Summary of Iran Stories in Today's BroadcastsBehnam NateghiSunday, April 25, 2004
<b>Majles Approves Cabinet Shuffle</b>
• The Majles approved on Sunday President Khatami's nominees for new finance and labor ministers. Current labor and social affairs minister Safdar Hosseini replaced Tahmasb Mazaheri as minister of finance and economic affairs. Isfahan MP Naser Khaleqi replaced Hosseini as labor minister. Khatami praised Tahmasbi's performance, but said the cabinet shake-up became necessary after Tahmasbi and management and plan organization director Mohammad Sattarifar concluded that they could not reconcile their long-held differences. Bandar Abbas MP Ali Dirbaz opposed Mazaheri's dismissal, and said experts he has talked to believe that Mazaheri led the country's economy effectively. Tehran MP Majid Ansari said Mazaheri's lack of cooperation with the rest of the cabinet's economic team caused serious disruptions. “As head of the Majles management and plan commission, I witnessed disharmony in relation to the budget bills, he said. Khaleqi, 55, is a mechanical engineer, was a member of the technical committee of the national fishing authority, and spent 10 years in Iraq as a POW. Safdar Hosseini, 52, who has a degree in agriculture from Canada, has been labor minister since 2001. He has been an advisor to the interior ministry, management and plan organization and Kokiloyeh provincial government, and has been dean of the economy faculty of the Tehran University's agriculture school. (Fereydoun Zarnegar)
<b>Health Ministry Closes Iranmehr Hospital After Two Suspicious Deaths</b>
• The health ministry ordered Tehran's Iranmehr hospital to temporary close, after 11 patients went into a coma from anesthetics past their expiration dates. Two of the patients died. Deputy health minister Hasan Akbari said the deaths may have not had the same causes. The private hospital has been barred from admitting new patient, pending the health ministry's investigation. (Ashkan Pazouki)
<b>Inter-Branch Committee Probes Norwegian Bribe Scandal</b>
• A joint committee of the Majles and government representatives will investigate the charges that Norway's state-owned oil company Statoil paid $15 million in bribes to a son of former president Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani to win contracts worth $300 million with the national Iranian oil company. Statoil's president Olf Fjel, chairman Leif Terje Loeddesoel and head of the company's international exploration Richard Hubbard quit last September after Norway began an investigation of the case. In non-Muslim countries managers of a company resign for paying a bribe, but in our Islamic country, those who receive bribes have immunity from any investigation, Tabriz MP Akbar Alami said last January, after his motion to question the oil minister on Statoil disappeared from the Majles agenda.
<b> Minister Finds $28 A Barrel “Good Price” for Oil</b>
• “I consider that $28 a barrel is a good price for OPEC, or one or two dollars more or less,” oil minister Bijan Zanganeh said on Sunday in Tehran on the sidelines of Iran's first international gas exporting conference. “The objective should be to maintain the price of a barrel in the upper part of the $22 to $28 bracket,” he added. “OPEC is currently overproducing by 3.5 million barrels a day, or two million barrels more than the usual seasonal overproduction,” Zanganeh added, asserting that “there is no shortage.” He blamed high prices of oil on what he called “refinery problems” in the US and political tensions in the Middle East.
<b>Total Wins another South Pars Phase</b>
• Iran has decided to award French oil giant Total a $1.2 billion contract to develop phase 11 of the massive South Pars offshore gas field, deputy oil minister Mehdi Mirmoezi told the AFP Sunday.
<b>Italy Questions Iranian Bodyguard on Iraq Hostages</b>
• Looking for clues about the whereabouts of the three Italian hostages in Iraq, investigators in Rome questioned Iranian bodyguard Bahram Momen-Safai, a former partner of one of the hostages. Momen-Safai, who moved to Italy from Iran 10 years ago, has reportedly been an officer in the Islamic Republic's special forces. (Ahmad Ra'fat, Rome)
<b>Agents Restrict Perfume Shops</b>
• As Tehran became warmer last week, the government agents stepped up their pressure on proprietors of women's apparel stores to enforce the Islamic dress and behavior codes on their clients. But according to a salesgirl at one of Tehran's most fashionable perfume shops, the pressure on stores selling cosmetics and perfumes continues all year. The store owners are being prosecuted not only for their customers' violations of the dress code, but also for the shapes or names of some perfume bottles, she tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. (Leyli Arman)
<b>Nationalist Opposition Leader Sues the Guardians Council Over Election Ban</b>
• Secretary of the nationalist opposition party the Freedom Movement of Iran Ebrahim Yazdi accused the Guardians Council of libel and spreading lies in the letter explaining the reasons for banning him from last February Majles elections. In a court hearing next week, we shall explain our complaint against the Guardians Council's election supervision board, Yazdi's lawyer <b>Mohammad-Ali Dadkhah</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. In a letter of explanation they sent to Yazdi, as the reason for his ban from standing for election the board has cited an article of the law about “heretics,” he adds. “What proof do they have that my client is a heretic?” (Amir-Mosaddegh Katouzian)
• The Guardians Council is by law and by religion responsible to provide detailed answers on every candidate it banned, Majles speaker Mehdi Karrubi said, responding to a Friday statement by the secretary of the Guardians Council who said the Guardians Council is by law answerable to no one.
<b>Andimeshk Judiciary Releases 4 Nationalist-Religious Activist on Bail</b>
• Andimeshk judiciary released on bail four nationalist-religious activists who had been arrested last week for having distributed leaflets calling for the boycott of last February's Majles elections. The judge of the Andimeshk Islamic Revolutionary court looked for a charge on which he could indict us, but could not find anything, one of the four activists <b>Ezatollah Jafari</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>, adding that the intelligence ministry and the intelligence unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp refused to take the four detainees from the police. (Farin Asemi)
<b>Tehran Closes the Goethe Institute</b>
• In an interview with <b>Radio Farda</b>, a student of the Tehran Goethe Institute confirmed that the 46-year-old German language school has been closed temporarily by the Tehran municipal government. A spokesman at Germany's embassy in Tehran said the official reason for the closing was lack of proper documents. The closing was seen as yet another reaction to the unveiling of an official plaque in Berlin last week to commemorate the 1992 killings of four anti-regime activists in Mykonos restaurant, which a German court said were ordered by the Supreme Leader and other top Islamic Republic officials. (Leyli Arman)
<b>RadioFarda Democracy and Human Rights Roundtable: Accountability of the Supreme Leader</b>
The Supreme Leader said in his New Year speech that all officials are accountable to the people. In today's Democracy and Human Rights Roundtable, a constitutional reform activist and a human rights lawyer in Tehran and a historian and commentator in London discuss the role of the Supreme Leader in the Islamic Republic.
• Constitutional reform activist, former MP and Tehran University's political science professor <b>Qasem Shoaleh Saadi</b> says: According to the Islamic Republic constitution and the rules of the Shiite Islam, the Supreme Leader is accountable, he is not above the law, and as the ultimate power in the regime, is more accountable than anybody else. But his statement that everyone should be accountable contradicts the actions of his appointees in the judiciary, who arrested, imprisoned and tortured me last year after I published a letter asking the Supreme Leader to answer questions about his actions. One of my questions was about the Supreme Leader's letter to the Majles banning any discussion of the reforming the press law. We have to keep writing and saying, until the Supreme Leader accepts, in actions not in words, that he too should be accountable to the people.
• Tehran-based human rights lawyer <b>Mohammad-Hussein Aghasi</b> says: By bringing up accountability, the Supreme Leader meant to call on the outgoing reformist Majles and President to account for what they did in office. The Supreme Leader was echoing the criticism being launched at the reformists that they did nothing to implement their campaign promises, and no one pays any attention to the fact that the Majles legislations were all rejected by the supreme Leader's appointees in the Guardians Council. But tonight, the subject appears to be the Supreme Leader's accountability. According to the monarchy's constitution, power was a divine gift in the hands of the Shahs. The Islamic Revolution changed that. The Islamic Republic constitution maintains that sovereign people have entered into a temporary contract with the ruler. This was the case under Imam Khomeini, who believed he and the entire government were in power because of people's votes. This is being gradually forgotten. But if a ruler accepts that he is acting as deputy of the people, he of course would consider himself accountable to the people.
• London-based historian and political commenter <b>Mashallah Ajudani</b> says the power of the Supreme Leader is even greater than God's. The problem is that based on the Islamic Republic constitution, as is being interpreted, even the smallest rights of the people cannot be protected, because the Supreme Leader is considered the representative of God, appointed through “discovery” or “intuition” by a select few. It has become clear to the people that all aggressions against their rights are being organized from the Supreme Leader's office, and anyone who wants to protest, has to direct his protest against Ayatollah Khamenei, who is personally responsible for all these things. (Amir Armin)
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مينا بهارمست (راديو فردا): مجلس شوراي اسلامي ايران امروز به دو وزير پيشنهادي محمد خاتمي، رئيس جمهوري راي اعتماد داد. به اين ترتيب صفدر حسيني، وزير كار و امور اجتماعي به جاي طهماسب مظاهري به وزارت اقتصاد و دارايي مي رود و ناصر خالقي، نماينده اصفهان در مجلس، وزير كار و امور اجتماعي مي شود. اعلام كنار گذاشتن طهماسب مظاهري از كابينه هفته گذشته تعجب بسياري از كارشناسان اقتصادي را برانگيخت. اما آقاي خاتمي گفت كه نياز به هماهنگي بيشتري در تيم اقتصادي خود در دولت دارد.
فريدون زرنگار (راديو فردا): رئيس جمهوري اسلامي هنگام معرفي دو وزير جديد گفت: نارضايي از عملكرد اين دو وزير نبوده است كه وي را مجبور به اين تغيير و تحولات كرده باشد، بلكه ناهماهنگي هاي پيش آمده بين دو نهاد مهم اقتصادي يعني وزارت امور اقتصادي و دارايي و سازمان مديريت و برنامه ريزي رئيس جمهوري را بر آن داشته است كه دست به اين تغييرات بزند. به گفته محمد خاتمي سابقه اين اختلافات و لزوم تغيير در تيم اقتصادي دولت به دو سال پيش برمي گردد و هردو مسئول اقتصادي هم خود در جريان بحث درباره لزوم اين تغييرات بوده اند.
صداي محمد خاتمي: خود اين دوستان بيش از همه هم به صورت مكتوب، هم به صورت شفايي، هم در بحثهايي كه مطرح بود، اين مساله را مطرح كردند. هر دوي آقايان به اين نتيجه رسيدند كه ما با همديگر كار مشكل است كه بكنيم.
ف . ز : پس از معرفي دو وزير پيشنهادي به مجلس، نمايندگان مجلس در موافقت و مخالفت با پيشنهاد رئيس جمهوري، به اظهار نظر پرداختند. علي ديرباز، نماينده بندر عباس در مخالفت با اين تغييرات و در دفاع از طهماسب مظاهري، وزير امور اقتصادي و دارايي پيشين گفت:
صداي علي ديرباز: چرا قرعه اين تغييرات به نام آقاي مظاهري درآمد، در حالي كه به تاكيد و گواهي جمع كثيري از همكارانم كه فرصت كردند موضوع مذكور را با آنان در ميان بگذارم، مبني بر مثبت ارزيابي كردن فعاليت و مديريت ايشان از يك سو و نظرات صاحبان انديشه در حوزه اقتصاد و مديريت جملگي حكايت از وجود روند كارآمدي در سيستم اقتصادي كشور را دارد.
ف . ز : سپس مجيد انصاري، رئيس كميسيون بودجه و برنامه مجلس در دفاع از صفدر حسيني براي تصدي وزارت امور اقتصادي و دارايي گفت: در توسعه اقتصادي داشتن برنامه و هماهنگي در اجرا ضروري است. ناهماهنگي آقاي مظاهري با تيم اقتصادي دولت وقفه هاي جدي ايجاد كرده بود.
مجيد انصاري: من به عنوان مسئول کميسيون برنامه و بودجه، شاهد ناهماهنگي بسيار شكننده و تلخي، هم در رابطه با بودجه سال 82 و هم 83 بودم.
ف . ز : پس از بحث و اظهار نظرهاي موافقين و مخالفين، صفدر حسيني با دفاع از سياستهاي اقتصادي دولت قول ادامه اين سياستها را داد و اهداف عمده سياستهاي آينده خود را از جمله جذب سرمايه گذاريهاي خارجي و گسترش روابط اقتصادي ايران با دنياي خارج خواند. ناصر خالقي، وزير جديد كار و امور اجتماعي هم رئوس سياستهاي خود را به مجلس عرضه كرد. در پايان براي انتخاب وزيران پيشنهادي راي گيري انجام گرفت و مهدي كروبي رئيس مجلس نتيجه راي گيري را اعلام كرد.
ناصر خالقي، وزير جديد كار و امور اجتماعي تا امروز عضو هيات رئيسه مجلس شوراي اسلامي و عضو كميسيون صنايع و معادن مجلس ششم هستند. وي كه نماينده اصفهان است، در دوره پنجم مجلس شوراي اسلامي نيز نماينده مجلس بود. ناصر خالقي متولد سال 1328 در شهرضا، فارغ التحصيل رشته مهندسي مكانيك است. وزير جديد كار و امور اجتماعي در سالهاي پس از انقلاب به عنوان رئيس كميسيون فني شركت شيلات ايران فعاليت داشته است. به گزارش سايت خبري مجلس شوراي اسلامي، ناصر خالقي در زمان جنگ به اسارت ارتش عراق درآمد و مدت ده سال را در زندانهاي عراق سپري كرده است.
صفدر حسيني، وزير تازه امور اقتصادي و دارايي متولد سال 1333 در استان خوزستان است. دارايي تحصيلات دانشگاهي در زمينه اقتصاد كشاورزي از دانشگاه شيراز و دانشگاهي در كانادا است. وي از سال 1380 تا كنون مسئوليت وزارت كار و امور اجتماعي را به عهده دارد. پيش از اين در پستهاي مشاورت اقتصادي استان كهكيلويه و بوير احمد، مديريت گروه اقتصادي كشاورزي دانشگاه تهران، مشاورت در سازمان مديريت و برنامه ريزي و مشاور وزير كشور مسئوليت داشته است. امروز پس از راي گيري در مجلس، صفدر حسيني، وزير پيشين كار و امور اجتماعي به سمت وزير تازه دارائي و امور اقتصادي و ناصر خالقي، نماينده مجلس، به جاي صفدر حسيني، به سمت وزير كار و امور اجتماعي، منصوب شدند. حجت الاسلام سيد محمد خاتمي، رئيس جمهوري اسلامي، دليل تغييرات در كابينه خود را ناهماهنگيهايي دانست كه بين وزارت دارائي و امور اقتصادي و سازمان مديريت و برنامه به وجود آمده بود. مجلس شوراي اسلامي در نشست خود پس از شنيدن نظرات موافق و مخالف و برنامه هاي وزيران پيشنهادي، به آنان راي اعتماد داد.
