Summary of Iran Stories in Today's BroadcastsBehnam NateghiFriday, July 18, 2003
<b>Traces of Enriched Uranium Found in Iran</b>
• Western diplomats in Tehran told Reuter's news agency that the UN International Atomic Energy Agency's inspectors found traces of enriched uranium in a nuclear facility south of Tehran. IAEA director-general Mohamed Elbaradei denied the report that inspectors found enriched uranium in samples taken recently in Iran, calling it “pure speculation at this stage,” Associated Press reported. Iran invited representatives of the IAEA for a third visit to explain the conditions of the additional protocol of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, IRNA reported. (Bijan Farhoodi)
<b>Reformist Editor Saharkhiz Recounts Evin Prison Experience</b>
• After his release on bail, former culture ministry official and editor of the pro-reform monthly <i>Aftab</i> Isa Saharkhiz told reporters that he was thankful to the new press court judge for his three-day incarceration at the Evin prison, because for the first time he was able to witness the inside of the jail where thousands of students and other pro-democracy protesters are being held. Saharkhiz, a former director of domestic press at the culture ministry, said prison authorities told him that Canadian-Iranian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, who died from blows she suffered at the Evin prison, had tried to take photos from inside the prison after her arrest on June 23. Saharkhiz said students held in the intelligence ministry section of the jail did not suffer the same maltreatment as other jailed students. Among those he saw in jail was Said Asgar, a member of the paramilitary security force Ansar Hezbollah. Asgar, who had been tried for the attempted assassination of Khatami advisor Said Hajjarian, was taken to jail for beating student demonstrators with a machete, but Saharkhiz said, unlike other prisoners, Asgar and his associates' were not logged into the jail computer. Saharkhiz also said the new press court judge, who sent him to jail, is much tougher than his predecessor Said Mortazavi, known for his role in closing more than 90 newspapers in two years. (Siavash Ardalan)
<b>Death of Canadian-Iranian Photojournalist Zahra Kazemi from Beating in Jail</b>
• The death in police custody of Canadian-Iranian photojournalist threatens the future of Canada-Iran relations. Iran is Canada's largest trade partner in the Middle East. Toronto University's scholar of Canada-Iran relations Nader Hashemi tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that in the absence of economic and diplomatic relations with the US, Iran depends on Canada, and Canada could have a greater role than it now perceives on Iran's economy and domestic politics, and could help expedite Iran's democratization process. (Maryam Aqvami, Washington)
• Reformist MP Ali Shakuri-rad blamed judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hasehmi Shahroudi and Tehran prosecutor Said Mortazavi for the death of Canadian-Iranian freelance photojournalist Zahra Kazemi and the resulting international scandal. “The responsibility for the death of Kazemi rests with the Tehran prosecutor and the head of judiciary,” Shakouri-rad said on Friday. “There is consensus in Iran that Mortazavi is not competent. He tried to conceal the truth and now he has to answer many questions,” he added. (Bijan Farhoodi)
• Roundtable: Tehran University professor and constitutional reform activist <b>Qasem Shoaleh-Saadi</b>, editor of several banned reformist newspapers and spokesman of the society for defense of press freedom <b>Mashallah Shamsolvaezin</b>, London-based pro-reform columnist <b>Massoud Behnud</b>, and Paris-based political commentator and nationalist activist <b>Ahmad Salamatian</b> discuss the political ramifications of Zahra Kazemi's death in <b>Radio Farda</b>'s Friday roundtable. (Jamshid Zand)
• Iranian journalists' trade association will conduct its own investigation next week on the death of Zahra Kazemi, according to Isfahan MP Rajabali Mazroui, the association's secretary-general. (Golnaz Esfandiari)
<b>Arrests and Detention of Pro-Democracy Students</b>
• The Supreme Leader was the target of the attacks in last month's pro-democracy protests, prosecutor-general Ayatollah Abdolnabi Namazi said on Thursday at the Friday prayer leaders' seminar in Isfahan. He said “the enemy” knows that harming the Supreme Leader would damage the Islamic regime. He said the gift of government is in the hands of clergy, and for that reason, the clergy is the target of jealousy inside and outside the country. (Amir-Mosaddegh Katouzian)
• A Hamedan judge refused to set bail for 13 arrested students of the Bu-Ali University, according to the university's director of cultural affairs. The arrested students are board members of the Bu-Ali University's Islamic student council, who staged a mock referendum. (Bijan Farhoodi)
• Tehran prosecutor's office released 14 arrested students on bail, and announced that under interrogation, the students fingered the instigators of last month's protests. (Bijan Farhoodi)
• The Amnesty International expressed concern for arrested student leaders Reza Ameri-Nasab and Arash Hashemi, and said in a statement issued in London that the detention of these and other central council members of the association of Islamic student councils is an outcome of the open letter they wrote to UNSG Kofi Annan, in which they called for the separation of religion from government. (Golnaz Esfandiari)
<b>Iran Requires $17 Billion to Create 900,000 Jobs</b>
• In order to create 900.000 jobs, Iran needs $17 billion in foreign investment, Mohammad Khazai, head of the foreign investments organization said on Thursday in a speech at a conference in Dubai. (Arash Qavidel, Tehran)
<b>Spanish Minister of Economy Arrives in Tehran to Promote Trade</b>
• Spanish Minister of Economy Rodrigo Rato arrived in Tehran Friday afternoon at the helm of a trade and industries delegation. Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi Thursday held conversation over phone with his Spanish counterpart Ana Palacio about the recent visit to Iran of the Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency Mohamed Elbaradei. (Ahmad Ra'fat, Rome)
<b>Italy Links Industrial Cooperation with Iran to Improvement of Human Rights</b>
• The future of Italy's industrial and economic cooperation with Iran depends on the improvement of human rights conditions and respect for civil society, Italian minister of industrial production Antonio Marzano told the sixth session of Iran-Italy joint economic cooperation commission held in Rome on Thursday. (Ahmad Ra'fat, Rome)
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بيژن فرهودي (راديوفردا): دولت ايران اعلام كرد سازمان بين المللي انرژي اتمي تهران را در جريان يافته هاي خود در زمينه نمونه هاي برداشته شده از تاسيسات هسته اي كشور قرار نداده است. خليل موسوي، سخنگوي سازمان انرژي اتمي جمهوري اسلامي گفت آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي در اينباره به ايران چيزي نگفته و تا وقتي ايران در جريان قرار نگيرد، نمي تواند در اينباره نظر بدهد.
ديپلمات هاي ساكن ايران به خبرگزاري رويتر گفتند بازرسان سازمان ملل در نمونه برداري ها از ايران، اورانيوم غني شده يافتند و اين نشان مي دهد كه تهران بدون اطلاع آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي اقدام به غني سازي اورانيوم كرده است.
در همين حال ريچارد باوچر، سخنگوي وزارت امور خارجه آمريكا در مورد برنامه هسته اي جمهوري اسلامي گفت: ما انتظار داريم محمد البرادعي، رئيس آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي، برآورد كامل و دقيقي از آنچه در ايران پيدا كرده اند در اختيار هيئت مديره اين آژانس قرار دهد. وي افزود: ما اميدواريم اين گزارش پيشاپيش جلسه آژانس كه فكر مي كنم هشتم تا دوازدهم سپتامبر خواهد بود، عرضه شود و ما با ديگر اعضاي هيئت مديره همكاري خواهيم كرد تا اطمينان يابيم كه هيئت مديره اقدامي موثر و مقتضي به عمل آورد.
سخنگوي وزارت امور خارجه آمريكا در ادامه سخنان خود گفت: ما از دير باز گفته بوديم كه كه برنامه هسته اي مخفي ايران چالشي جدي براي ثبات منطقه، كل جامعه بين المللي و نظام منع گسترش جهاني سلاح هاي اتمي خواهد بود. ديپلمات هاي غربي به خبرگزاري رويتر گفتند كه بازرسان سازمان ملل در ايران اورانيوم غني شده پيدا كردند كه مي تواند در ساختن بمب اتمي به كار رود. دولت ايران اعلام كرد سازمان بين المللي انرژي اتمي تهران را در جريان يافته هاي خود در زمينه نمونه هاي برداشته شده از تاسيسات هسته اي كشور قرار نداده است. در همين حال ريچارد باوچر، سخنگوي وزارت امور خارجه آمريكا در مورد برنامه هسته اي جمهوري اسلامي گفت: ما انتظار داريم محمد البرادعي، رئيس آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي، برآورد كامل و دقيقي از آنچه در ايران پيدا كرده اند در اختيار هيئت مديره اين آژانس قرار دهد.
