Summary of Iran Stories in Today's BroadcastsBehnam NateghiSunday, May 23, 2004
<b>Majles Sends Rejected Rights Bills to Expediency Council</b>
• With three weeks remaining in its term, the reformist Majles re-approved three human rights bills which were rejected by the Guardians Council, and sent them to the Expediency Council for final decision. The bills include ratification of the UN anti-torture convention and definition of political crimes, both considered politically sensitive. According to the anti-torture bill, any action that causes physical or psychological harm and suffering to detainees and defendants, including interrogation under duress, blindfolding and sleep deprivation, would be torture. The third bill deals with formation of a new supreme council on family, which would protect the rights of women in divorce and child custody cases. (Fereydoun Zarnegar)
<b>Government Prevents Dissident Shoaleh Saadi's Foreign Travel</b>
• Even though the court's ban on foreign travel for constitutional reform activist <b>Qasem Shoaleh Saadi</b> has ended, the government prevented him from traveling abroad to seek treatment for spinal injuries he suffered in detention and interrogation. Shoaleh-Saadi was detained on his return from Paris last year in the Tehran airport for having published a letter holding the Supreme Leader responsible for actions of the regime. “The ban on my foreign travel is illegal,” Shoaleh-Saadi tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. He adds that four of his vertebrae have been damaged under torture in jail, and delay in treatment may paralyze him for life. (Ali Sajjadi)
<b>Pourzand Undergoes Spine Operation</b>
• Jailed veteran journalist Siamak Pourzand, 74, is scheduled to go under an eight-hour operation on his spine today. His Toronto-based daughter <b>Leili Pourzand</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that she is worried about the impact of long anesthesia on her father. (Maryam Aghvami)
<b>Vietnam, Iran and China Vote to Suspend Italian Transnational Radical Party from the UN Key Council</b>
• The Committee on Non-Governmental organizations voted today on Vietnam's request to suspend the Consultative relationship that the Transnational Radical Party enjoys with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the UN. Iran, China, Cuba, Russia, Pakistan and several other countries accused of human rights violations voted in favor of Vietnam's request, while the US, Britain, Peru, Germany, France and several other countries voted against it. The suspension would deprive many nations suffering under dictatorships from representation in the ECOSOC, founder of Italy's Transnational Radical Party (TRP) Emma Bonino said. The party has been active in exposing human rights abuses in Iran.
<b>Iran Withdraws National Wrestling Team from Atlanta's Titan Cup</b>
• In a move officially described as a protest against US military operations in the Shiite cities of Iraq, the Islamic Republic withdrew Iran's national wrestling team from the upcoming Titan Cup matches in Atlanta. Tehran-based sports journalist <b>Sadreddin Kazemi</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that the wrestling team is training for the 2004 Olympic games in Athens, and traveling to the US for the Titan cup matches would have interfered with the training. (Masoud Malek)
<b>Chalabi Acted as Double Agent</b>
• Head of Iraq's National Congress Party Ahmad Chalabi acted as a double agent, and passed on information he received from the US to his benefactors in the Islamic Republic government, head of the Princeton, New Jersey-based advocacy group American-Iranian Council <b>Houshang Amirahmadi</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. The US defense department officials, who backed Chalabi initially, found that he had become too close to the Iranian regime, he adds. (Leyli Sadr)
• Foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi denied reports in the US press that Chalabi spied for Iran. To gain information on Iraq, the Islamic Republic does not need my help or the help of any other member of the Iraqi governing council, Chalabi said.
<b>Hoover Institution's Iran Democracy Project Honors Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Ebadi</b>
• At a gala dinner in Palo Alto, the Iran Democracy Project of Stanford University's Hoover Institution honored Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi. The ceremony, during which Ms. Ebadi delivered a speech titled “Democracy: Our Only Hope,” was part of a two-day conference on the future of democracy in Iran. “Those who refuse to accept democracy and human rights for their own country under the pretext of cultural relativism are reactionary despots, disguising their dictatorship under the guise of a false cultural mask. In the name of their national culture, they deny their nation's rights,” Ms. Ebadi said.
<b>Revolutionary Guards' Basij Unit Demonstrates against US and Britain's Military Operations in Iraqi Shiite Cities</b>
• In a rally set up by the Basij Corps, the volunteer unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, protestors hurled petrol bombs and stones at the British embassy for the third time in less than a week to denounce the presence of Western forces in Iraqi Shiite cities of Najaf and Karbala. “We want the immediate closure of the British embassy,” chanted the Basiji forces outside the embassy, a focus for anti-US protests in the absence of a US diplomatic office in Iran. The petrol bombs landed outside the embassy and a British diplomat said the demonstration was relatively peaceful, unlike the two protests earlier this week when stones thrown at the compound smashed several windows in a building inside. Riot police, who had been deployed in advance in apparent anticipation of the demonstration, used batons to disperse the crowd. In a speech at the rally, a cleric, introduced as the Majles prayer leader, said if the Supreme Leader commands us, we will storm the embassy. The demonstrators issued a statement asking the foreign ministry to summon the British ambassador and slap him in the face.
<b>Tabriz Students Protest against Disciplinary Committee</b>
• In an open letter addressed to the minister of higher education, students of the Tabriz Sahand University protested against the widespread activities of the university's disciplinary committee. An atmosphere of terror and intimidation has been imposed on the university of only 1000 students by the committee, which has banned the student newsletter, member of the central council of the university's Islamic student council <b>Ehsan Mohajeri</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. Sahand University is being run by certain “grandfathers,” whose actions to suppress the students push more students to political activism, he adds. (Mahmonir Rahimi)
• Reformist Tehran MP Ali-Akbar Mousavi-Khoeini criticized the judiciary's prosecution and harassment of students. The judiciary chief and the minister of higher education have said that student affairs should be handled by the universities' disciplinary committees, but we see that prosecution of students and jailing of the activists by judiciary's courts continue across the country.
<b>US Energy Department Bars Iranian Born Physicist From Entering His Lab at Stanford University</b>
• The US Energy Department barred Iranian-born physicist Shahram Rahatlou from entering his lab at Stanford University, the monthly <i>Nature</i> reports. Rahatlou, who emigrated to Italy with his family when he was 13, has worked at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) for six years, but was told in February 2003 that he was no longer allowed entry. Rahatlou won the 2004 Mitsuyoshi Tanaka Dissertation Award for an exceptional thesis in particle physics, Nature says. In e-mail correspondence with <b>Radio Farda</b> Rahatlou refused to discuss his case. SLAC is a civilian facility that does not conduct classified or sensitive research. (Fatemeh Aman)
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امير مصدق کاتوزيان (راديوفردا): مجلس شوراي اسلامي امروز در نشست علني خود چندين مصوبه برگشت داده شده از سوي شوراي نگهبان را بررسي كرد و با ناوارد دانستن ايرادات شوراي نگهبان، اين مصوبات را تاييد كرد و به مجمع تشخيص مصلحت نظام فرستاد.
فريدون زرنگار (راديو فردا): مجلس شوراي اسلامي در جلسه علني امروز بر بسياري از مصوبات خود كه مورد ايراد شوراي نگهبان قرار گرفته بود بار ديگر مهر تاييد زد و آنها را به مجمع تشخيص مصلحت نظام واگذار كرد.
از جمله مصوبات مجلس كه شوراي نگهبان آنها را رد كرد و به مجلس باز گرداند، طرح الحاق دولت جمهوري اسلامي به كنوانسيون منع شكنجه، لايحه مبارزه با جرم پول شويي و طرح جرايم سياسي بود. مجلس شوراي اسلام هر سه مصوبه رد شده در شوراي نگهبان را بار ديگر تصويب كرد و براي تصميم گيري به مجمع تشخيص مصلحت نظام فرستاد.
با در نظر گرفتن اين كه چند هفته اي به عمر مجلس ششم نمانده است، مجلس معروف به اصلاح طلب با مصوبات امروز به قول معروف خود توپ را وارد ميدان مجمع تشخيص مصلحت نظام كرد. به ويژه آنكه دو مصوبه الحاق دولت جمهوري اسلامي به كنوانسيون منع شكنجه و طرح جرايم سياسي از نظر سياسي بسيار با اهميت تلقي مي شود.
بر اساس مصوبه منع شكنجه مجلس، هرگونه اعمال فشار جسمي يا رواني عليه متهمين سياسي مانند اذيت و آزار بدني، چشم بند زدن به زنداني در محيط زندان و بازداشتگاه و نگهداري زنداني به صورت انفرادي در كليه مراحل اعم از تحقيق و دادرسي و اجراي حكم شكنجه محسوب و مرتكب برابر مقررات قانوني مجازات مي شود. مجلس در جلسه امروز خود همچنين با در نظر گرفتن ايرادات شوراي نگهبان به طرح تشكيل شوراي عالي خانواده، آن را اصلاح و به شوراي نگهبان باز پس فرستاد.
علاءالدين بروجردي، نماينده منتخب رئيس مجلس براي بررسي حادثه فرودگاه امروز گفت: مجلس در اين مورد گزارشي تهيه كرده است كه در اختيار شوراي عالي امنيت ملي قرار خواهد داد. به گفته اين نماينده مجلس نواقصي فني و ناهماهنگي ميان ارگانها، دلايل بروز حادثه فرودگاه امام خميني بوده است.
در پيشاپيش اين بررسي مهدي كروبي، رئيس مجلس شوراي اسلامي در پاسخ به خبرنگاران كه از او پرسيدند چرا مقصران حادثه فرودگاه معرفي نمي شوند، گفت: مكاتبات فراواني در اين باره صورت گرفته و يك گزارش پانصد صفحه اي آماده شده است. رئيس مجلس امروز با عدول از تاكيد پيشين خود بر لزوم معرفي مقصران حادثه فرودگاه گفت: ما نمي خواهيم مقصران را معرفي كنيم. آقاي كروبي تغيير نظر خود را اينچنين توضيح داد كه ما حداقل هاي و هويي راه انداختيم، اما ديگران سكوت كردند. رئيس مجلس نگفت مقصودش از ديگران كيست.
امروز در آخرين لحظات از فرصت باقي مانده قانوني، شوراي نگهبان لايحه قانون برنامه چهارم مصوب مجلس را با ايراداتي از آن به مجلس بازگرداند. به گفته نايب رئيس مجلس به علت زياد بودن اين ايرادها، كميسيون تلفيق مجلس از همين امروز كار بررسي ايرادهاي شوراي نگهبان را آغاز خواهد كرد. نمايندگان اصلاح طلب مجلس شوراي اسلامي در هفته هاي واپسين كار خود، سه مصوبه رد شده در شوراي نگهبان را بار ديگر تصويب كردند و براي تصميم گيري نهائي به مجمع تشخيص مصلحت نظام فرستادند. به ويژه آنكه دو مصوبه الحاق دولت جمهوري اسلامي به كنوانسيون منع شكنجه و طرح قانوني تعريف جرايم سياسي ازنظر سياسي بسيار با اهميت تلقي مي شود. بر اساس مصوبه منع شكنجه، هرگونه اعمال فشار جسمي يا رواني عليه متهمين سياسي مانند اذيت و آزار بدني، چشمبند زدن به زنداني در محيط بازداشتگاه و حبس انفرادي شكنجه محسوب و مرتكب برابر مقررات قانوني مجازات مي شود. مجلس در جلسه امروز خود همچنين با در نظر گرفتن ايرادات شوراي نگهبان به طرح تشكيل شوراي عالي خانواده، آن را اصلاح و به شوراي نگهبان باز پس فرستاد.
