سفر كميسر روابط خارجي كميسيون اروپا به تهران و پيگيري گفتگو در باره حقوق بشر

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Summary of Iran Stories of Today's BroadcastsBehnam NateghiMonday, February 03, 2003 Senior Cleric Welcomes Montazeri's Release, Condemns Oppression * Ayatollah Mahmoud Tabatabai, son of the late Grand Ayatollah Tabatabai, tells Radio Farda that the release from house arrest last Wednesday of senior dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hosseinali Montazeri did not come at the discretion of the authorities, but they had no other option. The popular support for the religious leaders, he says, is a negative vote for a faction of the government that held Montazeri under house arrest for five years. In the past twenty years, he adds, many top Shiite sources of religious emulation suffered house arrest, repression and abuse, including his father and Grand Ayatollahs Shariatmadari and Rouhani, who perished in captivity, and were buried unceremoniously in unmarked graves. He protests against the closing of reformist newspapers and the jailing of political activists, students and dissident clerics. Citing a Koranic verse that means traitors are fearful, he says: "If you are not traitors, why do you block people's access to the houses of the sources of religious emulation?" He says none of Iran's top religious leaders condoned the cruel treatment of clerics, journalists and students. He warns: "The gentlemen should remember the past, because history will certainly be repeated. What you did to others would be done to you. What happened in the past can happen in the future too." He adds, "I assure the Iranian people that there will be a relief and that relief is on its way." (Iraj Arianpour) EC's Foreign Relations Commission Patten Visits Iran * Chris Patten, the European Commissioner for External Affairs, who began a four-day visit to Tehran today, said EU believes in resolving its differences with Iran on human rights through negotiations. (Lily Sadr) * London-based veteran journalist Jahangir Behruz tells Radio Farda that President Khatami and Commissioner Patten are aware that no real progress can take place in EU-Iran relations without the approval of the United States. (Shahran Tabari, London) * Mohammad-Reza Jalili, an Iran expert in the Geneva-based Graduate Institute for International Studies, tells Radio Farda that the EU has made human rights improvements a pre-condition for the resumption of trade talks with Iran. However, he adds, Iran would agree to a few cosmetic improvements, but would not make a fundamental change to stop human rights violations. On the Iraq issue, there is little difference between the states policies of Iran and the EU. (Shahram Mirian, Cologne) * Paris-based human right activist Abdolkarim Lahiji, deputy secretary general of the international association of human rights organizations, tells Radio Farda that a dark report on human rights violations in Iran has been handed to Chris Patten in Brussels on the eve of his departure for Iran. (Fereydoun Zarnegar) * Glasgow University's international relation professor Reza Taqizadeh tells Radio Farda that Chris Patten's talks in Tehran are political in nature, even though they are being framed as trade talks. He adds that, fearing the expansion of the US presence in the region, which would transform the political balance in the Middle East, the EU is looking for a bigger footprint, and Iran, with its large population, geographical location and economic resources, is an ideal choice. (Shahran Tabari, London) Two Pollsters Receive Jail over US Relations Survey * A Tehran court sentenced Abbas Abdi and Hossein Ghazaian to 8 and 9 years in jail respectively for their involvement in the publication of an opinion poll that showed 74 percent of the respondents favor the resumption of the relations with the US. Their lawyers said they will appeal. (Mina Baharmast) * Tehran judiciary chief Abbas-Ali Alizadeh said the padlocked center for public opinion research did the surveys and Ayandeh, the other padlocked public opinion survey agency, had contracts with three countries for selling the polls' results. He added that secret government documents with military information were found in the defendants' homes. (Jamshid Zand) Iran Blasts Iraq over "Re-Writing History" * Foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi blasted yesterday Saddam Hossein's last Friday statement to Iraqi officers as "re-writing history." Saddam had said Iran started the eight-year war. Asefi said instead of making baseless claims, Saddam should focus on disarming Iraq and lifting the shadow of war from the region. Asefi said Iran continues to hold the 1975 Algeria agreement, that divided the Shatt-ol-Arab waterway between the two countries, to be valid and binding. (Lily Sadr) Healthcare Official Warns of Rising Illegal Abortions * Deputy healthcare minister Hossein Malek-Afzali said illegal abortions in private clinics and unsanitary places have reached 80,000 per year. A high percentage of those illegal abortions, he said, were administered to 23-year-old unmarried women who used abortions as a means to conceal sexual relationships. The rise in prostitution and poverty, he added, were others factors in the high number of illegal abortions. Except in cases when medically advised as the only means to save the mother, abortion is illegal in Iran. (Mina Baharmast) 24th Anniversary of Ayatollah Khomeini's Return * As the "Fajr" festival kicked off in Iran to celebrate the 10 days from the return from exile of Ayatollah Khomeini to the fall of the monarchy, "the country is plagued by political paralysis, corruption, unemployment, social restrictions and uneven and unnerving repression, writes Elaine Sciolino in the New York Times. (Mahdieh Javid) Journalists Trade Association Calls for Freedom of Hayat-e Now Writer * In a letter to the culture minister, the trade association of journalists called for the release of Hayat-e Now writer Alireza Eshraqi who was arrested 23 days ago after the publication of a cartoon that resembled Ayatollah Khomeini. (Ardavan Niknam) Austrialia: Six Iranian and Afghan Refugees Flee Wumera Detention Camp * Six Iranian and Afghan detainees fled the Wumera detention camp south of Sydney, Australia. (Jamshid Adili, Sydney) Tobacco Monopoly Warns of Contraband * The state tobacco monopoly warned cigarette smokers against the contraband product packaged as popular foreign brands such as Cartier, Royal and Monte Carlo. (Nazi Azima) Gas Price Hike Fails to Stop Smuggling * A 10 percent hike in the price of gasoline did not slowdown the flow of the estimated one million litters per day of gasoline smuggled to Pakistan, Turkey and Afghanistan, where a litter of gasoline sells 16 times its price in Iran. Iran spends $1 billion per year on importing gasoline, which is sold at a highly subsidized price. (Fereydoun Khavand) Iran Fears Iraq's Weapons More than the US * Iran has more reason than the US to fear Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, writes the Austrian newspaper Die Presse. (Shahram Mirian, Cologne) Majles Speaker Asks Judiciary Chief to Probe into Abuses * Responding to the abuses described in the nationalist-religious activist Ezatollah Sahabi's letter last week, Majles speaker Mehdi Karubi asked Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Shahroudi to begin an unbiased probe. Sahabi, who was jailed for one year before being tried for subversion, said in his letter that the judiciary's interrogation team continues to harass him six months after he was released on bail. He asked to be executed for whatever crime they allege him of having committed in order to end the incessant harassment and interrogations. (Nazi Azima) London Embassy Honors Iranian Studies Scholars * The Iranian embassy in London honored top British Iranian studies scholars in a ceremony last night. Professor Anoushirvan Ehteshami tells Radio Farda that this was the first time that selected British scholars were honored by he embassy. (Shahran Tabari) Iran Suppresses Reformists with New Vigor * The repression of the reformists continues in Iran without concern for the world public opinion, which is now focused on Iraq, writes Le Monde. (Fereydoun Khavand, Paris) Conference in Tehran Discusses Child Abuse * Lawyers, government officials, child psychologists and public policy advocates discussed child abuse in a two-day conference in Tehran. According to government figures, 90 percent of child abuse, which is perpetrated by parents and grandparents goes unpunished, because the Islamic law places the guardianship of the father above the society's right to prosecute child abusers. (Siavash Ardalan) . كريس پاتن كميسر روابط خارجي اتحاديه اروپا در آستانه سفر امروز به تهران در گفتگويي با خبرگزاري رسمي جمهوري اسلامي در بروكسل گفت: ما در باره مسايل حقوق بشر اختلاف نظر داريم و اميدواريم اين اختلافات با مذاكره حل شود. دكتر عبدالكريم لاهيجي، نايب رئيس فدراسيون جهاني دفاع از حقوق بشر در مصاحبه با راديو فردا مي گويد: تقريبا يكسال پيش گفتگوهاي بين اتحاديه اروپا و حكومت ايران به در خواست جمهوري اسلامي صورت گرفت و خوشبختانه بر اثر كوشش هاي سازمان هاي حقوق بشر، اتحاديه اروپا بررسي وضعيت حقوق بشر را در ايران جزو شرايط گسترش اين روابط قرار داد. وي مي گويد: ما اميدواريم كه آقاي پاتن در اين گفتگو به ادامه مذاكرات حقوق بشر و انجام دومين ميزگرد با جمهوري اسلامي به توافق برسد. به همين منظور گزارشي از آخرين تحولات حقوق بشر در ايران، كه متاسفانه بسيار منفي و تاريك است، را قبل از سفر پاتن به دفتر ايشان داديم.