Summary of Iran Stories in Today's BroadcastsBehnam NateghiSaturday, November 08, 2003
<b>National Security Official Promises Cooperation in Meeting with IAEA Chief</b>
" Secretary of the supreme national security council Hassan Rowhani gave IAEA chief Mohammad ElBaradei assurance that Iran will allow stringent, impromptu inspections of its facilities and will suspend uranium enrichment program, ElBaradei said on Saturday after meeting with Rowhani in Vienna for 90 minutes. "We will also next week get the letter for the conclusion of the additional protocol," which would allow UN inspectors access to all of Iran's nuclear activities, he added. (Ali Sajjadi)
<b>Montazeri Slams One-Man Clerical Rule</b>
" A government system cannot and must not be concentrated in the hands of one person," highest-ranking dissident Shiite cleric Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri said on Saturday, in an interview with German weekly <i>Welt am Sonntag</i>. "We need a collective government in which the people play a dominant role," Montazeri added. "The clergy's absolute power is bad," he said. (Ali Sajjadi)
<b>Human Rights Commission's Envoy Meets Prisoners Kin, Reformists</b>
" On the fifth of his week-long visit to Iran, UN special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression Ambeyi Ligabo met with relatives of jailed political activists, journalists and students. He also met vice president for legal and legislative affairs Mohammad-Ali Abtahi and culture minister Ahmad Masjed-Jamei. Khatami's government has struggled to reject radical and Taliban-like ideologies, Abtahi told Ligabo. the culture ministry has tried to protect the press from the pressures of illegal groups, and is now involved in efforts to stop the activities of those groups and obtain the release of jailed journalists, Masjed-Jamei told Ligabo. (Behrouz Nikzat)
" Journalists have been jailed on charges other than journalistic activity, culture minister told Ligabo. (Bahman Bastani)
<b>Canadian Journalists Honor Kazemi with Freedom of Expression Award</b>
" In a gathering last night of more than 400, Canadian journalists honored Canadian-Iranian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, who died in custody last September in a Tehran jail from head injuries she suffered during interrogation. "I still want the body of my mother brought back to Canada where she belongs," her Montreal-based son Stephan Hachemi said Thursday night in the Toronto ceremony as he accepted the Tara Singh Hayer Memorial Award from the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression. "I'm still looking for those responsible to be punished," he added. "I hope this award would keep alive my mother's name," <b>Stephan Hachemi</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b> (Maryam Aghvami, Toronto)
<b>Iran Pursued WMD Programs, Says CIA</b>
" Iran "vigorously" pursued programs to produce nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and sought help from Russia, China, North Korea and Europe, a semi-annual CIA report to Congress said on Friday. (Amir Armin)
<b>Sweden Deports Two Iranian Officials for Spying</b>
" Sweden's security police obtained deportation orders for two Iranian nationals for "illegal information gathering activity," spokesman for the international division of the Sweden's prosecutor general's office <b>Thomas Linstrom</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. Their crime is not technically spying, he explains, but they contacted many Iranian exiles in Sweden to collect information about their activities, he adds, refusing to confirm or deny that they were connected to the Islamic government's intelligence organs. The two, Houshang Mostoufi and Abdan Khalilpour, are said to belong to Zahedan intelligence office, and have traveled to Sweden on government passports. (Elaheh Ravanshad)
<b>Thousands Demonstrate in Belgium in Defense of Iranian Hunger Strikers</b>
" In a demonstration at UMB campus, the university where tens of Iranian asylum seekers began their 19th day on hunger strike today, thousands, including several major politicians and prominent cultural figures, expressed their support for the demands of more than 6,000 Iranian refugees who are on the verge of being deported to Iran by the Belgium government. Hunger strikers demand to be allowed to stay and work in Belgium, their spokesman <b>Albandi</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. (Ahmad Ra'fat, Brussels)
<b>US Reserved over Iran's Suspension of Missile Development Program</b>
" The US expressed reservations over statements by the Islamic government's defense ministry that it has called off development of long-range Shahab-4 missiles that could deliver conventional warhead as far as Europe and nuclear warhead as far as Israel. "It remains unclear what tangible effect this will have on Iranian missile development," US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. "We've repeatedly expressed our concerns about Iranian behavior, including its development of weapons of mass destruction and missile capabilities," Boucher added. (Fariba Mavedat)
<b>Government Cuts Anti-Drug Agency's Budget</b>
" Despite steady rise in the number of addicts, the government cut 42 percent of the 600 billion-rial budget of the national anti-drug agency. The government plans to spend the saving of 250 billion in anti-drug budget for restoration of the Persepolis ruins, secretary of the anti-drug agency "Setad-e Mobarezeh ba Mavad-e Mokhader" Mojtaba Jalal-Ameli said. The authorities are not serious in their resolve to fight against drugs, he added. (Arash Qavidel, Tehran)
<b>Increase in Educated Young Women Worries Authorities</b>
" The period after the 1979 revolution saw a dramatic rise in the number of women admitted to higher educated institutions. In addition to modern, urban families who continued to send their daughters to universities, daughters of traditional families too found their way to engineering and medical schools in large numbers, due to the Islamic dress code and rules separating men and women in classes, Paris-based comparative sociologist and commentator on Iran's higher education issues Said Payvandi</b> writes in the French weekly <i>Corienthe Nationale</i>. "The result is a social and economic evolution that has drastically changed the place of women in the society, <b>Said Payvandi</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. Faced with greater demands for jobs from women, the conservatives and some in reformist faction are pushing for laws to limit admission of women to universities, he adds. (Nazi Azima)
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مسعود ملک (راديو فردا): در پنجمين روز اقامت آمبئي ليگابو، گزارشگر ويژه حقوق بشر سازمان ملل متحد در ايران، خانواده هاي زندانيان سياسي و مطبوعاتي در تهران با وي ديدار کردند. آقاي ليگابو همچنين با محمدعلي ابطحي، معاون رياست جمهوري، و احمد مسجد جامعي، وزير ارشاد ديدار کرد و نگراني خود در رابطه با توقيف روزنامه ها و قانون مطبوعات را به وي ابلاغ کرد.
بهروز نيکذات (راديو فردا): محمدعلي ابطحي، معاون پارلماني رئيس جمهوري اسلامي در ديدار با آمبئي ليگابو گفت: دولت خاتمي در طرد انديشه هاي افراطي و طالباني تلاش کرده است. به گفته او انديشه طالباني در داخل و خارج ايران به اسلام ضربه زده است و در مقابل آن دولت در راستاي دفاع از حقوق بشر کوشش مي کند. وي اصلاح خواهي مردم ايران در سال هاي اخير را از موفقيت هاي دولت دانست و گفت: تذکر رسمي قانون اساسي رئيس جمهوري به قوه قضائيه در رابطه با توقيف فعلي مطبوعات، ارائه دو لايحه رئيس جمهوري، پيگيري قتل هاي زنجيره اي، و ماجراي قتل زهرا کاظمي را نمونه هاي توجه دولت خاتمي به مسائل حقوق بشر و نهادينه شدن مردم سالاري در ايران دانست.
آمبئي ليگابو، گزارشگر آزادي بيان سازمان ملل متحد، امروز با وزير فرهنگ و ارشاد اسلامي و معاونان او و همچنين خانواده هاي زندانيان سياسي – مطبوعاتي نيز ديدار و گفتگو کرد.
در ملاقات با آقاي احمد مسجد جامعي، ليگابو نگراني هاي خود را درباره توقيف برخي از روزنامه ها و همچنين قانون مطبوعات جمهوري اسلامي بيان کرد. در اين گفتگوها مسائل و مشکلات روزنامه نگاران که پس از دريافت مجوز انتشار آثارشان با آن روبرو مي شوند نيز مطرح شد. وزير فرهنگ و ارشاد ضمن اعتراف به اعمال فشار از سوي گروه هاي غير قانوني بر روزنامه نگاران و نويسندگان، به آقاي ليگابو، گزارشگر آزادي بيان و عقيده سازمان ملل متحد گفت که اقداماتي براي جلوگيري از فعاليت هاي آن گروه ها و رفع بازداشت از روزنامه نگاران و نويسندگان به عمل آمده است که در برخي از موارد نتيجه داده است. يکي ديگر از مسائل مطرح شده با وزير ارشاد و فرهنگ و معاونان وي، تناسب ميان جرم و مجازات بود که پاسخ مقامات جمهوري اسلامي در گزارش خبرگزاري IRNA نيامده است.
خبرگزاري جمهوري اسلامي در گزارش ملاقات خانواده هاي دانشجويان و مطبوعاتي هاي زنداني با آمبئي ليگابو، گزارشگر آزادي عقيده و بيان سازمان ملل متحد، بيشتر به ذکر اسامي افرادي که با ليگابو ملاقات کرده اند، پرداخته است، تا با آن چه که با وي درباره وضع زندانيان و علت زنداني شدن آن ها که با پرسش قبلي آقاي ليگابو درباره تناسب جرم و مجازات ارتباطي مستقيم دارد. در پنجمين روز اقامت آمبئي ليگابو، گزارشگر ويژه حقوق بشر سازمان ملل متحد در ايران، خانواده هاي زندانيان سياسي و مطبوعاتي در تهران با وي ديدار کردند. آقاي ليگابو همچنين با محمدعلي ابطحي، معاون رياست جمهوري، و احمد مسجد جامعي، وزير ارشاد ديدار کرد و نگراني خود در رابطه با توقيف روزنامه ها و قانون مطبوعات را به وي ابلاغ کرد. محمدعلي ابطحي گفت: دولت خاتمي در طرد انديشه هاي افراطي و طالباني تلاش کرده است. وزير فرهنگ و ارشاد ضمن اعتراف به اعمال فشار از سوي گروه هاي غير قانوني بر روزنامه نگاران و نويسندگان، به آقاي ليگابو گفت که اقداماتي براي جلوگيري از فعاليت هاي آن گروه ها و رفع بازداشت از روزنامه نگاران و نويسندگان به عمل آمده است.
