Summary of Iran Stories of Today's BroadcastsBehnam NateghiThursday, January 23, 2003
<b>Rumsfeld Expects Iran to Do Nothing Harmful to US Efforts in Iraq</b>
* US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the administration hopes that Iran would not try to interfere with possible U.S. efforts to remove Saddam Hussein from power. Rumsfeld told Radio Farda in Washington yesterday that President George W. Bush has made no decision on the use of force against Iraq. However, he added that he expects Iran to do nothing that would be harmful to US-led efforts to disarm Iraq. (Mahtab Farid)
<b>Khatami Opposes the Possible US Attack on Iraq</b>
* President Mohammad Khatami said the US was looking for a pretext to attack Iraq, but he hoped that the Security Council could find a peaceful solution to the Iraq crisis. He said no one should be allowed to tell a head of state to leave office. He expressed doubts about the success of the Istanbul conference. Foreign minister Kamal Kharrazi who arrived today in Istanbul to discuss peaceful ways to disarm Iraq with foreign ministers of Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, said the Islamic Republic cannot accept that the US has the right to change Iraq's regime by force. (Iraj Arianpour)
</b>Human Rights Violations Continue Despite Talks with the EU</b.
* Paris-based lawyer and human rights activist Abdolkarim Lahiji tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that despite several meetings over human rights between Iran and representatives of the EU, human rights violations, such as corporal punishment and torture, executions, stoning and cutting off limbs, continue in Iran. He says foreign minister Kamal Kharrazi's statement yesterday to the European Commission that reforms would slowly prevail in Iran cannot be taken seriously. The resumption of human rights violations after the EU negotiators left Iran shows that despite Kharrazi's denial, the reforms have failed and the regime has reached to the point of absolute political and ideological failure. (Iraj Arianpour)
<b>Reformist Politician Calls Factions to Compromise</b>
* Former interior ministry deputy Mostafa Tajzadeh, board member of the pro-reform party the Participation Front (Jebheh-ye Mosharekat-e Iran-e Eslami), said yesterday that the regime's rival factions should compromise based on fear of mutual elimination. He added that mutual fear can better move the factions to compromise than mutual interest. He said considering Iran's young majority and the advances made during the past 24 years in education, the reforms process is irreversible. (Ali Sajjadi)
<b>International Court to Hear Iran's Claim against US over Oil Platforms<b>
* Iran cited the 1955 friendship agreement between the two countries in a lawsuit filed with the international court at The Hague to claim damages for US attacks during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war on three Persian Gulf oil platforms. Marine law expert Bahman Aghai tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that the US said the platforms were being used for attacks on oil tankers and the US ships in the Persian Gulf. He adds that after the events of the early years of revolution, the spirit of the 1955 US-Iran friendship agreement was destroyed, but the agreement continues to be legally binding. The US cited it in its lawsuits against Iran after the Algiers agreement on the release of US hostages in Iran. It is now Iran's turn, he adds, to drag out the corpse of this agreement. (Maryam Ahmadi)
<b>Judiciary Sentences Tehran Mayor to Jail and Ban from Public Office</b>
* Judge Nasser Daqiqi of the Tehran public courts' bench 1430, sentenced former Tehran mayor Mohammad-Hasan Malek-Madani to five months in jail and four years ban from public office for mismanagement of public property. The interior ministry had fired Malek-Madani a day earlier. (Homayoun Majd)
<b>Montazeri's Son Denies Conservatives' Charge of Dementia</b>
* Two conservative newspapers linked to the Supreme Leader reported that dissident cleric Ayatollah Hosseinali Montazeri, 80, would "soon" be released from house arrest amid concerns over his health. Montazeri's son Ahmad denies the newspapers' charge that his father is suffering from dementia. He tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that Montazeri would record his political will on videotape. (Alireza Taheri)
<b>Tehran Residents Complain about Jamming Satellite Broadcasts</b>
* A Tehran satellite dish installer said that people complain to him about the recent jamming of the Los Angeles-based Persian satellite broadcasts. Meanwhile, the state radio-TV monopoly started broadcasting a second satellite channel. (Fereydoun Khavand, Paris)
<b>Government Silences Dispute among Top Officials on Budget</b>
* Management and planning organization's head Mohammad Satarifar cancelled his Wednesday night press conference after vice president Aref issued a circular banning top economic officials from expressing their views about the budget bill for the upcoming fiscal year. (Fereydoun Khavand, Paris)
<b>Hard-line Seminary Student Threaten Progressive Religious Leader</b>
* In an open letter issued in Qom today, hard-line seminary students threatened to silence progressive cleric Ayatollah Yusef Sanei for his views on gender equality. Qom-based activist Dr. Akbar Alami tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that the seminary students consider Sanei's views on gender equality in inheritance and other matters contrary to the Muslim's holy book the Qor'an. (Mahmonir Rahimi)
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عده اي از طلبه هاي حوزه علميه قم نامه سرگشاده اي عليه آيت الله يوسف صانعي، مرجع تقليد نوانديش منتشر كردند. از جمله انتقادات آنها به آيت الله صانعي اين است كه برخلاف مراجع تقليد ديگر، سن بلوغ دختر را 13 سال مي داند، نه 9 سال. دكتر اكبر كرمي، تحليلگر و فعال سياسي در قم، در مصاحبه با راديوفردا مي گويد در نامه عليه آيت الله صانعي، طلاب امضاء كننده تهديد كرده اند كه او را به خودسانسوري وادار خواهند كرد. وي مي گويد در معركه و بلواي اخير در قم در ارتباط با كاريكاتور حيات نو، صانعي سكوت كردو برخلاف انتظار آقايان چيزي نگفت. در بخشي از نامه تهديدآميز، آيت الله صانعي متاثر از مهندس بازرگان، نهضت آزادي و سازمان مجاهدين خلق، سعيد حجاريان و عبدالكريم سروش قلمداد شده است كه بنا بر اين نامه بيت او را پاتوق خود كرده بودند. در اين نامه سعيدحجاريان، معاون سابق وزارت اطلاعات جمهوري اسلامي و مشاور رئيس جمهوري، ملحد توصيف شده است. صانعي قبلا حجاريان را در رديف مرحوم آيت الله مطهري، يك ايدئولوگ فكري خوانده بود. دكتر كرمي مي افزايد: در واقع علت اصلي ناراحتي طلبه هاي جوان از آيت الله صانعي، فتواي او در باره تساوي ديني زن و مرد و همچنين تساوي ارث زن و مرد است كه به باور اينها بر خلاف اجماع علماي اسلام و نص صريح قران است. وي مي افزايد كساني كه به عنوان اعتراض به توهين به روحانيت اعتراض مي كنند خود با سخيف ترين توهين ها را عليه يك روحاني به كار مي برند.
