants who have no platform to defend themselves, he adds. He adds that the MPs have asked people not to resort to street demonstrations, because any unlawful action might turn into violence and only the totalitarian faction benefits from violence. (Fereydoun Zarnegar)
• Even if reformists come victoriously out of their current battle with the conservatives, no change will be seen in the lot of Iranians, the German daily <i>Die Welt</i> writes. During the past four years that they have enjoyed a majority in the Majles, they have failed to take any positive step towards reforms, it adds. (Parviz Farhang)
• In their 11th communiqué, the striking MPs criticized state-run radio-TV monopoly for not giving a fair coverage to their sit-in protest, citing a study that showed only 16 percent of TV coverage favored news and views in support of the Majles reformists. (Keyvan Hosseini)
<b>Iran Air Deputy Urges the US to Lift Sanctions on Airliners</b>
• Deputy director of the country's state-own airline Mahmoud Mehranpour urged the US to prevent tragic deaths of airline passengers by lifting sanctions that have prevented the country from renewing its aging fleet of passenger jets since the 1979 revolution. Praising the US humanitarian aid to the Bam earthquake victims, he said victims of airline crashes are as human and as innocent as those who died in the earthquake. Most of the tragic airline crashes that killed hundreds of airline passengers in Iran were caused by poorly maintained Russian or Ukrainian made Toplov jets. The US sanctions prevented Iran to complete a deal with France to purchase four Airbus 330 jets. As soon as the sanctions were lifted, Iran will place orders for Boeing jets, Mehranpour said in an interview with the Associated Press. (Jamshid Zand)
<b>Hardliners Attempt to Sabotage Normalization of Egypt-Iran, Says Mubarak</b>
• Some hardliners try to sabotage normalization of the Iran-Egypt relations, President Hosni Mubarak said today, referring to demonstrations in front of the Tehran city council against the renaming a Tehran street that bore former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's assassin's name. (Mahmonir Rahimi)
<b>RSF's Concerns about Trial of Zahra Kazemi Killer</b>
• In a letter to Canada's foreign minister and foreign minister of the 15 EU countries, Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers said it was concerned about the progress of the trial in Tehran of those responsible for the death in custody of Canadian-Iranian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi. “Since the trial of the alleged killer was adjourned, there do not appear to have been any further developments in the case. The lawyers for the victim's family have not been allowed to look at the legal file so that they can properly prepare their case,” Robert Ménard, secretary general of Reporters Sans Borders said. We wrote this letter to the foreign minister to make sure that Canada would continue to pursue this case enthusiastically, RSF's spokeswoman in Canada <b>Tanya Churchmuch</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. (Maryam Aghvami, Toronto)
<b> Decline of Development's Share of the Government Budget</b>
• The development budget has declined as percentage of the general budget since the 1979 revolution, finance ministry's representative in the foreign exchange reserve fund Bahman Arman said. In 1978 nearly 44 percent of the government's budget went to development projects, now only 20 percent of the budget is spent on development, he adds. (Fereydoun Khavand, Paris)
<b>Euro Bonds Seek Prestige, Says Expert</b>
• Iran began to pay 4 trillion rials annually in interest for the one billion euros it raised last year by floating bonds with 9 percent interest in the euro markets. With billions of dollars in its foreign exchange reserve fund and no projects to invest in, Iran did not need the money. By floating these bonds, the government's goal was to gain international prestige and attract foreign investment, Tehran-based economist <b>Mousa Ghaninezhad</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. It is too early to say whether these goals were achieved. (Fereydoun Zarnegar)
<b>Underground Homosexuality Linked to Spread of AIDS</b>
• There are AIDS cases from homosexual relations, but fear of prosecution prevents patients from coming forward, head of the AIDS prevention committee Dr. Minu Mohraz said today, admitting that only one case of AIDS contracted from homosexual relations had been reported. Homosexuality being a major crime according to the Islamic laws has pushed homosexuals underground. Sexual issues cannot be regulated by government authorities, Oxford University sociology professor <b>Dr. Fariba Adelkhah</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. In all societies a group of men and women favor homosexuality; in England 5 percent or 6 percent of population do so. Making it a crime would push these segments underground, which has grave public health consequences, particularly when transmission of HIV is involved, Birmingham University's AIDS and infectious diseases professor <b>Dr. Mohsen Shahbakhsh</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. (Shahran Tabari, London)
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مريم احمدي (راديو فردا): تحصن نمايندگان رد صلاحيت شده مجلس، وارد دوازدهمين روز خود شد. جليل سازگارنژاد، مسئول اجراي مراسم دوازدهمين روز، شمار متحصنين را 117 نفر اعلام کرد. در آغاز مراسم، نامه نمايندگان متحصن قرائت شد. در اين نامه نمايندگان سوگند ياد کرده اند که اگر حقوق قانوني مردم زير پا نهاده شود و انتصابات جايگزين انتخابات شود، در مجلس ششم نمانند. نمايندگان متحصن تصريح کرده اند که براي دفاع از قانون اساسي، آزادي مردم، و تامين مصالح و منافع آن ها، گامي به عقب نگذارند و براي احقاق حقوق قانوني مردم در برابر بي قانوني، فشار، تهديد، و تطميع پايداري کنند.
در اين مراسم نامه حدود 100 تن از معاونين و مديران تعداي از وزارتخانه ها به رئيس جمهور نيز خوانده شد. در نامه از رئيس جمهور خواسته شده است از حداکثر تلاش و ظرفيت ممکن براي توقف روند جاري استفاده شود و در صورت عدم امکان بازگرداندن امور به مسير مردم سالاري، از ادامه خدمت معذور شوند. در نامه آمده است: اين عذر را از ما بپذيريد که ادامه خدمت را هم جهت با منافع ملت و نظام جمهوري اسلامي نيابيم و دولت را به کساني بسپاريم که آن را آن گونه مي خواهند.
امضا کنندگان تصريح کرده اند که مجلسي که فاقد پشتوانه مردمي است و از رهگذر انتخاباتي کاملا گزينشي شکل مي گيرد، مغاير با اصل مسلم مردم سالاري است و چهره بين المللي نظام جمهوري اسلامي را هم مخدوش مي کند. محمد ابراهيم انصاري لاري، استاندار فارس که همراه با شماري از استانداران و معاونان وزيران در جمع نمايندگان متحصن بود، گفت: استانداران کشور حاضر به برگزاري مراسم تدفين مردم سالاري نيستند. تحصن نمايندگان رد صلاحيت شده مجلس، وارد دوازدهمين روز خود شد. جليل سازگارنژاد، مسئول اجراي مراسم دوازدهمين روز، شمار متحصنين را 117 نفر اعلام کرد. در آغاز مراسم، نامه نمايندگان متحصن قرائت شد. در اين نامه نمايندگان سوگند ياد کرده اند که اگر حقوق قانوني مردم زير پا نهاده شود و انتصابات جايگزين انتخابات شود، در مجلس ششم نمانند. محمد ابراهيم انصاري لاري، استاندار فارس، که همراه با شماري از استانداران و معاونان وزيران در جمع نمايندگان متحصن بود، گفت: استانداران کشور حاضر به برگزاري مراسم تدفين مردمسالاري نيستند.
