Summary of the Iran Stories of Today's BroadcastsBehnam NateghiThursday, March 06, 2003
<b>Majles to Vote on Presidential Powers Bill </b>
* The Majles reformists gear up to vote on the government's bill to expand presidential powers. This is the second of the twin reform bills aimed at limiting the power of the unelected bodies. Last week, Majles passed the election reform bill, which would end the role of the Guardians Council in vetting the applicants for candidacy in the Majles and presidential elections. The Guardians Council has made it clear that it would veto the bills that would limit its own powers. But the results of last Friday's municipal elections, during which the electorate dealt the reformists a heavy blow by staying away from the ballot boxes, has weakened the position of pro-Khatami MPs to push ahead with their previous threat of holding a national referendum or resign en mass over the Guardians' rejection of the political reform bills. (Siavash Ardalan)
<b>Journalists Association Members Discuss Protest Action</b>
* In a meeting attended by only 50 of the 1800 members of the Iranian journalists' trade association, various means of protest, including street marches and sit-ins, were discussed, but no resolution or statement was issued on ways to protest the judiciary's wholesale closing of the reformist newspapers since 2001. Tehran-based journalist Shayan Jaberi, who was at today's meeting, tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that during the two-hour meeting, some journalists criticized their absent colleagues for their apathy, but Farzaneh Roustai, foreign news editor of several reformist newspapers, said that journalists, as voters in the Friday's municipal elections, prefer to express their opinion by their absence. The meeting, chaired by Isfahan MP Rajabali Mazrui, secretary general of the journalists trade association, <i>Hayat-e Now</i> writer Hamid Qazvini said President Khatami, his ministers and the Majles MPs always express their sympathy with the banned newspapers' jailed writers, but so do billions of people around the world. Other criticized the silence of the culture ministry's domestic press director about the closing of the newspapers and the arrests of journalists. Isa Saharkhiz, editor of the monthly <i>Aftab</i>, suggested that newspapers print blank columns in sympathy with jailed journalists. Some journalists suggested staging sit-ins and street demonstrations. Writer Ahmad Zeydabadi, who had been imprisoned last year for his articles in the monthly "Iran-e Farda (Iran Tomorrow)," said the association members have until the international press day early next May to plan their protests. Reformist cleric Mohsen Kadivar, who was sentenced to jail for criticizing the Supreme Leader, warned journalists of the optimism of planning ahead, since, he said, some of those present may find themselves in jail come next May.
<b>800 Students in France Call for Release of Jailed Students in Iran</b>
* Eight-hundred Iranian and French university students and professors signed a letter to President Khatami to protest judiciary's harsh treatment of students and teachers in Iran. Paris University comparative sociology professor Sa'id Peyvandi tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that the letter reflects the sympathies of millions of students around the world, who are watching, in astonishment and disbelief, the harsh treatment of students and professors in Iran by the Islamic regime's judiciary and security forces. (Nazi Azima)
* Three Majles MPs called a press conference in Tehran today to protest the continued detention of student activists who participated in rallies to protest the death sentence of history teacher and political activist Hashem Aghajari. A high court repealed Aghajari's death sentence. Aghajari, a board member of the leftist Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution (MIRO) was arrested last June after a speech in a Hamedan mosque on Islamic Protestantism, during which he criticized clerical rule and the Shiite principle of religious emulation. (Siavash Ardalan)
<b>Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Visits Iran</b>
* Kyrgyz foreign minister Askar Aitmatov visits Iran today. (Mehdi Khalaji)
<b>Shiite Opposition Rejects US Military Governor for Post-Saddam Iraq</b>
* After a meeting in Tehran, three Iran-supported Iraqi Shiite opposition groups expressed concern about the reported plans to install a US military commander at the head of a transitional government in the post-Saddam Iraq. (Ardavan Niknam)
<b>Majles Speaker Visits Tajikstan</b>
* Majles speaker Mehdi Karrubi met with Tajik President Imamali Rahmanov. (Shahnaz Kamelzadeh)
<b>Study Measures Young People's Problems</b>
* A study on 75,000 young people across Iran, representing 22 million 14- to 29-year-old Iranians, indicates that only 17 percent of them have jobs, and only 25 percent of those working are women. Sixty percent of married young people, are neither working nor studying. Those who work earn between 850,000 rials to 920,000 rials per month, or around $105, at the official exchange rate. Forty-seven percent of the respondents said they did not believe it is morally wrong to steal. The 600-page study by the national youth organization, also covers psychological problems, stress and depression among the youth. (Shayan Jaberi, Tehran)
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سياوش اردلان (راديوفردا): با به پايان رسيدن كار بررسي و تصويب لايحه اصلاح قانون انتخابات در مجلس، نمايندگان خود را براي بحث و راي گيري برسر لايحه مربوط به اختيارات رياست جمهوري آماده مي كنند. اما تحول نامربوط ديگري، يعني انتخابات شوراها و شكست اصلاح طلبان درون حكومت در آن انتخابات توان آن ها را براي به فرجام رساندن لوايج دوگانه دولت به شدت كاهش داده است. در لايحه اصلاح قانون انتخابات، هدف اصلي برچيدن نظارت استصوابي بوده است يعني سلب اين اختيار از شوراي نگهبان كه كانديدائي را رد صلاحيت كند. يك مسئول جمهوري اسلامي كه نخواست نامش فاش شود به خبرگزاري آسوشيتدپرس گفت در جلسه خصوصي كه بين مجلس و شوراي نگهبان برگزار شد، دو طرف بر سر مواضع خود در مورد لوايح دولت مصمم تر شدند. شوراي نگهبان مايل نيست با پذيرش لايحه دولت اختيار بررسي صلاحيت متقاضيان كانديداتوري را از دست بدهد. همانطور كه در انتخابات شوراها، بررسي صلاحيت كانديداها برعهده شوراي نگهبان نبود، كافي بود كه جناح راست، همصدا با رهبر جمهوري اسلامي، از نبود نظارت استصوابي شوراي نگهبان گلايه كند و بگويند راه يافتن افراد نا به جا به انتخابات شوراها نشان داد كه نظارت استصوابي بيش از هر زمان واجب است. در چنين شرايطي است كه شكست اصلاح طلبان در انتخابات شوراها بر سر سختي محافظه كاران افزوده است. اينك تمام آن تهديدهاي قبلي كه اصلاح طلبان حكومتي براي به تصويب رساندن لوايح دولت مي كردند، از كناره گيري گرفته تا همه پرسي، با در نظر گرفتن اين واقعيت است كه توان آنها در بسيج مردم و مهندسي افكار عمومي به شدت كاهش يافته است و گفته هاي آنها پس از شكست در انتخابات نشاني از تغيير تاكتيك و استراتژي آنها ندارد. اصلاح طلبان حكومتي در مجلس شوراي اسلامي خود را براي راي گيري در باره لايحه تببيين اختيارات رياست جمهوري اسلامي آماده مي كنند. روز گذشته مجلس به بررسي يك لايحه ديگر دولت در باره انتخابات پايان داد اما شكست طرفداران اصلاحات در انتخابات شوراهاي اسلامي شهر و روستا، تلاش آنها را براي واداشتن جناح راست به پذيرفتن لوايح دولت را دشوار تر مي كند. اينك تمام آن تهديدهاي قبلي كه اصلاح طلبان حكومتي براي به تصويب رساندن لوايح دولت مي كردند، از كناره گيري گرفته تا همه پرسي، با در نظر گرفتن اين واقعيت است كه توان آنها در بسيج مردم و مهندسي افكار عمومي به شدت كاهش يافته است و گفته هاي آنها پس از شكست در انتخابات نشاني از تغيير تاكتيك و استراتژي آنها ندارد.
