Summary of Iran Stories in Today's BroadcastsBehnam NateghiSaturday, December 13, 2003
<b>MKO Asks the US to Prevent its Members' Deportation from Iraq</b>
• The Iraq-based anti-regime group the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) asked Pentagon on Tuesday to overturn the Iraqi Council's order to expel them from Iraq by December's end, reports the New York <i>Times</i>. The group is listed by the US as a terrorist organization, but it has strong supporters in the Pentagon, who see it as an important pressure point on the Iranian government, it writes. (Shahran Tabari, London)
• There are 3.800 MKO members in Iraq, commander of the US forces in Iraq General Fernando Sanchez said. (Peyman Pezhman, Baghdad)
<b>Yemen Foils Iran-based al-Qaeda's Truck Bomb Plot against British Embasy</b>
• Yemeni police foiled a plot by Iran-based al-Qaeda leaders to blow up the British Embassy in Yemen's capital by a truck bomb, the BBC reported. (Shahran Tabari, London)
<b>Registration of Election Candidacy Applicants</b>
• As the registration of the applicants for candidacy in the February 20 Majles elections begins, the conservative Guardians Council's central elections supervision committee reminded potential candidates that proven and empirical belief in Islam, the Islamic government's constitution and the principle of the absolute clerical rule are the main qualifications. In a speech yesterday at the official Friday prayer ceremony in Tehran University, secretary of the Guardians Council Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati urged the public to vote in the elections in order to foil what he termed as the enemy's plots. (Fereydoun Zarnegar)
• Reformists urge the public to vote in the elections in order to prevent the conservatives from taking over the Majles, but considering the country's dire economic conditions, they have a hard time convincing the public that they deserve another election win, reporter Siavash Qazi writes in a dispatch for the Agence France Press. (Shahran Tabari)
• By the end of the first day, 30 applicants registered in Tehran to stand in the February 20 Majles elections, Tehran provincial government announced earlier this evening, predicting that by the end of the week-long registration window, more than 5000 will have registered. (Arash Qavidel, Tehran)
<b>Iran-India Discuss Gas Pipeline and Nuclear Cooperation</b>
• Indian foreign minister Yashwasn Sinha arrived in Tehran today to hold meetings on the long delayed $3 billion gas pipeline project from Iran to India through Pakistan. [Discussions will include nuclear cooperation between the two countries.] In addition to President Khatami and foreign minister Kharrazi, Sinha will meet with head of the Expediency Council, former President Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi The 2,600-kilometre (1,600-mile) pipeline would save India around $300 million a year in energy costs, and experts say it would help India overcome its energy deficit. Pakistan also would have access to the gas, and earn about $600 million a year in transit fees, Iranian officials say. (Ardavan Niknam)
<b>Exploitation of Women in the Name of Religion</b>
• In the name of short term religious marriages, traffickers buy young girls from their parents in poor villages in order to prostitute them in the Persian Gulf Arab countries, board member of the society of women journalists Fariba Davooodi Moqadam said at a conference in Qum. (Shireen Famili)
<b>Anniversary of the Serial Murders Observed in Frankfurt</b>
• Writer Kazam Kardovani and Maryam Mokhtari, daughter of the 1998 serial murders' victim Mohammad Mokhtari, gave speeches at a ceremony in Farnkfurt to commemorate the anniversary of the murders, which were blamed on intelligence ministry agents. The real culprits were left to live free and go about their business, Maryam Mokhtari said. (Parviz Mardani)
<b>Islamic Student Movement's New Distances from Power Centers, Former Minister Says</b>
• The student activists have become more objective in their beliefs, former minister of higher education Mostafa Moin said today in an interview with state-run “students” news agency ISNA. Moin resigned two months ago after the Guardians Counci vetoed his plan for reorganizing Iran's higher education system. The announcement last week by the association of student Islamic Councils that its members would not participate in the upcoming elections shows that the Islamic student movement is distancing itself from the power centers and the regime's two factions, Moin said. (Fereydoun Zarnegar)
<b>Russian Atomic Energy Ministry to Visit Iran</b>
• During his upcoming visit to Iran, Russian atomic energy minister Alexander Rumyantsev will discuss the procurement of an air defense missile system for the Bushehr nuclear plant, the Echo Moscow radio reported today. (Mani Kasravi, Moscow)
<b> Writer's Wife Complains about His Treatment in Jail</b>
• Political prisoners have a much worse conditions than common criminals in Iran's prisons, jailed writer Akbar Ganji's wife Masoumeh Shafiee said in an interview with state-run “students” news agency ISNA. (Baktash Khamsehpour)
<b>Judiciary Releases Four of Five Suspects of the Qaraveh Attack on Two MPs</b>
• The judiciary released four of the five members of the plainclothes forces who were arrested yesterday at a political rally in Qaraveh after they assaulted two reformist MPs. The provincial governor said one of the attackers was Yunes Maleki, head of the local chapter of the Imam Aid Committee (Komiteh-ye Emdad-e Imam), a conservative government-funded charity under the Supreme Leader's control. (Keyvan Hosseini)
<b>Forty Homeless Addicts Die Tehran's First Snowy Night of the Season </b>
• The issue of homeless addicts once again came to fore with the spread of the news that 40 addicts froze to death on Tehran streets in one night, which the coroner's office denied. Tehran University professor <b>Sepehr</b>, a former manger of the welfare organization's office of family substitute services, tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that establishment of a welfare ministry with greater budget would help increase the resources to serve street children and the homeless. (Keyvan Hosseini)
<b>New Law Raises Traffic Fines</b>
• The new traffic law increased fines for traffic offenses, and added 63 new traffic violations punishable by fines, according to head of the traffic police Mohsen Ansari. Additional fines will help the police better control the chaotic streets, Tehran-based urban affairs journalist <b>Parviz Pazouki</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. (Farin Asemi)
<b>Chemical Warfare Victim Tells of His Injuries</b>
• A victim of chemical warfare of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, who is under treatment at the Elizabeth hospital in Reklinghausen, Germany, tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that his symptoms began to appear four yeas ago, eleven years after his injury. He says he has almost lost his voice and had to stop teaching. More than 300,000 Iranians suffer from chemical warfare injuries, he adds. (Shahram Mirian, Reklinghausen)
<b>Conservatives Try to Suppress Majles Report on Aghajari</b>
• The conservative faction has started a new campaign to obtain the release of Islamic leftist activist Hashem Aghajari, who received a death sentence last year after speaking against the clerical rule and the Shiite principle of religious emulation. The new effort is aimed at preventing the Majles complaints committee to read its report on the judiciary's handling of Aghajari's case at the Majles, state-owned “labor” news agency ILNA reported. (Ali Sajjadi)
<b>Iran to Transport Drinking Water to Kuwait via a $1.5 Billion Pipeline</b>
• The Iranian and Kuwaiti energy ministers signed a deal in Tehran on pumping 900,000 cubic meters per day of drinking water from the Karkheh river in Khuzestan to Kuwait via a $1.5 billion pipeline, which will avoid Iraqi territory by passing under the Persian Gulf waters. (Masoud Malek)
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شهران طبري (راديو فردا): نمايندگان سازمان مجاهدين خلق ايران از وزارت دفاع آمريكا خواستند تا حكم شوراي حكومتي عراق را در مورد اخراج آنها از اين كشور لغو كند. هنوز وزارت دفاع آمريكا در اين مورد واكنشي نشان نداده است. اما گويا دفتر پل برمر، مسئول آمريكايي اداره امور عراق مي گويد: در حال هماهنگ كردن اقدامات مربوط به اين موضوع با شوراي حكومتي عراق است.
فريبامودت (راديو فردا): هرچند سازمان مجاهدين خلق ايران در فهرست سازمانهاي تروريستي در آمريكا قرار دارد، اما مجاهدين از حاميان پرنفوذي در وزارت دفاع آمريكا برخوردار هستند كه اين سازمان را به عنوان وسيله اي براي فشار بر دولت ايران تلقي مي كنند. به همين سبب، مجاهدين خلق در تقاضانامه از دانالد رامسفلد، وزير دفاع آمريكا خواست تا حكم هفته گذشته شوراي حكومتي موقت عراق را لغو كند.
تقاضانامه مجاهدين كه از طرف يكي از هواداران سازمان به دفتر نشريه نيويورك تايمز نيز ارائه شده، به عنوان آخرين تلاش براي اجتناب از اعمال حكم اخراج اعضاي سازمان از عراق تدوين شده كه مي تواند به اعزام مجاهدين به ايران منتهي شود. ايران در خفا درصدد ترغيب دستگاه رهبري بوش براي استرداد اعضاي مجاهدين به اين كشور بوده است و به مقامات آمريكايي گفته است كه در مقابل اين امر حاضر است اعضاي بلندپايه القاعده راكه در اختيار خود دارد، به آمريكا تحويل دهد. اما گفته مي شود اين به اصطلاح معامله از جانب آمريكا رد شده است.
موقعيت مجاهدين در عراق به دنبال دخالت نظامي آمريكا در ابهام قرار گرفت و به عنوان بخشي از آتش بسي كه در ماه آوريل به مورد اجرا درآمد، هزاران تن از اعضاي سازمان در اردوگاه محل اقامتشان در خارج از بغداد، تحت نظارت ارتش آمريكا قرار گرفتند. اما هيچ يك از اعضاي مجاهدين تحت بازداشت قرار نگرفتند و نيز به آنها اجازه داده شد تا نه تنها اسلحه هاي سبك خود را حفظ كنند، بلكه به برنامه هاي راديويي خود به ايران نيز ادامه دهند.
مقامات دستگاه رهبري بوش اين سياست را مطابق با موقعيت سازمان به عنوان يك سازمان تروريستي توصيف كردند. اما سخنگوي وزارت خارجه آمريكا از اين كه آيا آمريكا از تصميم شوراي حكومتي عراق، داير بر اخراج مجاهدين حمايت مي كند يا نه، خودداري كرد.
وزارت خارجه تنها به اين بسنده كرده است كه بگويد مقامات دولت آمريكا اين مسئله را با همتايان عراقي خود در ميان مي گذارد. اما در اينكه آيا شوراي حكومتي عراق، اختيار عملكرد و اخذ تصميمات مستقل را دارد يا خير نيز ترديد وجود دارد.
اما حال مجاهدين با درخواست كمك از وزارت دفاع، به جناحهايي در ميان دستگاه رهبري آمريكا متوسل شده اند كه مي دانند نسبت به سازمان نظر مساعد دارند. در اين تقاضانامه كه خطاب به آقاي رامسفلد و معاونش نوشته شده، آمده است كه بر اساس كنوانسيون ژنو، ايالات متحده به عنوان قدرتي كه عراق را تحت تصرف دارد، موظف است از اخراج و استرداد مجاهدين جلوگيري كند و هرگونه تخطي از قوانين جنگي، تجاوز از موازين بين المللي حقوق بشر خواهد بود. اما وزارت دفاع در اين مورد هيچگونه واكنشي نشان نداده و سخنگوي آن نيز گفته است كه نمي داند آيا محتواي اين تقاضانامه به اطلاع آقاي رامسفلد رسيده است يا نه. واكنش ايران نيز ابراز خوشنودي نسبت به حكم اخراج مجاهدين تا پايان ماه جاري بوده است و هرچند در حكم مذكور اشاره اي به مقصد مجاهدين پس از اخراج نشده، اما از بيانيه دولت ايران چنين بر مي آيد كه دولت اين كشور بر اين تصور است كه مجاهدين به جمهوري اسلامي اعزام خواهند شد. عليرغم اينها همه، امروز دفتر پل برمر در اين زمينه گفت كه اقدامات لازم براي ايجاد هماهنگي ميان شوراي حكومتي و دفتر آقاي برمر هنوز در جريان است. نمايندگان سازمان مجاهدين خلق از وزارت دفاع آمريكادر خواست كردند تا حكم شوراي حكومتي عراق مبني بر اخراج آنها از خاك اين كشور را لغو كند. هنوز وزارت دفاع آمريكا واكنشي نشان نداده است. هرچند نام اين سازمان در فهرست آمريكا از سازمان هاي تروريستي بين المللي قرار دارد، سازمان مجاهدين از حاميان پرنفوذي در وزارت دفاع برخوردار است. يك نسخه از تقاضانامه مجاهدين به دفتر نيويورك تايمز مخابره شده است. جمهوري اسلامي معاوضه اعضاي القاعده با اعضاي سازمان مجاهدين خلق را خواستار شده بود. اين پيشنهاد بارها از سوي آمريكا رد شده است. دفتر پال برمر، مدير غيرنظامي امور عراق، اعلام كرد اقدامات لازم براي ايجاد هماهنگي ميان شوراي حكومتي عراق و نيروهاي ائتلاف در جريان است.
