Summary of Iran Stories in Today's BroadcastsBehnam NateghiSunday, July 13, 2003
<b>Judiciary Arrests Khatami's Press Advisor, Closes <i>Hambastegi</i></b>
• Instead of closing the paper, which could be costly and controversial, the judiciary arrested Vahdi Pour-Ostad and Hossein Bastani, key columnists of the reformist Tehran daily <i>Yaas-e Now</i>. At a time when most newspapers operate under a blanket of fear, Bastani, a press advisor to President Khatami, enjoyed a relative secure corner to pour his heart out in <i>Yaas Now</i> and the pro-Khatami party Participation Front's website Rooydad, following in the steps of jailed reformist journalists Akbar Ganji and Emadedin Baqi. However, it seems that Tehran prosecutor Said Mortazavi, was unimpressed with Bastani's credintials, and gave no reason for the arrests. Mortazavi, former press court judge, is famous for closing more than 30 newspapers in less than two years. (Alireza Taheri)
• Press court closed Tehran reformist daily <i>Hambastegi</i> for delaying to introduce a new publisher. (Fariba Mavedat)
<b>German Foreign Minister Urges Iran to Cooperate with IAEA</b>
• Elaborating on his earlier remark that Iran's signing of the additional protocol of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty was insufficient, German foreign minister Joschka Fischer told foreign minister Kamal Kharrazi in a phone conversation on Sunday that Germany has not changed its position. Germany, Fischer said, welcomes Iran's cooperation with the IAEA, the official news agency IRNA reported. (Ali Sajjadi)
<b>Dafter Demands Release of All Arrested Students</b>
• In a statement on Sunday the association of the Islamic student councils “Dafter Tahkim-e Vahdat,” demanded the immediate release of members of its central council and all arrested students. (Ali Sajjadi)
• A number of Shiraz University students went on hunger strike to protest the widespread arrests of pro-democracy students. Head of the student Islamic council of Shiraz University's medical school <b>Saber Farrokhi</b>, one of the hunger-strikers, tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that the strike began on Thursday morning with only 8 students, but everyday more students join the action. He says the Daftar's central council member Reza Ameri-Nasab, who is a graduate of the Shiraz University medical school, was arrested last week, but no security or police organ has yet confirmed his arrest. He adds that police does not allow non-students to enter the university campus. (Alireza Taheri)
• In an interview that appeared without attribution in the Amir-Kabir University's Islamic student council's newsletter, a student accused members of President Khatami's cabinet of involvement in the arrests and alleged torture of student activists. (Kian Manavi)
• Sharif University Islamic student council called for the immediate release of its board members and Reza Ameri-Nasab and other Dafter central council members. Member of the general council of Daftar <b>Seyyed Amir Pakzad</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that the door of dialogue with the government is open, but the government should respond to the demands of “pro-moderation” students. He says the mood of despair and frustration among students should be lifted. (Amir-Mosaddegh Katouzian)
• On July 9, the fourth anniversary of the police attack on the Tehran University student dorms, the government banned rallies, closed universities and schools, shut down mobile phone service, blocked the Internet, jammed radio and satellite TV from outside Iran, and dispatched armed security forces to streets, but thousands in Tehran performed a concert of car horns and anti-regime slogans, writes German daily <i>Süddeutsche Zeitung</i>. (Shahram Mirian, Cologne)
<b>Judiciary Releases Sazegara's Son</b>
• The Tehran judiciary released <b>Vahid Sazegara</b>, but kept in custody his father, Mohammad-Mohsen Sazegara, outspoken critic of the Supreme Leader and advocate of constitutional reform. The two had been arrested last month. Judiciary accused Sazegara and Tehran MP Fatemeh Haqiqat-ju of instigating students' pro-democracy demonstrations. Vahid Sazegara tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that he had been harshly treated, but not violently, and the treatment improved after a few days. He says he only saw his father once during the past month, and jail authorities told him that his father ended his hunger strike after they fed him intravenously. (Amir-Mosaddegh Katouzian)
<b>Former Hostage Kennedy Warns US against Taking Sides in Iran</b>
• Former Iran hostage Morehead C. Kennedy said in an interview that hostage crisis reflected the anger at the US for its support for the Shah. He added that expressing support for the moderates would only provoke greater suppression at the hands of the conservative clerics. (Baktash Khamsehpour)
<b> Canadian-Iranian Photojournalist Dies in Police Custody</b>
• The Italian freedom of press advocacy group Principle 21 called for the immediate dispatch to Iran of a delegation to investigate the circumstances of the death of Canadian-Iranian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, 54. Principle 21 founders MPs Ferderico Orlando and Joseppe Julieti said the Islamic regime was responsible for Kazemi death. (Ahmad Ra'fat, Rome)
• Victim's son <b>Stephen Hashemi</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that his mother's relatives in Tehran, who were not allowed to see her in her three- coma, are now trying to save her body from possible disappearance in the hands of the authorities. (Maryam Aghvami, Toronto)
• Security forces arrested Kazemi on June 23, allegedly for taking photos of pro-democracy demonstrations. She was transferred to an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC)'s hospital on June 25 in a coma, with fractured skull. Ms. Kazemi had applied for permit from the culture ministry as a photographer for Britain's Camera Press news agency, specifically to cover the pro-democracy protests. (Jean Khakzad)
• President Khatami assigned four cabinet ministers to investigate Kazemi's death, and said their findings will be made public. (Baktash Khamsehpour)
• Reporters San Frontiers regretted Kazemi's death in a statement issued in Paris, and asked the Islamic regime to allow the transfer of Kazemi's body to Canada. (Baktash Khamsehpour)
<b>Hamedan Appeals Court Reduces Aghajari's Jail Sentence</b>
• In a letter to his lawyer, teachers college history professor and board member of the leftist Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization (MIRO) Hashem Aghajari called the ruling of a Hamedan appeals court unfair. A Hamedan court had sentenced Aghajari to death for insulting the Shiite clergy in a speech last June at a Hamedan mosque on Islamic Protestantism. A Qum-based appeals court struck down the sentence and sent the case back to Hamedan for a retrial. Aghajari appealed the new 9-year jail sentence. The appeals court reduced the sentence to 11 months and 29 days in Gonabad and four years in jail in the remote desert town Tabas. (Jamshid Zand)
<b>Roundtable: Can Iranians Organize in Political Parties?</b>
Is Iran ripe for the establishment of new political parties and trade unions? London-based historian <b>Mashallah Ajudani</b> and pro-democracy activist and former Tehran's Meli University professor <b>Ahmad Tahmasbi</b> discuss the past and future role of political parties in Iran.
• Compared to pre-revolutionary Iran, people are more aware of their rights and demands, and it is now the time to organize themselves in political parties with distinguished demands, Tahmasbi says. Iran has so far fought with three historical dictatorships, monarchy, clerical and communism, and is about to embrace democracy, he adds.
• I agree, Iran's four traditional political groups – monarchists, Islamists, leftists and nationalists – have all been historically undemocratic. The greatest impact on the democratization of Iranian society will be played by a fifth political groups, that is neither leftist, nor monarchist, nor nationalist, in the National Front (Jebheye Meli) style, says Ajudani. (Bahman Bastani)
<b>Erickson's Italian Branch Denies Selling Iran Radio Jamming Equipment</b>
• The Italian branch of Swedish telecom manufacturer Erickson denied charges in Italian press that it helped Iran jam foreign-based Persian-language radio and satellite TV signals. Erickson recently began working for Iran Telecom to upgrade and expand Iran's cellular phone system. (Ahmad Ra'fat, Rome)
<b>Iran's GNP Down 23 Percent Since the Revolution</b>
• Iran's per-capita GNP dropped 23 percent since the 1979 revolution, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) reported today. (Fereydoun Khavand)
<b>Jailed Journalist Pourzand's Daughter Denies Judiciary's Charges</b>
• The UN Human Rights Commission's delegation to investigate prisons and arbitrary arrests, asked in the report it issued in Geneva last week for an end to the judiciary's harassment of jailed veteran journalist Siamak Pourzand, 74. The delegation said there was no evidence for the charge that Pourzand distributed millions of US government dollars to reformist journalists. Pourand's daughter <b>Banafsheh Pourzand</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that the charge, for which her father was convicted to 11 years in jail, was a lie. (Alireza Taheri)
<b>Security Forces Arrest Sister of Jailed Mohammadi Brothers</b>
• <b>Gol-Jahan Ashrafpour</b>, mother of jailed student activists Manouchehr and Akbar Mohammadi, tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that security forces arrested her daughter Simin Mohammadi in the Enqelab circle, near the Tehran University, and arrested her brother Abdolreza Ashrafpour, who was also in Tehran. Simin Mohammadi, she adds, had gone to Tehran from their hometown Amol along with her father, after they received news that Manouchehr Mohammadi had been transferred to an unknown prison. Authorities arrested Mr. Mohammai, but he is now free on bail pending his trial. In two phone calls from jail, her daughter Simin told her that a 100 million-rial bail has been set for her, but Ms. Ashrafpour says the family cannot provide the bail. (Amir-Mosaddegh Katouzian)
<b> Bush Administration Divided on Methods of Regime Change in Iran</b>
• US administration officials disagree on methods of regime change in Iran, says CNN commentator <b>Amir Taheri</b>. He tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that the US believes that a democratic Iran would not become a haven for terrorists. (Shahram Mirian, Cologne)
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فريبا مودت (راديو فردا): پل برمر، مسئول آمريکايي اداره امور عراق امروز اخطار کرد که در ماههاي آينده بايد در انتظار درگيريهاي خشونت بار تازه اي در عراق بود. آقاي برمر مي گويد: اقليتي کوچک و ناچيز، بقاياي تلخ کام حکومت صدام حسين، تروريستهاي خارجي، و افراطيون زير نفوذ جمهوري اسلامي با برقراري هرگونه امنيتي در عراق مخالفند. آقاي برمر تاکيد کرد: هيچ کس نبايد در عزم ما براي استفاده از قدرت در برابر اقدامات خرابکارانه ترديد کند.
اما اکبر هاشمي رفسنجاني، رئيس مجمع تشخيص مصلحت نظام دو روز پيش خبر هرگونه مداخله جمهوري اسلامي در امور عراق را نادرست خواند. مع هذا از اينکه آمريکا به گفته او در «باتلاق عراق» گرفتار شده است، ابراز خشنودي کرد. در اين حال درباره موضع آمريکا در قبال جمهوري اسلامي، ميان تحليلگران اختلاف نظر وجود دارد. عده اي معتقدند آمريکا خواهان سرنگوني حکومت جمهوري اسلامي است و در اين راه آشکارا بايد به ميدان بيايد. اما عده ديگري بر پايه گفته هاي اخير وزير خارجه آمريکا معتقدند که واشنگتن بايد از هرگونه مداخله اي در درگيريهاي جناحي در ايران بپرهيزد. امير طاهري، نويسنده و تحليلگر شبکه تلويزيوني CNN در اين زمينه به شهرام ميريان از راديو فردا مي گويد:
امير طاهري (نويسنده و تحليلگر شبکه تلويزيوني CNN): در مورد هدف نهايي ايالات متحده در مورد ايران، اختلافي در داخل حکومت آقاي بوش وجود ندارد. اين هدف نهايي در کتابي که دو سال پيش در مورد استراتژي امنيتي ايالات متحده منتشر شد، به خوبي روشن شده. در اين کتاب مي خوانيم که امنيت ملي ايالات متحده تا موقعي که رژيمهاي غير دموکراتيک وجود دارند، در خطر خواهد بود. بنابراين گسترش دمواکراسي در سراسر جهان براي حفظ امنيت ملي ايالات متحده اهميت دارد. به عبارت ديگر رژيم کنوني ايران بايد تغيير کند. اختلافي که در حکومت آقاي بوش وجود دارد بر سر متدها و روشهاي اين تغيير است. البته يک نظر اين است که اين تغيير به صورت استحاله، چند مرحله اي، و با کمک نيروهايي در داخل خود رژيم کنوني باشد، يک نظر ديگر اين است که ايران در آستانه يک تغيير انقلابي قرار دارد و ايالات متحده بايستي با يک آميزه اي از فشارهاي ديپلماتيک و نظامي و اقتصادي به براندازي رژيم کنوني کمک بکند. اين بحث ادامه دارد، ولي در هر حال بايستي وضع در ايران عوض شود و بايستي رژيم کنوني ايران سياستها و استراتژيهاي دراز مدتش را عوض کند يا اين که خودش را در خطر سقوط کامل قرار دهد.
شهرام ميريان (راديو فردا): يعني به گونه اي با قضيه بازجويي خوب يا بازجويي بد روبرو هستيم که يکي با متهم مهرباني مي کند و ديگري با او رفتار تند دارد، اما در واقع هر دو هدفي مشترک را دنبال مي کنند.
امير طاهري: بله، کاملا. هدف مشترک همانطور که مي دانيد اين است که ايالات متحده فکر مي کند که تنها در کشورهايي مثل ايران، ليبي، کره شمالي، سودان، سوريه، يا عراق (که البته الان عوض شده) ممکن است پايگاههاي تروريستي عليه ايالات متحده يا متحدان و دوستان ايالات متحده به وجود آيد و اين نکته مهمي هست که کشورهاي دموکراتيک تهديدي براي حمله به يکديگر حساب نمي شوند. مثلا کانادا ممکن نيست موشک درست کند که بخواهد آن را عليه ايالات متحده به کار برد. بنابراين ديگر مسئله اين نيست که دموکراسي چيز خوب يا لوکسي است، مسئله اين است که براي امنيت ملي ايالات متحده لازم است. مثلا هم اکنون در جمهوري اسلامي 22 سازمان تروريستي از کشورهاي مختلف (از کلمبيا گرفته که اصلا به ايران ربطي ندارد، تا فيليپين) پايگاه و دفتر دارند. به اين جهت موضوعي که الان براي رژيم ايران مطرح است اين است که يا بايستي به طور کلي رفتارش را عوض کند (اين پيشنهاد وزارت خارجه آمريکا است)، يا به طور کلي بايد پرسنل خود رژيم هم عوض شوند.
ش.م: آقاي طاهري، شما از نقش آمريکا صحبت کرديد. در اين جا پرسش بعدي من راجع به نقش بريتانيا در قبال ايران است.
امير طاهري: مي دانيم که بريتانيا ديالوگ خيلي وسيعي با جمهوري اسلامي برقرار کرده است. آقاي جک استراو، وزير خارجه بريتانيا 4 بار به ايران سفر کرده و ساعتهاي متمادي با رهبران جمهوري اسلامي گفتگو داشته. هفته آينده آقاي توني بلر، نخست وزير بريتانيا براي گفتگو با آقاي جرج بوش، رئيس جمهوري ايالات متحده به واشنگتن خواهد رفت و مسئله ايران در صدر گفتگوهاي دو طرف قرار دارد. البته مي دانيد که دولت بريتانيا هم از جنبش دموکراسي در ايران حمايت مي کرده است. آقاي بلر در مجلس عوام رسما گفت که ايشان پشتييبان اين حرکت دموکراتيک در ايران هستند. در هر حال نظر من اين است که بحث بر سر ايران تا 4-3 ماه ديگر ادامه خواهد داشت، ولي به هر حال به نتيجه خواهد رسيد و يک استراتژي واحد هم در ايالات متحده، هم در بريتانيا، و در مقياس وسيعتر حتي در اروپا و روسيه شکل خواهد گرفت. امير طاهري، محقق روزنامه نگار كهنه كار و تحليلگر شبکه تلويزيوني CNN در مصاحبه با راديو فردا مي گويد که مقامات دولت بوش بر سر هدف نهائي، يعني استقرار دمكراسي در ايران، اختلاف ندارند. اختلافي که هست بر سر متدها و روشهاي تغيير حكومت ايران به دمكراسي است. يک نظر اين است که اين تغيير به صورت استحاله، چند مرحله اي، و با کمک نيروهايي در داخل خود رژيم کنوني باشد؛ يک نظر ديگر اين است که ايران در آستانه يک تغيير انقلابي قرار دارد و ايالات متحده بايستي با يک آميزه اي از فشارهاي ديپلماتيک و نظامي و اقتصادي به براندازي رژيم کنوني کمک بکند.
