Summary of Iran Stories in Today's BroadcastsBehnam NateghiMonday, December 08, 2003
<b>Children's Charity to Honor Nobel Peace Prize Winner Ebadi in Oslo</b>
• On behalf the world's children, four-thousand children members of an international children's aid organization, will honor Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi in a ceremony in Oslo to be held tomorrow after Ms. Ebadi's press conference at the Norwegian Nobel Institute. Leftist and human rights groups have planned separate demonstrations in Oslo to protest against the Norwegian Nobel Committee's choice and the Islamic government's human rights violations, Norway-based human rights activist Rahman Saki tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. Ms. Ebadi will receive the Nobel Prize on Wednesday. An Iranian organization, Nouran, will hold a demonstration in her honor after the Nobel ceremony. (Shahram Mirian, Cologne)
<b>Nationalist Opposition Group to Campaign in Majles Elections</b>
• Head of the nationalist opposition group the Freedom Movement of Iran (FMI) Ebrahim Yazdi said in a speech yesterday that all the organization's board members will apply for candidacy in the upcoming Majles elections, even though, like previous elections, the Guardians Council may reject their applications during its vetting process.
• The association of the student Islamic councils (Daftar-e Tahkim Vahdat) will not take part in the upcoming Majles elections, secretary of the Daftar's general council Abdollah Momeni announced yesterday in a seminar held on the relationship of the Islamic student movement with the Majles at the offices of the state-owned labor news agency. (Bahman Bastani)
<b>A Cleric Organized Plainclothes Forces Assault on Reformist MP, Governor Says</b>
• A Shiite cleric organized last week's assault at Yazd University on head of the Majles national security and foreign relations committee Mohsen Mirdamai according to Yazd provincial governor. A unit of 50 plainclothes forces attacked the reformist Tehran MP as he was giving a speech in the place of Isfahan MP Ahmad Shirzad, who was warned by the plainclothes forces. President Khatami has ordered intelligence and interior ministers to investigate Mirdamadi's beating, and to identify the culprits. The prosecution of the clerics is the sole jurisdiction of the special court for the clergy, and thus the two ministers can do little, experts say. (Alireza Taheri)
• Security officials do not have the power to identify and prosecute members of the plainclothes forces, writes Tehran reformist daily <i>Aftab-e Yazd</i>. In a bid to shock the public into participating in the upcoming Majles elections, the reformist faction organizes the attacks on its own rallies, writes Tehran conservative daily <i>Resalat</i>. (Ali Sajjadi)
<b>RSF Protests Jail Sentence of Writer Baqi</b>
• Paris-based press freedom advocacy group Reporters sans Frontiers protested against writer Embaddein Baqi's last week conviction to a year in prison, and called for the immediate release of journalist Iraj Jamshidi.
<b>Former Empress Appears on French TV to Promote Book</b>
• Former Empress Farah Pahlavi appeared in a three-hour special on French TV to promote a book she published in France about her life. She said she agrees with her son Reza Pahlavi that the Iranians would not need help from foreign powers to change their country's political system. (Mir-Hossein Mousavi)
<b>Mother of Belgian Embassy Girls Appears on Belgian TV</b>
• Belgian mother of theIranian sisters who sought asylum at the Belgian Embassy in Tehran appeared on Belgian TV along with Belgian foreign minister Louis Michel. The Pourhashemi sisters, Yasamin 15, and Sara 6, escaped the home of their Iranian father to the Belgian Embassy, demanding to be reunited with their Belgian Mother. The foreign minister said the Belgian government should be left alone to resolve the matter in secret talks with the Iranian government. A Belgian senator called for pressuring Iran to release the girls to their mother, arguing that Iranian government is not in a position to resist the Beligian government's demand. Ms. Pourhashemi said she trusted that the Belgian government's approach will bear positive results, Brussels-based journalist <b>Anvar Mirsattari</b> who saw the Belgian TV's live broadcast, tells <b>Radio Farda</b> (Shahram Mirian)
<b>Oil Ministry Gives Japan Deadline on Azadegan Project</b>
• Despite the need for oil, Japan cannot be indifferent to Iran's nuclear program, Japanese commerce minister said, reacting to news that a Japanese oil consortium has been given seven days by the oil ministry to make a final decision on the deal to develop the Azadegan oil field, Iran's largest. Japan suspended negotiations under pressure from the US and due to worries about Iran's nuclear program. (Alireza Taheri)
<b>Foreign Ministry Official in Kabul</b>
• Deputy foreign minister Mohsen Aminzadeh met with special UN envoy to Afghanistan Lakhtar Brahimi and President Hamed Karzai in Kabul today, and will later meet Herat provincial governor Esmail Khan.
<b>Judiciary Executes Two Kurdish Activists</b>
• Kurdish activists Ramin Sharifi and Jalil Zivehi were executed separately in Kurdistan, according to a statements issued by the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran. Zivehi had been arrested in Mahabad in 1995. Ramin Sharifi was arrested five months ago in Saqez. They were involved with clandestine party activity, such as distributing leaflets and newsletters, Paris-based KDP spokesman <b>Khosrow Abdollahi</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. (Bahman Bastani)
<b>Iran Fails to Use Iraqi Shiites against the US, says Ledeen</b>
• The Islamic government failed to use the Iraqi Shiites against the US, writes neocon thinker Michael Ledeen in the Italian weekly <i>Panorama</i>. (Ahmad Ra'fat, Rome)
<b>Iranian Religious Delegation in Closed-Door Talks with Vatican Officials</b>
• An Iranian delegation headed by Ayatollah Mahmoud Mohammad-Eraqi arrived in Vatican today to begin the second round of talks with Vatican officials on terrorism, Middle East peace process and the future of Jerusalem, as well as the role of Hezbollah in the future of Lebanon. (Ahmad Ra'fat, Rome)
<b>Iran's Request to Join the Arab League: Follow UP</b>
• Iran's request to take part in the Arab League meetings as an observer should not be considered an application to join the Arab League, foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said, reacting to domestic criticism that joining the Arab League would be denying Iran's Persian identity. Even Arabic countries friendly to the Islamic government, such as Syria, always take the side of an Arab state in disputes with Iran, as we saw in Syria's support for the UAE's claim on the three Persian Gulf islands, the Tonbs and Abu Musa, Geneva-based foreign relations commentator <b>Mohammad-Reza Jalili</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. The Arab League is a weak organization with no influence on regional or global matters, he adds. Instead of efforts to influence the outcome of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Islamic government is better advised to turn its attention to the matters of the country's own national interest, which has been damaged by the government's position on the Middle East peace. (Baktash Khamsehpour)
<b>Revolutionary Guards' Unit Commemorates Students Day</b>
• In universities in Tehran and across Iran, the Basij student unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) held ceremonies in honor of the December 7 Students Day, but authorities banned the association of the Islamic student councils from holding rallies. In Tabriz the guards' student unit prevented the Islamic student council members from attending their ceremony, secretary of the Tabriz University Islamic student council <b>Aydin Moradzadeh</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. Holding such games as the selecting the university's strongest man is an insult to the Student's Day, he said. (Jamshid Zand)
• Students in Brussels held a demonstration in front of the Islamic government's embassy, in support of the Student's Day demonstrations in Iran, and to protest against the embassy's labeling Iranian asylum seekers as terrorists, demonstrators' spokesperson <b>Faria Lotfi</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. Our main goal is to generate public awareness about the Islamic government's human rights violations, demonstrator <b>Saman</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. (Shahram Mirian, Cologne)
<b>Tribal Forces Kidnap Europeans in Sistan-va-Baluchestan</b>
• A group of armed Shahbakhshi and Nouri tribesmen reportedly kidnapped two or three European tourists on the Bam-Zahedan road, and have demanded ransom for their release.
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نيما تمدن (راديوفردا): در حاليکه قرار است روز چهارشنبه، مصادف با روز جهاني حقوق بشر، جايزه صلح نوبل در سال 2003 به شيرين عبادي اعطاء شود، کميته اين جايزه برنامه هاي مفصلي براي گراميداشت وي در نظر گرفته که اعطاي يک لوح سپاس با شرکت چهار هزار کودک به شيرين عبادي و راهپيمايي مشعلداران وابسته به سازمان عفو بين الملل در شهر اسلو، نمونه اي از آنها است.
شهرام ميريان (راديوفردا، کلن): بر اساس برنامه تنظيم شده، خانم شيرين عبادي پس از ورود به اسلو، در يک نشست خبري با حضور روزنامه نگاران نروژي و ديگر کشورها، شرکت مي کند. اگرچه برخي از گروه هاي ايراني، وابسته به طيف چپ، مخالفت خود را نسبت به اعطاي اين جايزه به وي ابراز داشته، ولي يک کميته ايراني با نام «برگزاري تظاهرات دهم دسامبر»، متشکل از 12 گروه سياسي، فرهنگي و هنري، از دادن اين جايزه به خانم شيرين عبادي استقبال کرده، ولي در عين حال در نظر دارد تا با اجراي چند برنامه، به موارد نقض حقوق بشر در ايران هم اعتراض کند. رحمان ساکي، يکي از کوشندگان حقوق بشر در نروژ، که اطلاعات جامعي در مورد برنامه هاي شيرين عبادي در اسلو در اختيار دارد، درباره جزئيات اين برنامه ها به راديوفردا چنين مي گويد:
رحمان ساکي (فعال حقوق بشر، اسلو): خانم عبادي در واقع قرار است که روز سه شنبه، نهم دسامبر، در اسلو باشند و برنامه هاي رسمي ايشان از همين روز شروع مي شود. اولين برنامه اي که در واقع کميته صلح نوبل براي ايشان تدارک ديده، يک کنفرانس مطبوعاتي است با حضور خبرنگاران داخلي و خارجي و اين کنفرانس مطبوعاتي در ساختمان موسسه نوبل از ساعت يک بعد از ظهر شروع مي شود. در روز 10 دسامبر، از ساعت 11 تا 11 و 45 دقيقه، خانم شيرين عبادي مهمان يک سازماني است به نام سازمان رهايي کودکان، و در آن برنامه اي که براي ايشان تدارک ديدند، چهار هزار کودک نروژي شرکت مي کنند و در همان جا يک ديپلم صلح را، بچه هاي نروژ، به نمايندگي از طرف همه کودکان دنيا، تقديم خانم شيرين عبادي مي کنند.
ش.م.: آقاي ساکي، آيا کودکان ايراني هم جزء اين کودکاني که شما اشاره کرديد هستند؟
رحمان ساکي: بله، کودکان ايراني هم قرار است شرکت کنند. برخي از اين کودکان خود محصلان مدارسي هستند که در واقع خود مدرسه دعوت شده، مضاف بر اين يک کودک ايراني خوشامد را به زبان فارسي به خانم شيرين عبادي مي گويند و آن ديپلم افتخاري را که از طرف کودکان نروژ به نمايندگي از تمامي کودکان دنيا تقديم خانم عبادي مي شود، از طرف يک کودک ايراني به ايشان داده مي شود. بعد از اين برنامه در واقع برنامه اصلي ايشان است که برگزار کننده اصلي آن، کميته صلح نوبل است که از ساعت يک بعد از ظهر، در ساختمان شهرداري اسلو برگزار مي شود و مراسمي که در واقع طبق معمول هر ساله براي ايشان برگزار مي شود، براي ايشان هم تدارک ديدند، تا ساعت سه بعد از ظهر.
ش.م.: آقاي ساکي، مقصود شما روز دهم دسامبر هست؟
رحمان ساکي: بله، روز دهم دسامبر. بعد از مراسمي که در واقع در شهرداري برگزار مي شود، در همان مکان، خانم شيرين عبادي به مدت يک ساعت برنامه مستقيم و مصاحبه مستقيم با کانال تلويزيوني DNN مصاحبه مي کند. بعد از اين جريان در واقع سازمان عفو بين الملل، همراه با يک سازمان ايراني به اسم نوران، کميته نوران، دفاع از زندانيان سياسي ايران، عفو بين الملل با اين جريان و چند سازمان و نهاد حقوق بشري در نروژ، عصر روز دهم دسامبر را، Amnesty به احترام خانم عبادي، راهپيمايي با مشعل اعلام کرده، از مرکز شهر تا مقابل گراند هتل که خانم شيرين عبادي در آنجا اقامت دارند، که خود ايشان در پايان راهپيمايي، حضور پيدا مي کنند و از محل هتل به ابراز احساسات مردم پاسخ مي دهند. روز چهارشنبه دهم دسامبر، مصادف با روز جهاني حقوق بشر، جايزه صلح نوبل در سال 2003 به شيرين عبادي اعطاء خواهد شد. همزمان، برخي از گروه هاي ايراني، وابسته به طيف چپ، مخالفت خود را نسبت به اعطاي اين جايزه به وي ابراز مي دارند. رحمان ساکي، يکي از کوشندگان حقوق بشر در نروژ، در مصاحبه با راديوفردا مي گويد که اولين برنامه اي که کميته صلح نوبل براي ايشان تدارک ديده، يک کنفرانس مطبوعاتي است با حضور خبرنگاران داخلي و خارجي، سپس شيرين عبادي مهمان سازماني است به نام سازمان رهايي کودکان، و در آن چهار هزار کودک يک ديپلم صلح رابه نمايندگي از طرف همه کودکان دنيا، تقديم خانم شيرين عبادي مي کنند. وي مي افزايد که پس از آن برنامه اصلي توسط کميته صلح نوبل شروع مي شود و در نهايت در عصر روز دهم دسامبر، سازمان عفو بين الملل، همراه با يک سازمان ايراني به اسم نوران، يک راهپيمايي با مشعل به احترام خانم عبادي انجام خواهد داد.
