Summary of Iran Stories in Today's BroadcastsBehnam NateghiWednesday, September 10, 2003
<b>Britain, France and Germany Draft an IAEA Resolution on Iran</b>
• In a draft resolution introduced as an alternative to the draft submitted by the US, Britain and France and Germany suggested that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) give Iran till the end of October to fully cooperate with IAEA about its nuclear program. IAEA chief Mohamed Elbaradei said he hoped that by signing the additional protocol of the UN nuclear non-proliferation treaty, Iran would soon allow UN inspectors access to its nuclear facilities. (Golnaz Esfandiari)
• Foreign minister Kamal Kharrazi said “certain countries” were trying to “destroy” Iran's relations with the IAEA, and block Iran's access to peaceful nuclear technology. "If the extremists take control of the matter and do not recognize our legitimate rights to have peaceful nuclear activities, we will then be obliged to review the situation and the current level of cooperation with the agency," he added. (Ardavan Niknam)
• US envoy to IAEA Kenneth Brill accused Iran of violating the non-proliferation treaty. (Ardavan Niknam)
• Deputy foreign minister for Euro-American affairs Ali Ahani, who visited Spain last week to seek support for Iran in the IAEA, returned home empty-handed. Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar urged Iran to cooperate with the IAEA. (Ahmad Ra'fat, Rome)
• Iran's IAEA envoy said his government would reject any deadline, and if pressures mount on the Islamic government, it would consider ending all cooperation with the IAEA. (Mina Baharmast)
<b>Federal Judge Finds Iran Responsible for 1983 Bombing of the US Beirut Embassy<b>
• US District Judge John Bates of the District of Columbia ruled Monday that Iran was responsible for Hezbollah detonating an explosives-packed car inside the US embassy entrance on April 18, 1983. (Mahdieh Javid)
<b>Iran Refuses to Join UN Anti-Landmine Convention</b>
• Iran refused to sign the UN anti-landmine convention. Thousands of acres of farmland in the western provinces of the country have been rendered useless, because of the landmines remaining since the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. (Golnaz Esfandiari)
<b> “Experts Council” Urges Crackdown on “Decadent Pens”</b>
• At the conclusion of its three-day session in Qum, the Assembly of Experts (Majles Khobregan), the body in charge of supervising the conduct of the Supreme Leader, called for a tougher crackdown on the domestic critics of the regimes. The body, comprised of senior Shiite clerics hand-picked by the Guardians Council, urged the Guardians Council to carefully vet applicants for candidacy in the upcoming Majles elections. (Amir-Mosaddegh Katouzian)
<b>Sazegara Begins Another Hunger Strike in Jail, Says Mother</b>
• Mother of jailed outspoken dissident Mohsen Sazegara tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that her son Sazegara has begun a new hunger strike to protest his continued detention. An Islamic revolutionary court judge ruled last week that Sazegara could be released on a 6 billion-rial bail, but the order was withdrawn after a “special” court in the Tehran airport started prosecuting Sazegara on a new set of charges. However, the airport court could not locate any file on Sazegara, when his brother went to investigate, adds Sazegara's mother. (Fereydoun Zarnegar)
• Wife of jailed nationalist-religious coalition activist Taqi Rahmani said her husband was being kept in solitary confinement since his arrest in June, and has started a hunger strike. She said no charges have been filed against Rahmani. (Shireen Famili)
<b>Canada Seeks the Return of Slain Journalist's Body</b>
• In talks with European leaders, including his French counterpart in Paris, Canadian foreign minister Bill Graham sought their backing for Canada's demand for the return to Canada of the body of Canadian-Iranian photojournalist, who died in custody last month in an army hospital in Tehran of head injuries she received during interrogation. (Mir-Ali Hosseini, Paris)
<b>Police Crackdown on Unrest in Sardasht</b>
• With the help of soldiers from the army garrison, the police in the Kurdish town of Sardasht violently put down two days of anti-regime demonstrations that left many public buildings and banks with broken windows and smashed facades. Spokesman of the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) <b>Khaled Azizi</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that the death on Sunday of a demonstrator as a result of police violence broadened anti-regime demonstrations that lasted for two days. The Sardasht security forces arrested 15 to 20 people, who are still being held, he adds. (Bahman Bastani)
<b>Foreign Ministry Denies Second British Embassy Shooting</b>
• Foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said the new round of shots fired in front of the British embassy in Tehran last night was not directed at the embassy, but were exchanged between police and suspects during a late-night chase. The five shots that shattered embassy windows earlier last week came as a blow to the restrained UK-Iranian, which were already strained because of the arrest in London of Iran's former Argentina envoy. (Bahman Bastani)
<b>British Judge Gives Argentina Three Days to Submit Evidence against former Islamic Diplomat</b>
• London's High Court gave Argentina until September 12 to submit evidence on Iran's former Argentina envoy Hadi Soleimanpour, otherwise Soleimanpour, who was held on provisional extradition warrant, would be released on bail. Soleimanpour is wanted in Argentina for his alleged role in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center, in which 85 died and 300 were founded. (Shireen Famili)
<b>Berlin Courts Hears Testimony against Alleged Islamic Spy</b>
• In its fourth session, a court in Berlin heard testimony on Wednesday against Iraj Sadri, a former secret police agent under the Shah, who is accused of spying on anti-regime Iranians in Germany. Witness Nosratollah Jahanshahlou, a former communist activist turned monarchist, testified that the defendant asked him to arrange a meeting for him with the Shah's son Reza Pahlavai, which was refused. (Parviz Mardani)
<b>Volunteer Brothers Set Up Service for 5,000 AIDS Patients</b>
• Drs. Arash and Kamyar Alai, on tour in the US at the invitation of the Center for Disease Control, gave a talk in New York's Open Center about their work in Iran on AIDS education, prevention and treatment. <b>Dr. Arash Alai</b>, 34, tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that the centers he and his brother have set up in 22 cities with the help of the healthcare ministry and medical schools, mix prevention and treatment. He said they promoted needle exchange, peer education and other means to prevent at-risk population from exposure to the virus. Their proposal, he says, was selected by the World Health Organization among 55 submissions from developing countries to receive $16 million in UN aid. <b>Dr. Kamiyar Alai</b>, 29, tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that their centers have registered 5100 AIDS patients and estimate the total number of AIDS or HIV patients in Iran to be under 20,000. He says treatment for AIDS is free in Iran and meets international standards. (Behnam Nateghi, New York)
<b>Qum Police Ejects Women from Handball Game</b>
• In a new crackdown against women on sports stadium bleachers, Qum police ejected women spectators from a national handball game. Qum-based political commentator <b>Dr. Akbar Karami</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that hard-line Islamic clerics forced the police to block women's entry to sports stadiums on the grounds that watching half-dressed men was a religious sin. (Amir-Mosaddegh Katouzian)
<b>Zarafshan Leaves Jail on Furlough</b>
• Naser Zarafshan, jailed lawyer of the relatives of victims of the 1997 serial murders of political dissidents, left the Evin prison on Monday on a week-long furlough, his lawyer <b>Mohammad Sharif</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. He adds that Zarafshan, who went to jail because he had objected to the lack of jurisdiction of the court that prosecuted the serial murders' perpetrators, had rather serve his five-year term that being released on a pardon. (Amir-Mosaddegh Katouzian)
در آستانه سالگرد فاجعه تروريستي 11 سپتامبر به آمريكا، پرزيدنت جرج بوش، رئيس جمهوري آمريكا، در سخنراني خود در آموزشكده اداره آگاهي فدرال FBI Academy در ايالت ويرجينيا، گفت القاعده همچنان عليه مردم آمريكا توطئه مي كند و آمريكا به جستجو براي يافتن و از ميان بردن اعضاي اين شبكه ادامه مي دهد. رئيس جمهوري آمريكا خواستار تصويب قوانين ضدتروريستي شديدتر و اختيارات بيشتر براي ماموران تحقيق و مجري قانون، مشابه اختياراتي شد كه آنها در تعقيب عوامل اختلاس يا قاچاق از آن برخوردار هستند. رئيس جمهوري آمريكا گفت: «ما از مردم خود دفاع خواهيم كرد و در اين جنگ پيروز خواهيم شد.» رئيس جمهوري آمريكا گفت: «خادمان شيطان را كه حملات تروريستي 11 سپتامبر را طرحريزي كردند، و آنها كه از عزای ما شاد شدند، هرگز فراموش نخواهيم كرد.»
