Free Republic

Clashes between Iranian students and police are reported to have occured at the University of Tehran, following a protest by the students asking for the release of Iranian dissident and journalist Akbar Ganji, who has been in prison since 2000. Ganji's has been on a hunger strike in a Tehran jail for the past month and his health condition is deteriorating. According to the Iranian student news agency ISNA, the university students asked for the liberation of other political detainees as well. The clashes occured when a dozen policemen, in their attempt to stop the protest, clashed with the students....

March 15, 2005. Tehran. Somewhere, a Qur'an is burning. It is Tchahr Shanbe Souri, the traditional Persian fire festival, and in major cities throughout the country Iranians are turning the celebration-denounced as pagan by the ruling clerics-into a protest. There are reports of revelers chanting "Down with the Islamic Republic" and casting Islamist literature and even scripture into bonfires.1 Government militia respond brutally, and violent clashes with demonstrators continue into the night. The episode is not isolated but appears to be part of a trend in which large numbers of Iranians are taking to the streets, as they did in...

The Iranian writer Afshin Molavi knows well the politics of Sean Penn. Writing on Saturday on the blog “Iran Scan,” Molavi penned an accurate appraisal of the actor’s current trip, supposedly under the auspices of the San Francisco Chronicle, to cover the forthcoming election in Iran. “I wonder how Sean Penn will see things,” Molavi wrote. “Will he honestly portray what he sees? Or will he be blinded by his hatred of President George W. Bush to fall into the trap many a good leftist falls into: defending the Islamic Republic to take a jab at Bush. Progressives in America...

In recent months, the cause of freedom has made enormous gains in the broader Middle East. Millions of people in Afghanistan and Iraq defied terrorists to cast their ballots in free elections. Palestinians voted for a new president who rejects violence and is working for democratic reform, and the people of Lebanon reclaimed their sovereignty and are now voting for new leadership. Across the Middle East, hopeful change is taking place. People are claiming their liberty. And as a tide of freedom sweeps this region, it will also come eventually to Iran. The Iranian people are heirs to a great...

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PARIS 10 June (IPS) "In Iran, real power is not in the hands of the president, but in those of the religious guide, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i. Therefore it is all the system of the Islamic Republic that must be changed”, veteran Iranian dissident Akbar Ganji stated in an interview with the centrist French daily Le Figaro. The interview with Ms. Daphne Minoui the paper’s correspondent in Iran was carried one day after the Iranian Judiciary launched a warrant against him, on grounds that the prisoner did not show up at prison at the end of a week-long permission to leave...

Iran's reigning mullahs and the reformists who would mend the regime's theocratic ways finally have something in common: Iranians don't like either of them. That will likely mean thick voter apathy when the country elects a new president on June 17. For most of the country, disillusionment with the government is escalating. Frustrated by repressive Islamic laws, Iranians elected current president Mohammed Khatami in 1997, hoping he and his reformers would create more democratic rule. But power still resides with unelected clerics. The reformists have accomplished little. The result might surprise many Americans. Seventy percent of today's Iranians are below...

"This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness." -Dalai Lama By Farhad Mafie November 16, 2003 Hold on to Your Hat! Some days the Persian Gulf is referred to as the Arabian Gulf. Some days Rumi?the great Iranian poet and philosopher?is referred to as a poet from Afghanistan or a poet from Turkey. Some days Sina or Avicenna, Râzi, Farabi, Birouni?the great Iranian scientists?are referred to as Arab scientists. Some days Iranian arts are referred to as Islamic arts...

TEHRAN – It was once the spiritual core of Iran's Islamic revolution, where popular anger and financial support welled for the movement that swept away the Shah in 1979 and propelled the mullahs to power. But today, Tehran's grand bazaar - a sprawling indoor retail mall selling everything from Persian rugs to women's bikinis - is host to very different sentiments. Instead of loyally supporting the Islamic regime, this bastion of political and religious conservatism is reflecting the seething resentments and discontents now finding expression across Iranian society. The sum manifestation of the bazaar's dissatisfaction is a widespread intent not...

While browsing through the ancient Persian history, I was struck and fascinated by another subject Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrianism has not only made a major contribution to the ancient philosophical thought but has also had a deep imprint on the Persian history and culture. Since ages, man has been striving to search for the meaning and purpose of life. Two ancient philosophies threw up answers to this eternal quest. One came out of the Vedic thought of re-incarnation (samsara) which believed in perpetual cycles of life, death and re-birth. It believed that soul (atma) finally got liberated (moksha) based on man's good...

Tehran, 27 April (AKI) - The Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has said that "human rights, are a weapon in the hands of our enemies to fight Islam." Speaking at the Conference for the Unity of Islam which opened in Tehran yesterday, Khamenei said: "The awakening of Muslims, had weakened the plot by America, by international Zionism and by other hidden forces on the planet implicated in a universal strategy which has the objective of fighting Islamic nations, which are a force of one and a half billion believers and with the large natural reserves." To a mixed...

NICOSIA [MENL] -- Pro-democracy unrest has spread throughout Iran. The Iranian opposition reported clashes between Kurdish pro-democracy forces and authorities in western Iran. The opposition said battles took place in Baneh, Mahabad, Marivan, Piranshahr and Sanandaj. The clashes took place on April 6 and several of the demonstrators were injured and dozens of others were arrested. Opposition sources said police used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the protests. "In retaliation, many protesters inflicted damages to security patrol cars and public buildings," the SMCCDI opposition group said in a statement. "Armed masked protesters took over several security buildings and...

Three admit trying to sell documents to Iranians Ring broken up by undercover agents By SERGIO CHAPA The Brownsville Herald February 24, 2005 — Three members of an alleged ring accused of attempting to sell fake immigration documents to Iranian nationals pleaded guilty in federal court to various counts of fraud and identity theft. Port Isabel residents Roberto Aburto, his wife Azalia Gaona, Miriam Palestina and Rutilio Marquez are accused taking $1,050 to make fake Social Security cards and green cards in August for three Iranian men. Aburto, 31, Gaona, 27, and Palestina, 26, were arrested during two Sept. 9...

Michael Ledeen has been described as "a Renaissance man... in the tradition of Machiavelli." Currently the holder the Freedom Chair at the American Enterprise Institute, Michael is one of the leading experts on intelligence, terrorism and international politics. Formerly the Italian correspondent for the "New Republic", advisor and consultant in the Reagan Administration, lecturer and historian, he is also a prolific author, most recently of the bestselling "The War Against the Terror Masters; How it Happened. Where We Are Now. How We Will Win". I decided to have a quick chat to him about Iraq, Iran and the democratic revolution...

Recent claims by Seymour Hersh that a team of US commandos have infiltrated Iran and are identifying Islamic Republic’s nuclear installations has started a series of articles in European newspapers. The basic gist of most of these articles by these so-called “Iran experts” is that the Iranian population see nuclear power as a matter of national pride, which unites the Islamic regime and the people. These “Iran Experts” have in the past referred to Rafsnajani as a liberal democrat, and championed President Khatami as Iran’s Gorbachev for eight years. Even long after President Khatami’s closest aides admitted that there can...

TEHRAN, Jan. 15 - Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a vice president of Iran until his resignation last fall in protest against the new hard-line Parliament, is that rare reformist who has kept alive the movement's promise for open communications with the public. For more than a year, Mr. Abtahi, a midranking cleric who has been a close ally and confidant of President Mohammad Khatami, has kept a Web log to share his views and reach out to others who use the Internet. Mr. Abtahi spends much of his time in his office in the heart of an affluent neighborhood in northern...

COMING TO AMERICA 'Arab terrorists' crossing border Middle Eastern illegals find easy entrance into U.S. from Mexico By J. Zane Walley © 2001 WorldNetDaily.com COCHISE COUNTY, Ariz. -- The U.S.-Mexican border here is the most heavily used corridor for illegal alien traffic on America's southern boundary. With its difficult topography that is folded, creased and convoluted, it is a land that yields well to smuggling. The Huachuca, Chiricahua, Dragoon and Whetstone Mountains are riddled with hundreds of deep canyons, caves and arroyos that offer superb concealment for the hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens that annually cross here. The numbers of ...

The Austrian police force stopped two Iranian nationals suspected of wanting to acquire apparatuses of night vision on behalf of the Iranian army, indicated to the ministry for the Interior dimanche."Ces two Iranians, woman a 27 year old and man a 39 year old, is suspected of having wanted to buy illegally to 3.000 apparatuses of night vision of third generation on behalf of the Iranian army", indicated to AFP a spokesman of the ministry, Rudolf Gollia. "They are imprisoned in Vienna", has it ajouté.L' arrest took place on November 30 at the end two years of investigation of the...

http://www.gopusa.com/news/2004/october/1015_kerry_iran_contributions.shtml (snippet) WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- The chairman of a pro-Iranian democracy group is charging that the campaign of Sen. John Kerry has been accepting political contributions from a lobbying group promoting the agenda of the mullah rulers of Iran. Aryo Pirouznia, leader of the Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iraq (SMCCDI) says that backers of the regime in Tehran are channeling hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Kerry campaign...

Iranians flood across Iraq border unchecked by military By Neil Barnett in Shalamcheh (Filed: 01/08/2004) Iraqi border officials have admitted that buses full of Iranians routinely enter the country without passports or other official identification, despite Baghdad's attempts to clamp down on terrorist infiltration. Col Jassem al-Qabi, the regional border guard commander in a remote stretch of southern Iraq, said that scores of Iranians enter every day. Only three of 15 forts at the Iran/Iraq border are operational 'Sometimes a bus-load of Iranian pilgrims will come to the border, with perhaps 45 people on board, and only one will have...

Iranians want to bury their war dead in London By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor (Filed: 07/07/2004) British officials were taken aback yesterday by a plan to unearth the remains of Iranian soldiers and rebury them in the grounds of Iran's London embassy. If Teheran gets its way, Kensington could feature a new memorial to Iran's "unknown martyrs" alongside such landmarks as the Albert Memorial and the new Diana Memorial Fountain. It would make a strange addition to an embassy made famous in 1980 when the SAS stormed the building to free 26 hostages being held by a group of...

Are they vicious foreign terrorists, scheming to blow up New York? Or just a couple of wide-eyed visitors from abroad, snapping sentimental photos of the Statue of Liberty and other tourist cliches? ~~~snip~~~ The issue came up again yesterday, as U.S. officials announced they'd expelled two Iranian security guards. These two gentlemen, unnamed, were working on Third Avenue at the Iranian Mission to the United Nations. They are now back in Tehran. U.S. envoy Stuart Holliday, speaking to the reporters at the UN, picks up the story there: "These individuals were moving around New York City and essentially taking photographs...

<p>June 30, 2004 -- Two security guards working at Iran's U.N. mission were kicked out of the country for spying last week after they were caught videotaping New York City landmarks, authorities said yesterday. It was the fifth incident in less than three years involving Iranian guards.</p>

NITED NATIONS, June 29 - The United States has expelled two security guards at Iran's United Nations mission after they were seen filming and photographing New York landmark buildings and parts of the city's transportation system, American officials said Tuesday. "They were asked to leave because we were very concerned about their activities, which weren't compatible with their stated duties," said Richard A. Grenell, the spokesman for the American mission. The language is common diplomatic wording for espionage cases. The two men were ordered out last weekend after pairs of Iranian guards had been seen for the third time in...

The US government has expelled two Iranian security guards at Iran’s UN Mission for activities “incompatible with their duties,” a US official said today, using the diplomatic language for spying. The Iranians were caught on three occasions taking photos of infrastructure, modes of transportation and New York City landmarks, the official said. The first incident was in June 2002, the second in November 2003, and after they were stopped recently while taking photographs, the government asked them to leave the country. The two Iranians left the United States in the last few days, the official said. Richard Grenell, spokesman for...

Thousands of Iranians and especially members of the Diaspora residing in the US paid tribute to the late Ronald W. Reagan. E-mails, faxes, flower bouquets have been sent, since Saturday, to the Ronald Reagan Library located in Simi Valley (California) while hundreds of Iranians paid homage to the 40th President of the USA by making visit of the premises in the first days of the week. Hundreds of callers are expressing, everyday, their condolences to the People of America and all those fighting tyranny during most of the Iranian TV and Radio talk shows. Farah Pahlavi Diba, the former Empress...

<p>Three men caught with camera equipment on the grounds surrounding the nuclear power plant were arrested and interrogated by federal and local authorities.</p> <p>The trio, who police say came to the United States as teenagers from Iran, were spotted at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station Saturday morning walking along a restricted beach near the plant. They were arrested on trespassing charges. The men told authorities they were hiking.</p>

Finally, I've found a pro-American country. Everywhere I've gone in Iran, with one exception, people have been exceptionally friendly and fulsome in their praise for the United States, and often for President Bush as well. Even when I was detained a couple of days ago in the city of Isfahan for asking a group of young people whether they thought the Islamic revolution had been a mistake (they did), the police were courteous and let me go after an apology. They apologized; I didn't. On my first day in Tehran, I dropped by the "Den of Spies," as the old...

It's on the right, in English. I'm not suggesting any responses, just select what you know.

Suspicions mount that Iranians are seeking atom bomb By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor (Filed: 20/02/2004) United Nations nuclear inspectors have discovered components for sophisticated uranium enrichment equipment that Iran failed to declare, deepening suspicions that Teheran is seeking an atomic bomb. The unravelling of the nuclear network operated by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's bomb, has exposed Iran to ever more damaging disclosures of its attempts to hide nuclear-related facilities. Weapons analysts claim that the medium range Shahab-3 missile could reach Israel or US bases in Gulf "We have serious concerns about these reports," said the White...

<p>November 18, 2003 -- Two Iranian diplomats who arrived in New York recently to work at their country's U.N. mission are being investigated by the FBI after a transit cop caught them videotaping the subway in Queens, The Post has learned. The sharp-eyed officer spotted the suspicious pair entering the elevated station at Roosevelt Avenue and 52nd Street in Woodside at 1:30 a.m. Sunday and shooting tape in various directions as they waited for a Manhattan-bound No. 7 train.</p>

PARIS - A French court Wednesday ordered the release of nine people arrested during a recent broad anti-terrorism sweep, including the leader of an exile group seeking to topple Iran's ultra-religious government, judicial officials said. But the Paris appeals court said Maryam Rajavi, a leader of the group Mujahedeen Khalq, and one other defendant must first pay bail. Rajavi was ordered to pay about $93,000 and likely will not be released before Thursday, the officials said. Two other jailed members of the most powerful Iranian opposition movement were released Tuesday. Rajavi and more than 150 other group members were detained...

The United States has forced the Iranian opposition based in Iraq to disarm.United States officials said thousands of Mujahadeen fighters located in Northeastern Iraq have agreed to lay down their weapons.They said the Iranian opposition insurgents, surrounded by United States tanks, relayed their agreement amid heavy pressure by the United States Army V Corps. The Muhajahadeen has controlled five camps near the northern border with Iran. The bases which contain tanks, artillery and armoured vehicles, are around the city of Baqubah in the Diyala province, about 70 km North of Baghdad.About 4,000 Muhajahadeen troops are belived to be located in...

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Thousands of Iranians Tuesday chanted "Death to Saddam" at a public ceremony to mark a key religious holiday, adding the Iraqi leader's name to denunciations traditionally reserved for Israel and the United States. The chants came during an address in Tehran by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who vowed that the Islamic Republic would never adopt Western-style democracy, which he said was based on "lies and propaganda." Iran, which fought a ruinous eight-year war against its neighbor Iraq in the 1980s, officially opposes U.S. plans to attack Iraq over its weapons programs, but has demanded that Saddam...

US OFFICIAL CALLS HEZBOLLAH 'A-TEAM OF TERRORISTS' A top U.S. diplomat took aim at Hezbollah on Thursday, saying the United States would go after the group he called "the A-team of terrorists." "Hezbollah made the A-team of terrorists, maybe al Qaeda is actually the B-team," Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said in answer to a questions after a luncheon speech. "We're going to go after them just like a high school wrestler goes after opponents, we're going to take them down one at a time," Armitage said. What The State Department Says About Hezbollah a/ka/ Hizballah [PDF] http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/dos/trrpt2001/dostrrpt2001p6.pdf

Militant Islam is on the ascendant almost everywhere around the globe -- except in the country that experienced it longest and knows it best. In Iran, it is on the defensive and perhaps in retreat. This situation has vast potential consequences. It derives from the fact that (putting aside the exceptional case of Saudi Arabia) militant Islam first attained power in Iran in 1979, when Ayatollah Khomeini overthrew the Shah. Twenty-three years later, Khomeini's aggressive, totalitarian project has left Iranians deeply disillusioned and longing for a return to normal life. The population wants freedom from a regime that bullies them...

Media coverage of the conflict in the Middle East has simplified the description of the major parties to the point that they are incorrect. They missuse the terms Arab and Palestinian. Unless we have a more precise understanding of the peoples of the Middle Esat and iof their histories, we cannot properly understand what is going on there. Since the nineteenth century, and particularily after WWI nationalism has been a motivating force in world events. President Woodrow Wilson advanced the right of self-determination in his 14 point. Briefly stated, this means that any people who have their own culture have...