Summary of Iran Stories in Today's BroadcastsBehnam NateghiSunday, November 02, 2003
<b>No Date for Majles Ratification of the Additional Protocol</b>
• No date has been set for the ratification of the additional protocol to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty in the Majles, foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said. The Iranian government is waiting for the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, to take the next step, so that it could introduce a bill at the Majles, he added. (Baktash Khamsehpour)
• Yazd MP Mohammad Razavi-Yazdi suggested that instead of the Majles, the decision on the ratification of the additional protocol be referred to the public through a referendum. (Ali Sajjadi)
• Nuclear weapons are not a part of Iran's defense structure, Iran's representative to the UN Mohammad-Javad Zarif told CNN on Sunday. (Maryam Ahmadi)
<b>Judiciary Chief Suspends Attempted Rape Victim's Death Sentence</b>
• Judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Shahroudi suspended the death sentence of Afsaneh Nowrouzi, an attempted rape victim who had killed head of the Kish Island police intelligence after he tried to rape her. Domestic and international women's rights organizations campaigned vigorously for the past month to reverse the verdict, which had been approved by the Islamic judiciary's supreme court. The supreme court had six years ago rejected her acquittal by a preliminary court on the basis of self defense. Judiciary chief could have acted earlier, so that we would not have to pay such a heavy price in the international circles, Tehran MP Jamileh Kadivar said, welcoming the judiciary chief's move.
<b>MP Confirms Berkeley Professor's Detention</b>
• Head of the Majles national security and foreign relations committee Mohsen Mirdamadi confirmed in an interview with the official news agency IRNA that UC Berkeley lecturer Darioush Zahedi is indeed in detained by the judiciary. He said the intelligence ministry has informed him that it had arrested Zahedi on spying suspicion a few months ago. The ministry cleared Zahedi of spying charges, but the judiciary did not agree. He said Zahedi is now being detained by a parallel intelligence organ operated by the judiciary. He warned that under pressure in jail, Zahedi may “confess” to spying charges. Zahedi was the West Coast project coordinator of the Princeton, New Jersey, based advocacy group American-Iranian Council. His colleagues say he has been in jail for the past three months. (Mahdieh Javid)
• Dariush Zahedi will be releases within the next couple of days, foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said today. (Farin Asemi)
• His book on Iranian revolution is a scholarly work, and not political, UC Berkeley professor <b>Maziyar Behruz</b> who has written a review of Zahedi's book, tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. (Firouzeh Khatibi, Los Angeles)
<b>Home Serial Murders' Victims to Be Confiscated, Daughter Fears</b>
• The house in Tehran where nationalist dissidents Darioush and Parvaneh Forouhar were murdered is in danger of being confiscated by the government, their daughter Parastu Forouhar fears, Paris-based human rights advocate <b>Abdolkarim Lahiji</b> tells Radio Farda. Since their death five years ago, Ms. Forouhar, along with members of her parents' party Iran nation's (Hezb-e Melat-e Iran) had tried to keep the house intact and open to public. Agents from either the intelligence ministry or the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp's intelligence unit went to the house several times and asked the people inside to close it to public, he adds. Before leaving Germany to go to Tehran in order to attend her parents' fifth annual memorial ceremony, Ms. Forouhar heard that the government intends to confiscate the house, he says. (Fereydoun Zarnegar)
<b>Caspian Sea Littoral States to Sign Treaty on Environment</b>
• The environment ministers of the five Caspian Sea littoral states will gather in Tehran on Tuesday in order to sign the first Caspian Sea environment protection agreement, head of Iran's environment protection organization Masumeh Ebtekar said. She said ratification of the agreement by the legislature might take more than two years. Turkmenistan has not yet agreed to the sign the treaty. (Jamshid Zand)
<b>Foreign Ministry Summons British Ambassador over Tony Blair Comments</b>
• Deputy foreign minister in charge of Western European affairs Ebrahim Rahimpour summoned British ambassador Richard Dalton to express Iran's displeasure with Prime Minister Tony Blair's comments linking Iran's agreement on nuclear cooperation with the war in Iraq, announced foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asfei. “We do not accept this kind of thinking and we think it is very ugly for a politician who is encountering problems in his own country as well as in Iraq to start accusing others,” Asefi added. [Iran gave in just 10 days before the expiration of IAEA's October 31 deadline and announced that it would sign the additional protocol that would allow more stringent, impromptu inspections of its nuclear sites. The agreement was announced during an unprecedented joint visit by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin and German Foreign Minister Joshka Fischer.] (Keyan Hosseini)
<b>MP Protests Tehran Municipal Government's Cultural Policies</b>
• In a letter to the speaker of the Tehran city council, the head of Majles cultural committee protested against the closing of museums and cultural centers by the conservative Tehran mayor. Art students signed a letter to condemn the closing of the Tanavoli Museum, devoted to the pioneering modernist sculptor Parviz Tanavoli. Closed institutions also include the theater society and the Khaneh Honarmandan (Artists' House) and the municipal cultural centers opened by previous municipal administrations, but criticism by Majles speaker Mehdi Karrubi stopped the municipal government's plan to bury war heroes in the center of the city circles and squares. The mayor issued a statement threatening his critics with court action, and denied the charge that he was anti-culture. (Keyvan Hosseini)
<b>Sharon-Putin Talks on Iran</b>
• Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon plans to discuss Iran's nuclear program in his meeting today in Moscow with President Vladimir Putin. Israel maintains that Iran is only a year or 18 months away to become self-sufficient in nuclear weapons technology. (Alireza Taheri)
<b>Teenagers Use Illegal Abortions and Abortion Pills, Warns Newspaper</b>
• In a report for the <i>Shargh</i> newspaper, writer Banafsheh Samgis warns against the increasing use of illegal abortion clinics and black market abortion pills by the teenagers who become pregnant due to lack of sex education. (Mehdi Khalaji)
<b>Head of Prisons Contradicts Himself on Solitary Cells</b>
• Solitary confinement will be abolished, head of the prisons organization (Sazeman Zendan-ha) Morteza Bakhtiari said in an interview with IRNA. Solitary cells will be enlarged to 10 square meters, and solitary cell prisoners will have rooms like hotel suites, he added, contradicting his earlier statement. Solitary imprisonment is one of the two most terrifying forms of torture, Frankfurt-based freedom of speech advocate and writer <b>Faraj Sarkouhi</b>, who has spent time in solitary confinement. The prisoner loses his mental balance, he adds. Solitary confinement contradicts Iranian laws and the international human rights declaration, Tehran-based lawyer and human rights advocate <b>Mohammad Seif</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. The prison size of the prison cell makes little difference, he says, adding that solitary confinement was the most horrible experience he had in jail. (Fariba Mavedat)
<b>Believers Shun the Clergy</b>
• Since the sermons of most clergymen has turned into political diatribes, the believers show less interest to attend, preferring the ceremonies organized by “madahan,” or religious performers. That has clerics worried about their power base, which has traditionally been the people who attend religious ceremonies. The Supreme Leader's chief of staff Ahmad Marvi blamed the decrease on “madahan,” whose work he described as worthless, void of content, and full of shouting and screaming. The criticism has met with angry reaction from the “madahan,” one of whom said recently at a religious ceremony in Tehran's Ark mosque that “madahan” add passion to religious ceremonies, without whom the clerics' sermons would lose excitement. (Mehdi Khalaji)
<b>Iran-Kuwait Dispute Over Arash Off-Shore Gas Field</b>
• Kuwait began exploration in the off-shore Arash, or Aldoreh, gas field, which has been the subject of territorial dispute with Iran. Iran years ago stopped its own exploration, after it became a point of contention with Kuwait. It was decided to resolve the matter diplomatically, London-based journalist <b>Nasir Shirkhani</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. There is not enough gas to justify any heavy investment by Iran in the Arash gas field, he adds. (Shahran Tabari, London)
<b>Roundtable: Impact of the Hostage Crisis on Iran's Democratic Forces</b>
• On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the taking of American hostages by a group that called itself “Student Followers of the Imam's Line,” <b>Ali Keshtgar</b>, a leading member of the Marxist guerilla group “Fedaiyan-e Khalq;” <b>Sadeq Zibakalam</b>, professor of political science at the Tehran University; and <b>Babak Amir-Khosravi</b>, Paris-based activist and contemporary history scholar, discuss its impact on the freedom-seeking and democratic forces within the Iranian society. (Maryam Ahmadi)
<b>Turkish Police Beat and Disperse Iranian Asylum Seekers, Arrests 50</b>
• At the UN's request, the Ankara police broke up the four-day sit-in of the Iranian asylum seekers in front of the offices of the UN commission for the refugees. Fifty-two demonstrators were arrested, a spokesman for the mostly Kurdish asylum seekers tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. (Jamshid Zand)
.
به گزارش خبرگزاري آلمان، امروز آيت الله شاهرودي، رئيس قوه قضاييه، طي نامه اي به دادگاه مربوطه، حكم اعدام افسانه نوروزي را به حالت تعليق در آورد. پس از انتشار خبر نجات موقت افسانه نوروزي از مجازات اعدام، چند تن از زنان نماينده در مجلس شوراي اسلامي از اين اقدام رئيس قوه قضاييه ابراز رضايت كردند.
جميله كديور، ضمن تشكر و قدرداني از رئيس قوه قضاييه كه دستور به توقف حكم را صادر كرد، گفت توجه ايشان به افكار عمومي و انتظارات جامعه زنان قابل تقدير است، اما انتظار مي رفت اين دستور كمي زودتر صادر مي شد و چه بسا اگر چنين مي شد، ما هزينه اي را به اين گزافي در مجامع بين المللي متحمل نمي شديم. عضو فراكسيون زنان مجلس شوراي اسلامي گفت: اگر اين پرونده به نتيجه اي كه انتظار مي رود نرسد، بايد براي زناني كه در آينده در شرايطي مشابه قرار مي گيرند، اما از ترس حمايت قانون سكوت مي كنند ونيز براي نارسايي قانون اظهار تاسف كرد.
فاطمه راكعي ديگر نماينده تهران و عضو كميسيون فرهنگي مجلس ضمن تشكر از رئيس قوه قضاييه افزود: حكم اعدام افسانه نوروزي در حال حاضر به دليل وجود شبهاتي در پرونده به تعويق افتاده است. وي با اشاره به لزوم تشكيل هيات تحقيق و تفحص، راجع به پرونده افسانه نوروزي در مجلس اظهار داشت فراكسيون زنان مجلس نسبت به اين مساله نمي تواند بي تفاوت باشد، بنابراين خواستار تشكيل كميته اي جهت انجام تحقيقات بيشتر بر روي اين پرونده است.
افسانه نوروزي كه شش سال پيش رئيس حفاظت اطلاعات جزيره كيش را با چاقو به قتل رساند، در دفاعياتش گفته است: فرد ياد شده را كه هيچگاه نامش اعلام نشد، در دفاع از خود كشته است. افسانه نوروزي در حال حاضر در بندر عباس زنداني است.
دختر افسانه نوروزي پس از قطعي شدن حكم اعدام مادر خود در نامه اي به رئيس قوه قضاييه نوشت: جناب آقاي شاهرودي من دختر 15 ساله افسانه نوروزي هستم و از زندگي جز غصه و دربه دري چيزي عايد من و برادرانم نشده است. ديگر در اين جامعه جايي براي زندگي من نيست. زماني كه مادرم را در پشت ميله هاي زندان مي بينم، كابوس يك بار ديدنش در سال برايم كافي است. من بعد از يك سال دوباره به سختي توانستم مادرم را ببينم و او را بشناسم. دختر افسانه نوروزي به آيت الله شاهرودي نوشت: چشم اميد من به شما است. زيرا شما تنها اميد من هستيد و تنها و تنها بعد ازخدا شما مي توانيد جلوي حكم اعدام مادرم را بگيريد و دوباره پرونده را بررسي كنيد.
قاضي پرونده افسانه نوروزي پيرامون حكم اعدام صادر شده، استدلال كرده است كه احتمالا متهم قبلا با مقتول رابطه داشته است، اما كيفيت آن روشن نيست. در حكم صادره از طرف قاضي پرونده اينگونه آمده است كه اكثر ضربه ها در حالي كه جسد به پشت افتاده بوده و حالت تدافعي نداشته وارد شده. حكم صادر شده به استناد اطلاعات افسانه در مراحل اوليه بازجويي صادر شده است، اما افسانه نوروزي طي مراحل بعدي بازجويي در دفاع از خود مطرح كرده است كه در بندر عباس در جريان بازجويي مرا تحت فشار قرار داده، به من تلقين كردند كه اين حرفها را بزنم.
به گفته وكيل افسانه نوروزي عمل قتل توسط افسانه نوروزي مشروع بوده و كارشناساني كه مسئول رسيدگي به پرونده افسانه نوروزي بودند، همگي مشروع بودن دفاع او را مورد تاييد قرار دادند و در همه جوامع نيز بحث صيانت و دفاع، امري پذيرفته شده است. پرونده افسانه نوروزي پس از طي مراحل مختلف با تاييد حكم قصاص به دايره اجراي احكام ارسال شد، اما به دليل اعتراض افكار عمومي به حكم صادره، اجراي حكم به تعويق افتاد. امروز آيت الله شاهرودي، رئيس قوه قضاييه، طي نامه اي به دادگاه مربوطه، حكم اعدام افسانه نوروزي را به حالت تعليق در آورد. پس از انتشار خبر نجات موقت افسانه نوروزي از مجازات اعدام، چند تن از زنان نماينده در مجلس شوراي اسلامي از اين اقدام رئيس قوه قضاييه ابراز رضايت كردند. جميله كديور، ضمن تشكر و قدرداني از رئيس قوه قضاييه كه دستور به توقف حكم را صادر كرد، گفت توجه ايشان به افكار عمومي و انتظارات جامعه زنان قابل تقدير است، اما انتظار مي رفت اين دستور كمي زودتر صادر مي شد و چه بسا اگر چنين مي شد، ما هزينه اي را به اين گزافي در مجامع بين المللي متحمل نمي شديم. افسانه نوروزي كه شش سال پيش رئيس حفاظت اطلاعات جزيره كيش را با چاقو به قتل رساند، در دفاعياتش گفته است که فرد ياد شده را كه هيچگاه نامش اعلام نشد، در دفاع از خود كشته است. افسانه نوروزي در حال حاضر در بندر عباس زنداني است.
