Summary of Iran Stories in Today's BroadcastsBehnam NateghiFriday, July 11, 2003
<b>Rafsanjani Threatens to Use the Army to Suppress Pro-Democracy Protests</b>
• In his official sermon as the Tehran Friday prayer leader, former president Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani threatened to use the military and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) to suppress pro-democracy demonstrations. He said the regime has not yet used all the power within its means against the pro-democracy protesters. He said in addition to the two, there is also the Basij corps, the voluntary unit of the IRGC. Opposition figures charged that the Basij corps, as well as the plainclothes paramilitary security force Ansar-e Hezbollah, were responsible for many of the thousands of protesters arrested during last month's 10-day unrest in Tehran and major cities. Rafsanaji said the club-wielding Ansar, who beat demonstrators and onlookers indiscriminately in the streets, were “volunteers” who “came forward to defend their country.” He said nothing about the 2000 students and other protesters that the judiciary said would remain in custody pending their trials. (Alireza Taheri)
<b>Roundtable: Student Movement</b>
Former Tehran University president <b>Mohammad Maleki</b>, who is now a member of the religious-nationalist coalition; former board member of the association of Islamic student councils <b>Bahman Kalbasi</b>, who was jailed for two months after the July 1999 student uprising and is now a student in Toronto, Canada; and <b> Ali Keshtgar</b>, former head of anti-Shah, Marxist-Leninist guerilla group the Fadayian Khalq, who is editor of the Paris-based monthly <i>Mihan (Homeland)</i>, discuss the role of the Islamic student movement in today's roundtable. The so-called “student movement” is a network of Islamic student councils which the clerical regime set up in universities in order to suppress student dissent. The association, called “Dafter-e Tahkim-e Vahdat (Office of Reinforcing Unity), has now turned into the most vocal critic of the regime. The judiciary arrested five of Daftar's central council members after they called for the separation of religion from government.
• When the students asked UNSG Kofi Annan for help in their open letter, they were clearly saying that they consider the conservative and reformist factions of the regime a unified whole, Maleki says.
• The lack of people's participation in the students' street protests does not mean that the students' anti-regime movement lacks public support. In fact, the student movement was the only political organization that had boycotted last year's municipal elections, which had the lowest voter turnout since the revolution, Kalbasi says.
• Since the bloody July 1999 crackdown, the student movement has found a new identity, severed ties with government factions, and in effect began fighting against dictatorship, Keshtgar says. (Bahman Bastani)
<b>Judiciary Seals Information on Protest Detainees</b>
• Families of the student activists arrested during and after last month's anti-regime demonstrations said the judiciary kept information on the whereabouts of the detainees secret. The wife of <b>Abdollah Momeni</b>, secretary general of the central council of the association of the Islamic student councils (Dafter Tahkim-e Vahdat), tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that no lawyer has been hired for her husband, since the authorities promised that he will be released within a few days. She adds that after 15 days, she still does not know which security organ or police force arrested him and on what charges, where he is being held and under what conditions. (Mahmonir Rahimi)
<b>RSF Calls for International Investigation of the Beating of Canadian-Iranian Photographer</b>
• Canadian-Iranian photographer Zahra Kazemi, 54, lies in coma in a Tehran hospital since her arrest and beating two weeks ago by Islamic security agents. <b>Reza Moini</b>, Iran specialist at the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers, tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that until this point RSF has been protesting against unlawful arrest and detention of Iranian journalists, but it now beating and possible death of journalists. He adds that RSF has asked the Islamic regime to allow an international delegation to visit Kazemi in the hospital and investigate her alleged beating in custody. (Bijan Farhoodi)
• Advocacy group Canadian Journalists for Free Expression sent a letter to Iran to protest the beating, CJFE spokesman <b>Joel Rimi</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. He adds that apparently Kazemi has suffered a brain hemorrhage after being beaten in jail. (Maryam Aghvami, Toronto)
<b>US Senate Approves Iran Democracy Act</b>
• The US Senate approved a bill to promote democracy in Iran, and condemned torture and maltreatment of pro-democracy prisoners in Iran. <b>Senator John Sununu, Jr. </b> (R-NH) tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that the Clinton administration advocated dialogue with Iran, but one reason the Bush administration supports the anti-regime, pro-democracy movement is the continued strength of the pro-democracy movement in Iran and the message it sends to the world. (Ebrahim BiParva)
<b>Mashhad Was Quiet on July 9</b>
• Mashhad-based reformist journalist <b>Mohammad-Sadeq Javadi-Hesar</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that on July 9, the fourth anniversary of the police attack on Tehran University student dorms, Mashhad was quiet, due to the heavy deployment of security forces and police in the streets and the closing of all universities and higher education institutions for three days. He adds that last month's anti-regime demonstrations lacked organization, and thus, could not be expected to become a major problem for the regime. (Mahmonir Rahimi)
• Thousands of people who gathered in Enqelab circle near Tehran University on July 9 to commemorate the 1999 police attack on student dorms were so afraid that they could not leave their cars, reports Reuters Tehran correspondent Paul Hughes. (Ardavan Niknam)
• Plainclothes security forces videotaped the pro-democracy demonstrators in order to identify them, <i>The Financial Times</i> writes. (Shahran Tabari, London)
• In an interview with Italy's largest newspaper <i>Corrierre della Sera</i> Filmmaker Abolfazl Jalili said he supports the Khatami government. He added that the west mistakes Iran with such countries as Saudi Arabia and Taliban's Afghanistan. He accused Iranian youth of consumerism, and said all they want is western-style mobile phones and fast cars. He said due to the malfunction of his “American” car, he could not go to the streets on the July 9th, but he said he does not think he missed anything. (Ahmad Ra'fat, Rome)
<b>Cuba Helps Iran to Block Los Angeles-based Anti-Regime TV, Says Broadcaster</b>
• The Operator of Telstar 12 informed Los-Angeles-based Persian-language TV broadcasters that the source of disruptions in their satellite signal is in Cuba, head of Azadi TV <b>Reza Fazeli</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. He says he and other broadcasters are signing a deal with a satellite operator half owned by the US Navy, and will soon resume broadcasts to Iran on new channels. (Jamshid Chalangi)
<b>No Imminent Threat to the Islamic Regime, Says Author Bromberg</b>
• In a speech on Iran at the RFE/RL's Washington headquarters, the Carnegie Foundation's Daniel Bromberg, Georgetown University professor and author of several books on Iran and the Middle East, said the reformists did not create the necessary foundation for basic social and political change in Iran. He also said the Islamic regime was not on the verge of collapse. (Ebrahim Biparva)
<b>Judiciary Releases Son of Constitutional Reformist Sazegara, Arrests Student Leader</b>
• The judiciary released Vahid Sazegara, son of constitutional reformist and critic of the Supreme Leader Mohsen Sazegara. Meanwhile, the higher education ministry confirmed the arrest last night of Said Razavi-Faqih, a member of the central council of the association of the Islamic student councils. (Shireen Famili)
<b>AI Condemns Arrests of Three Student Leaders</b>
• In a statement issued in London, Amnesty International protested against the arrests in Tehran of three central council members of the association of Islamic student councils. Plainclothes security forces arrested the three on July 9, after they held a press conference to protest against the government's refusal to permit students to hold a rally. (Ardavan Niknam)
<b>Twins' Stepfather to Sue Singapore Hospital for Their Death</b>
• Conjoined twins Laleh and Ladan Bijani's adoptive father Alireza Safarian said he plans to file a complaint against Singapore's Raffle Hospital after the international team it had assembled failed to save their lives after separating them. (Alireza Taheri)
<b>Egypt Denies Negotiating about Iran's Al-Qaeda Detainees</b>
• The Egyptian government said it did hold any negotiations with Iran about Egyptian al-Qaeda elements who may have been arrested by Iran. An Egyptian official said he finds it hard to believe that bin Laden's deputy Aymen Zawahiri has applied for political asylum in Iran. (Mahmonir Rahimi)
<b>Islamic Modernist Soroush Protests against the Closing of His Research Institute</b>
• Islamic modernist thinker Abdolkarim Soroush said in a letter to President Khatami that security forces padlocked his research center “Pazhouhesh va Marefat” and his publishing house, Sarat press. He said the regime has turned Iran into a dictatorship and accused conservatives of paving the way for foreign domination of Iran. (Mehdi Khalaji)
.
شيرين فاميلي (راديو فردا): در ايران امروز اکبر هاشمي رفسنجاني، رئيس پيشين جمهوري اسلامي و رئيس کنوني مجمع نشخيص مصلحت نظام، در خطبه هاي نماز جمعه تهران بار ديگر آمريکا را عامل ناآرامي هاي اعتراض آميز اخير در ايران دانست و همزمان نيروهاي آمريکايي مستقر در عراق را گرفتار باتلاقي به گفته او بدتر از باتلاق ويتنام توصيف کرد که عقلا بايد براي نجات آن چاره اي بيانديشند. عليرضا طاهري از راديو فردا و نگاهي به گفته هاي اکبر هاشمي رفسنجاني در نماز جمعه امروز تهران.
عليرضا طاهري (راديو فردا): رئيس مجمع تشخيص مصلحت نظام جمهوري اسلامي، امروز در همان قالب هميشگي اش از تريبون نماز جمعه تهران خطبه خواند. قالب شخصيتي که اگر لازم بداند، هرگونه آداب ديپلماتيک را کنار مي گذارد و با لحني باب طبع مخاطبانش، مي کوشد تا تند و تيز انتقاد کند. اکبر هاشمي رفسنجاني از جمله گفت:
اکبر هاشمي رفسنجاني (رئيس مجمع تشخيص مصلحت نظام جمهوري اسلامي): اما از آن طرف مي گويند شما يک جوري حرف مي زنيد که مردم عراق تحريک مي شوند. انصافا اينها خداي « رو» هستند که اين قدر پر رو و پر مدعا هستند.
ع.ر.ط: رئيس پيشين جمهوري اسلامي که از او به عنوان مرد دوم در بالاي ستون لغزنده قدرت در ايران ياد مي شود، آمريکا را سزاوار افزايش شمار کشته شدگانش در عراق دانست. با اين حال اکبر هاشمي رفسنجاني، براي نجات آمريکا که در جمهوري اسلامي از آن به عنوان شيطان بزرگ يا گرگي ياد مي شود که در پي دريدن ميش جمهوري اسلامي است، پيشنهاد کرد: عقلاي دنيا بايد براي باتلاق خود ساخته آمريکاييهاي مغرور فکري کنند. آقاي هاشمي رفسنجاني افزود: نمي توانيم بگوييم که آنها در آستانه باتلاق هستند، بلکه در عمق آن قرار دارند و در حال حاضر مديريت باتلاقي لازم دارند. رئيس مجمع تشخيص مصلحت نظام جمهوري اسلامي به آمريکا توصيه کرد: آمريکاييها بايد در عراق عاقلانه تر عمل کنند.
همزمان خطيب نماز جمعه امروز تهران بار ديگر از فرصت بهره گرفت تا عامل اصلي ناآرامي هاي اعتراض آميز اخير در ايران را آمريکا بداند. او گفت: سناتورها و نمايندگان مجلس آمريکا با گستاخي هزينه هاي زيادي براي تحريک مردم صرف کردند و با رو کردن ايادي داخليشان خيال کردند به جايي مي رسند. پيش از اکبر هاشمي رفسنجاني، آيت الله محمد تقي مصباح يزدي نيز از همان تريبون نماز جمعه اعلام کرده بود که آمريکا در ايران چمدان چمدان دلار ميان ناراضي ها پخش کرده است تا جمهوري اسلامي را بر اندازد. آيت الله مصباح يزدي و در پي او آيت الله مشکيني، رئيس مجلس خبرگان رهبري حتي تاکيد کرده اند که شماري از مسئولان و نيز نمايندگان مجلس شوراي اسلامي از آمريکاييها پول گرفته اند. به رغم اعتراضات، هنوز هيچ مرجعي حاضر به رسيدگي به اتهاماتي که از تريبونهاي نماز جمعه در اين زمينه ايراد مي شود، نشده است.
از سوي ديگر، اکبر هاشمي رفسنجاني امروز فاش کرد که جمهوري اسلامي براي فرو نشاندن ناآرامي هاي اخير از تمامي ظرفيت امنيتي، نظامي، و انتظاميش بهره نگرفته است. اکبر هاشمي رفسنجاني گفت: از نظر آمريکاييها همه چيز تمام شده بود اما در عمل فقط بخشي از نيروي انتظامي، آن هم در محدوده وظايف ذاتي خودش و نه وظايف دوران بحران، وارد عمل شد. آقاي هاشمي رفسنجاني افزود: افزوده بر اين بعضي ها هم با ميل خودشان، داوطلبانه براي دفاع از کشورشان به صحنه آمدند و وارد عمل شدند. به گفته آقاي رفسنجاني، نظام جمهوري اسلامي هيچ يک از امکاناتي را مثل بسيج، سپاه، و ارتش که براي دوران بحران در نظر گرفته است را وارد نکرد. آقاي هاشمي رفسنجاني با اين ياد آوري فاش ساخت که جمهوري اسلامي آماده است تا در صورت لزوم، براي فرو نشاندن شورشهاي اعتراض آميز مردم ايران از نيروي ارتش نيز بهره بگيرد.
همزمان گفته هاي امروز اکبر هاشمي رفسنجاني رسما نشان داد که بر خلاف فرمان صريح رهبر جمهوري اسلامي، درباره برکنار ماندن نيروهاي موسوم به انصار حزب الله از ناآراميهاي اخير، عده اي به گفته آقاي رفسنجاني با ميل خودشان وبراي دفاع از کشورشان به صحنه آمده اند. آقاي هاشمي رفسنجاني در خطبه هاي امروز نماز جمعه تهران نه از مشخصات اين عده داوطلب سخني گفت و نه از سرنوشت دست کم دو هزار جوان و دانشجويي که همچنان در زندان به سر مي برند، کوچکترين يادي کرد. به گفته اکبر هاشمي رفسنجاني، چنين رويدادهايي که آمريکا در ايران راه مي اندازد مايه استحکام نظام جمهوري اسلامي است. حجت الاسلام علي اكبر هاشمي رفسنجاني، رئيس مجمع تشخيص مصلحت نظام، طي سخنراني در مراسم رسمي نماز جمعه در دانشگاه تهران گفت حكومت ايران از تمام امكانات خود براي فرونشاندن تظاهرات ضدحكومتي دمكراسي طلبان بهره نگرفت. وي فاش ساخت که جمهوري اسلامي آماده است تا در صورت لزوم، براي فرو نشاندن شورشهاي اعتراض آميز مردم ايران از نيروي ارتش نيز استفاده كند. هاشمي رفسنجاني گفت جمهوري اسلامي امکاناتي مثل بسيج، سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامي، و ارتش را براي دوران بحران در نظر گرفته است. وي همچنين گفت: سناتورها و نمايندگان مجلس آمريکا با گستاخي هزينه هاي زيادي براي تحريک مردم صرف کردند. رفسنجاني در باره نيروي امنيتي شخصي پوش كه شركت كنندگان در تظاهرات را مورد ضرب و شتم قرار داد، گفت: عده اي با ميل خودشان و براي دفاع از کشورشان به صحنه آمده اند. وي نه از مشخصات «داوطلبان» سخني گفت و نه از سرنوشت دست کم دو هزار جوان و دانشجويي که همچنان در زندان به سر مي برند.
