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EBADI: ISLAMIC TENETS SUPPORT HUMAN RIGHTS

By Safa Haeri

PARIS 12 Oct. (IPS)

Mrs. Shirin Ebadi, the first Iranian to win the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize for 2003 reiterated on Sunday that “all principles and tenets of Islam serve to promote humanitarian values and human rights”.

In her first interview with the official Iranian news agency IRNA, Mrs. Ebadi, a female judge before the victory of the Islamic Revolution of 1979 added that Islam is “definitely” against terrorism and violence, stressing that those advocating such practices were
absolutely not Muslims.

The interview, granted to IRNA in the French Capital where she was on a private visit when she was informed about the Prize being attributed to her by the Norwegian Nobel Academy was seen by Iranian political analyst as the first indication from the authorities that they have “taken act” of the issue.

So far, none of the top Iranian ruling clerics, including Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, the leader of the Islamic Republic or President Mohammad Khatami, the promoter of the “dialogue among civilisations” described routinely by the Western press as a “moderate” have had a single word and the public media, that are controlled by the conservatives, reported the news briefly and with hours of delay, a clear sign of their visible anger to see a female Iranian human rights activist winning the Prize.

Even IRNA, which is close to the Iranian reformists, failed to mention that Mrs. Ebadi is an Iranian, stating only that she was “the first Muslim woman” to ever get the much envied Prize.

“Even though some reformists tenors and even a high-ranking government official in Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Ali Abtahi, the Vice-president for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs have congratulated Mrs. Ebadi, but her sounding and surprise victory has visibly taken the conservatives aback”, one Iranian analyst told Iran Press Service.

“However, the IRNA interview shows that they are trying to find a way to put up with the event that has filled all Iranians except the hard liners with joy and pride”, he added speaking on condition of anonymity.

“Ebadi regretted that certain western states blame the sublime religion of Islam for acts of a few Muslims, whereas there are many Christians who indulge themselves in murder and terrorist acts, but Muslims never say they do so because of their religion”, she was quoted by IRNA.

Asked if the peace award had been granted to her for political reasons, the 56 years-old Ebadi said "I believe this is not a political matter and I am of the opinion that the world, through this award, has come to recognize the freedom-seeking campaign of Muslim women”.

“I have been selected to receive this award just as a Muslim woman”, Mrs. Ebadi went on, adding that Iranian women’s conditions have been "improving" over recent years.

Ebadi, however, admitted that the law prevailing in Iran regarding women’s rights “still needed to be revised with contradictions required to be removed”.

But in a press conference attended by more than 200 correspondents from all over the world, she defended secularism, saying that many grand ayatollahs agrees with her that religion must be kept separate from politics.

In an interview published by the influential French daily "Le Monde", the Iranian lawyer and activist said she hopes her prize will encourage human rights campaigners in Iran and in the world.

She also said Iranians are "profoundly disappointed" by Iran's Islamic Revolution and called for political, social, economic, and civil-rights reforms.

“Iran's Islamic Republic cannot continue if it fails to evolve and heed the people's desire for major reform”, she emphasised.

"It's very good for me, it's very good for human rights in Iran, it's very good for democracy in Iran," Ms. Ebadi said in a news conference at the headquarters of the International Federation of Human Rights. "This prize," she added, "gives me energy to pursue my combat for a better future”.

For years, Ms. Ebadi and two other women, Mehrangiz Kar, a more secular human rights and family lawyer, and Shahla Lahidji, an outspoken publisher specializing in books about women, were labeled the "Three Musketeers" because they were considered the country's most active proponents of women's rights. Ms. Lahidji has been pressured into silence; Ms. Kar now lives in the United States.

Ms. Ebadi was herself arrested and imprisoned in June 2000 with another reformist lawyer, Hojjatoleslam Mohsen Rahami, accused of distributing a taped confession of a member of a vigilante militia involved in violence against reformists.

After being jailed for three weeks, she was sentenced by a closed-door court to 15 months in prison and barred from practicing law for five years. Eventually, the sentence was suspended, and she was required only to pay a fine of about $200.

In her IRNA interview Mrs Ebadi also observed that the situation of women in most Islamic countries as "not favourable" and said the cause of contrasts in these societies is the culture of male-dominance.

EBADI NOBEL PEACE 121003

http://www.iran-press-service.com/articles_2003/Oct-2003/ebadi_nobel_peace_121003.html

Iran Air-strike Plan Seen as Bluff

October 13, 2003
The Washington Times
Abraham Rabinovich

JERUSALEM — Reports that Israel is preparing for pre-emptive air strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities and is now able to fire nuclear missiles from submarines were seen as reflecting deep anxiety in Israel for Tehran's nuclear program.

Israeli newspapers said officials appear to have leaked the reports in an attempt to focus the attention of the international community on the dangers of Iranian nuclear weapons development.

The German magazine Der Spiegel reported Saturday that Israel's Mossad intelligence agency had prepared detailed plans for attacking six nuclear facilities in Iran.

Any attack, according to the report, would be carried out by the Israeli air force, which in 1981 destroyed Iraq's Osirak nuclear facility just before it was to go on line. Der Spiegel quoted an Israeli pilot as saying such an attack would be "complex, yet manageable."

Simultaneously, the Los Angeles Times, quoting Israeli and American officials, reported that Israel has modified nuclear warheads to fit U.S.-made Harpoon missiles aboard its submarines. This would give Israel a second-strike capability that could respond even if the country's land facilities were obliterated.

Israeli officials denied the Los Angeles Times report yesterday, and nuclear experts expressed deep skepticism that it would even be possible to modify a Harpoon missile for a nuclear attack.

"Anyone with even the slightest understanding of missiles knows that the Harpoon can never be used to carry nuclear warheads," former Deputy Defense Minister Efraim Sneh told Army Radio.

"Not even [Israel´s] extraordinarily talented engineers and its sophisticated defense industries can transform the Harpoon into a missile capable of doing this. It's simply impossible."

Ted Hooton, editor of Jane's Naval Weapon Systems in London, told the Associated Press that the weight of a nuclear payload would put the Harpoon out of balance, limiting its range and accuracy.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has demanded that Tehran open its nuclear facilities to inspection by the end of the month and make them available for spot checks. Three of Iran's nuclear sites have never been inspected.

It was widely assumed in Israel that the stories were initiated by the Mossad as part of a campaign to keep the Iranian nuclear issue high on the international agenda.

"Heading off Iran's attempt to attain nuclear capability is one of the Mossad's main missions," wrote analyst Aluf Benn in the Ha'aretz newspaper yesterday, "and the foreign media is one of the most important instruments utilized in this effort."

Adding substance to this analysis was a report in the daily Ma'ariv yesterday that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has ordered the Mossad to devote most of its efforts to uncovering information about Iran's nuclear program.

"Iran constitutes the biggest danger to Israel," Mr. Sharon said, according to the newspaper. "We are coordinated on this with the U.S. down to the last detail."

A former head of the Mossad, Shabtai Shavit, told Israel Radio that Iran is a threat because "it is ruled by clerics who act according to the word of God, not according to rational considerations." Iranian leaders have frequently called for Israel's destruction.

One of the principal reasons Israel acquired F-16 aircraft from the United States was that its range permits it to reach Iran, some 800 miles from Israel's borders. Iran has warned that Israel would pay a very heavy price for any attack.

http://www.washtimes.com/world/20031013-121441-2893r.htm

One-woman Machine Who Took on Iran's Clerics

October 11, 2003
The Guardian
Dan De Luce

Award will make her even more formidable.

She is small in stature but a force of nature in and out of the courtroom. Shirin Ebadi is a one-woman human-rights machine, inspiring students through her law faculty lectures, forcing judges to acknowledge contradictions in Iran's legal code and lobbying parliament to protect the rights of children born out of marriage.

She has already embarrassed the conservative clerics ruling Iran but yesterday's announcement from the Norwegian Nobel committee will make life more awkward for the defenders of the country's rigid laws. For Ms Ebadi and her colleagues the peace prize is like a shot in the arm for their efforts. "I think this prize gives me and Iranian people more courage to work for human rights and peace," she told the BBC in Paris.

What must have the hardliners worried is the following: Ms Ebadi has among the vast youth population, who see her as a courageous heroine standing up to a theocratic system. "I'm so happy," said Reza, a graduate student in Tehran. "I am proud to be an Iranian today."

With young women getting educated in unprecedented numbers, Ms Ebadi senses society is changing in ways that the conservative establishment does not understand. "Sixty-three per cent of entering university students are women. They see that the laws are not suitable for the conditions that are emerging," Ms Ebadi, who has two grown-up daughters, told the Guardian recently. "Because so many women are protesting against their conditions, things will have to improve."

Along with a several other lawyers, Ms Ebadi has launched a non-governmental organisation, the Centre for the Defenders of Human Rights, which will benefit from the Nobel prize of $1.3m (about £780,000). "She is one of the most active lawyers in Iran, working to promote human rights for women, children and all citizens," said her colleague, Mohammad Fayfzadeh. "She has performed brilliantly."

There was a time when the 56-year-old Ms Ebadi was fighting a lonely battle. After the 1979 revolution that toppled the regime of the shah, Ms Ebadi was told she would have to step down as Iran's first female judge. "The head of the court told me I could not work as a judge because I am a woman. He said it was forbidden by sharia law," she said.

Now prominent lawyers and MPs agree that women should serve as judges. "Many women are now working as legal advisers to judges. It's only a matter of time before we have female judges, " she said. "We have been fed so many things in the name of Islam and sharia law."

She uses sharia law, which forms the basis of Iran's laws, to argue that there is no legal foundation for discriminatory rules that give women an inferior status. She cites the writings of senior clerics and other areas of the law that have been freshly interpreted to adapt to modern circumstances.

In one case Ms Ebadi has fought against "blood money" provisions that put the value of a woman's life at half that of a man's in financial compensation. "I accept these cases to show what the consequences of inadequate, inappropriate laws can be," she said.

Through her lobbying in parliament and the courts, Ms Ebadi succeeded in her campaign to grant legal rights to children born outside of marriage though they are still denied the right to any inheritance. "I am still fighting to get that changed."

In a country where many dissidents have been discredited or forced underground, Ms Ebadi stands out for her single-minded commitment to human rights without ties to partisan politics or polemics.

She has spent time in solitary confinement and received a suspended sentence of 15 months for videotaping an interview with a former paramilitary. In the interview, the paramilitary described an at tempted an assassination attempt against a member of the cabinet and other methods of repression.

Ms Ebadi, who works late hours in her office alone, acknowledges the threat she is facing. "Defending human rights in Iran has unavoidable dangers," she said.

The most chilling event for Ms Ebadi was when a document leaked out from the intelligence ministry that included names of intellectuals who had been murdered in mysterious circumstances. It was a list of political enemies apparently singled out for liquidation.

"I'm like any other human being, I experienced fear. It comes to you like hunger, you don't have a choice. But I have learned how to overcome this feeling and not let it interfere with my work."

She wears the head scarf or hejab as required by Iran's dress code and though she has no affection for it, she sees it as a low priority among a long list of women's grievances. "There are much more im portant issues that need to be addressed."

Ms Ebadi credits the Islamic revolutions strict dress code and segregation of the sexes at university with opening the door to emancipation. Once the universities became a place where a father could send his daughter without worrying about "moral corruption", society began to change, she said. "There is a saying that modernity is born on the street. And when a woman steps out on the street, she cannot be a traditional woman anymore."

Extracts from the Nobel committee's citation

It is a pleasure for the Norwegian Nobel committee to award the Peace prize to a woman who is part of the Muslim world, and of whom that world can be proud.

As a lawyer, judge, lecturer, writer and activist, she has spoken out clearly and strongly in her country, Iran, and far beyond its borders. She has stood up as a sound professional, a courageous person, and has never heeded the threats to her own safety. In an era of violence, she has consistently supported nonviolence. It is fundamental to her view that the supreme political power in a community must be built on democratic elections.

We hope that the people of Iran will feel joyous that for the first time in history one of their citizens has been awarded the Nobel Peace prize, and we hope the prize will be an inspiration for all those who struggle for human rights and democracy in her country, in the Muslim world, and in all countries where the fight for human rights needs support.

http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/worldwide/story/0,9959,1061848,00.html

Khatami's Silence Signals Official Anger over Ebadi

October 13, 2003
AFP
IranMania

TEHRAN -- Iran's reformist President Mohammad Khatami had yet to react to the Nobel Peace Prize win of human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi, with his silence seen as a reflection of deep anger among his hardline superiors and his own decreasing influence.

While Khatami's embattled government has congratulated Ebadi for her win -- albeit after some initial confusion on how to digest the news -- they have shown extreme caution in their references to a figure loathed by many powerful conservatives.

In the past, it would have been hard to see Khatami not speak on such a prestigious prize win for an Iranian Muslim woman, who like him is a moderate espousing values such as human rights and dialogue.

Paying lip service to such issues, as well as championing his pet topic of "dialogue among civilisations", helped the mild-mannered cleric sweep to power in 1997 and again in 2001 on a wave of women's and youth support.

Ebadi has even stated that she was part of the wave of support behind Khatami that saw him win a landslide in 1997.

But increasingly, Khatami appears to be torn between his deep ties to Iran's complex power structure, and the frustration of many of his supporters who see him as failing to deliver his promise of "Islamic democracy".

His is a delicate path under the eye of conservatives -- who wield more power than the president and his supporters in parliament through their control of the judiciary, legislative oversight bodies and security forces.

That much has been illustrated by his delayed responses or prolonged silence on other key questions in recent months, such as anti-regime protests, widespread arrests of dissidents, students or journalists and an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) ultimatum over Iran's suspect nuclear programme.

Prominent hardliners, who take their cue from supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have been quick to suggest the Nobel prize win was some kind of "conspiracy" -- in other words yet another sign of UN-backed international pressure on the country.

"Khatami's hands are tied," one analyst explained.

Furthermore, analysts here have pointed to Ebadi's appearance in Paris with exiled Iranian dissidents, her embracing by other men wishing to congratulate her as well as her decision not to wear the compulsory headscarf.

And on top of that, she was quick to demand the freeing of all political prisoners back home.

"The conservatives would have certainly seen this and must be furious," one diplomat said. "So it leaves Khatami in a bit of an embarrassing situation, and obviously it seems he'll wait for the fuss to die down before he says something."

Quoted by the official news agency IRNA, Ebadi has also reflected widespread impatience with Khatami and the pace of his reforms.

"After the election of Mr. Khatami as Iran's president, a lot of reforms were done on women's status, but these reforms are not enough. Khatami's electoral triumph would not have been possible without the participation of women, so therefore we are expecting that the president does more," she said.

Khatami and his reform movement are facing what many analysts and observers see as a critical juncture -- their bid to reform Iran has led to some changes, but not the promised fundamental shake-up of the nearly 25-year-old clerical regime.

A bid by parliament to give greater powers to the president and strip conservative oversight bodies of their right to vet electoral candidates -- seen as a last-ditch reform bid -- appears to have failed.

The mandate of the reformist-controlled Majlis runs out early next year, and parliamentary elections are scheduled for February 20, 2004. Even the president, whose second and final term in office ends in 2005, has admitted that the run-up to the vote is "very sensitive historical juncture".

Many analysts, however, have already written the president off.

http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=18636&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs

"UK Questions Iranians Filming Jewish Centers"

October 12, 2003
AFP
IranMania

WASHINGTON -- British police recently questioned a group of Iranian tourists after they were seen covertly shooting video film of Jewish community buildings in London, Newsweek magazine reported.

Newsweek said in its Monday's edition that the Iranian "tourists" were detained and questioned by British police in recent weeks, but the magazine did not identify which Jewish buildings had been filmed and provided few other details.

The report said British police have warned the country's Jewish community of a threat of imminent terrorist attacks.

The British warning comes as some US Department of State officials mull issuing an official warning to the US travellers to Britain, according to the magazine.

"US officials say no comparable intelligence has recently surfaced about threats to Jewish targets in America," Newsweek said.

"British security officers say that while they can't predict specific attacks, urgent measures are needed to protect potential targets such as synagogues and community centers," the report said.

It added that the warning to British Jewish centers comes as some US officials say recent intelligence indicates backsliding in official Iranian attitudes toward Islamic terrorism and al-Qaeda.

British police have been on a heightened anti-terrorist alert since the September 11, 2001, attacks against New York and Washington.

London has been America's chief ally in the White House's self-professed war on terror, including supporting the US-led war in Iraq.

The Newsweek report comes after British police arrested a Pakistani man under anti-terrorism laws last week amid fears of a plot to carry out a bombing in London, according to the Daily Mirror newspaper.

The paper quoted a senior source in London's Scotland Yard police department as saying: "We made the arrest because of fears that a plot by al-Qaeda to launch a terrorist attack in Britain was reaching the advanced planning stage. We think a bombing was being planned to take place in London."

http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=18640&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs

Mullahs on the Run

October 13, 2003
The Washington Times
Editorials/Op-Ed

With an Oct. 31 deadline looming for Iran to come clean about its nuclear weapons program, the regime in Tehran continues to stonewall in providing information to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). On Tuesday, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, denounced international pressure against the country's nuclear program. Also, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, widely depicted as a moderate in the Western press, waxed defiant on the subject, declaring: "We will not allow anyone to deprive us of our legitimate right to use nuclear technology, particularly enrichment for providing fuel for [civilian] nuclear plants."

This argument is a difficult one to take seriously. Given the reality that Iran is awash in oil and gas, it is virtually impossible to argue with a straight face that Iran's nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Over the past few months, there have been mounting reports of heightened military cooperation between Iran and a fellow member of the ''axis of evil" pointed to by President Bush: North Korea. In June, the Japanese newspaper Sankei reported that Iranian nuclear experts made repeated visits to North Korea in the spring, possibly to learn from the Stalinist regime how to be more successful in stonewalling IAEA inspectors. In August, the Los Angeles Times reported that North Korean scientists were recently seen entering Iranian nuclear facilities, and were helping Tehran test a nuclear warhead.

IAEA officials have also found traces of weapons-grade uranium at Iran's Natanz nuclear faciliity. IAEA Director-General Mohammed ElBaradei said in August that Iran had been shopping for nuclear components on the black market and appeared to suggest that Iran was running a secret weapons program. On Sept. 12, the IAEA gave Iran until Oct. 31 to demonstrate that it was not developing nuclear weapons under cover of its so-called civilian nuclear program.

Clearly, Iran's post-Sept. 12 behavior has done little to alleviate the concerns of the international community. On Friday, Mr. ElBaradei said bluntly that he is still waiting for Tehran to provide satisfactory information about its nuclear program. He said the information provided to date remained inadequate. On Saturday, the IAEA ratcheted up the pressure a bit more, stating that "Time is indeed running out" for Iran, and that it shouldn't take "more than a week or two" for the regime to provide "full and complete information on their nuclear program."

We suspect that, as the noose tightens around its neck, the regime will do what Undersecretary of State John Bolton predicted on Thursday: show just enough cooperation to get past the Oct. 31 deadline without providing much in the way of useful information "to conceal as much as they can, to delay, to fight for time, and to avoid having the issue referred to the Security Council."

The mullahs' growing isolation was further accentuated by the announcement on Friday that Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian dissident who had been jailed by the Iranian regime, became the first Muslim woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel commitee praised her advocacy of equal rights for the Baha'i community, which has been harshly persecuted by the Iranian government. Mrs. Ebadi's well-deserved award, which was welcomed by President Bush, is just the latest sign that political troubles of every sort are mounting for the tyrannical regime in Tehran.

http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20031013-121446-6797r.htm

Prize Message

October 13, 2003
Newsday
Newsday.com

With this year's selection, the Nobel Peace Prize Committee has sent a ringing message of support for democracy advocates in Iran and an implicit rebuke to the hard-line clerics ruling its hide-bound theocracy.

The Iranian human rights activist and feminist lawyer Shirin Ebadi - the first Muslim woman and first Iranian to receive the award - is amply deserving of the honor on her own merits. Ebadi, 56, is a courageous and tireless promoter of democracy and human rights in a country where neither has much official support. She has been imprisoned for her outspokenness and her life has been threatened several times for her defense of women's and children's rights.

Ebadi became Iran's first woman judge in 1974, but Islamic clerics stripped her of that post five years later in the Islamic Revolution, decreeing that women could not preside over courts under Koranic law. Ebadi has fought against the mullahs' rigid application of sharia, Islamic law, ever since. She has argued fiercely and publicly there is nothing in Islam or the Koran that restricts women's rights or mandates stoning for adultery, only the patriarchal interpretation of Islamic law.

After attending a Berlin conference on Iranian democratic reforms in 2000, she was jailed for several weeks for slandering the ruling clerics and was banned from practicing law.

Ebadi's prize has been hailed justifiably across the globe as a signal victory for human rights. Indeed, the Nobel committee made it clear that one reason it chose Ebadi was because of its resolve to speed the process of instituting human rights and democracy in nations that resist them.

The peace prize is inherently political and often used to promote outcomes that do not always pan out. After all, the award granted to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat after the Oslo accords was far more an encouragement for the Mideast peace process to succeed than a recognition of merit. The wish, of course, turned out to be futile and Arafat's peace prize is now nothing more than a sad piece of parchment.

For all that, the peace prize remains a potent symbol of the highest human aspirations. The Nobel committee chose well in rewarding Ebadi and putting Iran on the spot. It's the right time, the right woman, the right place.

http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-vpnob133493425oct13,0,2350021.story?coll=ny-editorials-headlines

Who Bombed the Baghdad Hotel?

October 13, 2003
FrontPageMagazine
Walid Phares

Who is responsible for the suicide bombing in Baghdad? Sources from the Arab World speculate on who has an immediate interest in striking now. Analysts with inner knowledge of Middle East politics rush to review statements made by several vicious parties mentioned on the suspect list. At this point we do not know for certain who pulled off this act of destruction, but the usual suspects in all terrorist attacks are on the short list.

Commentators in the West usually follow the judicial track. They wait for an FBI-like conclusion and the pieces of evidence. In sum, they treat each case separately and view it as a crime. Authorities strive for balance between hard-evidence and instincts andboth approaches are helpful in a state of war. Speculative approaches are risky and could be highly inaccurate, but in many cases, military and intelligence analysts, and sometimes media, are under pressure to provide answers. Even investigators count on speculations to start their work. In the War on Terror, you don't start always from zero. The Baghdad car bomb is one of many attacks aimed at Americans and Iraqis. The suspect list suggests a few possibilities.

Analysis of the Arab world suggests three scenarios. First, are the Saddam Baathists, followed by al-Qaeda and its allies of Ansar el-Islam on the Sunni side. Authorities also put radical Shiite jihad partisans like Hezbollah on the same list. But behind these forces the list includes intelligence services of regional powers, such as Syria and Iran, both of whom have stakes in the conflict. So who bombed the hotel yesterday in Baghdad?

[1] High speculation: The prime suspect since the attacks against the Jordanian embassy, the UN headquarters and a hotel that hosted the NBC crew, is Ansar el-Islam, an affiliate of al-Qaeda. Such attacks may have benefited from internal intelligence provided by former Iraqi Baathists. The lines separating the two groups are blurring by the day. But the "international dimension" of these attacks has the fingerprints of a network that keeps an eye on the world reaction to these types of deadly explosions.

The Jihadists are known for their psychological aims not only on the actual victims of the attacks but also on a public opinion that can weaken the resolve of the enemy, in this case the U.S. The real effects of a suicide attack or a car bomb in Baghdad are on U.S. TV and al-Jazeera. That is their real battlefield.

Statements made in the past indicate that al-Qaeda and its local allies are now targeting the "residence of U.S. personnel." If you make a normal deployment of your enemy's personnel in their offices and bedrooms a risk, then you have created a strategic problem for the enemy. That is a page taken directly the jihad manual recently found on the Internet.

[2] Possible speculation: Pieces of analysis tend to think that the strike could have been ordered by Syrian intelligence to "respond" to the U.S. endorsement of the Israeli strike on the Palestinian Islamic Jihad base near Damascus last week. If you analyze the statements made by several Syrian officials and pro-Syrian leaders this week, including the Syrian ambassador in Madrid ,and an al-Baath newspaper editor on al-Jazeera, they all share one talking point: Syria has "many ways" to respond to the Israeli-led (and, from their point of view, U.S.-sponsored) attacks, and Syria will choose when and where. For those with expertise in Syrian tactics, the logic of striking back at American interests in Iraq is not illogical. Many commentators in the Arab world have openly stated that the Israeli strike in Syria is an American message to Damascus. A logical extension of this equation would be that Syria responded to Washington on the battlefield on which it is most successful: Iraq.

[3] Potential link: A third possible theory is an amalgam of the previous two: that all these forces, and possibly more, are allied in their war against the Great Satan. This thesis suggests that there is a "regional war room" (RWR) centered in one - possibly more - capitals, which strategically coordinates the anti-American attacks. According to the proponents of this analysis, as of the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, the RWR is "in charge" of these two theatres: the suicide attacks in Israel and the anti-American terror activities in Iraq. Additionally, that hypothetical"room" is said to be plotting strikes against "moderate" Arab countries, as well.

Obviously these are only speculations. But until the judicial track would put the evidence together, analyzing their jihad is a matter of reading events as they unfold and putting them into perspective. And it may offer a starting point to uncover evidence of the terrorists' actions -- and their weaknesses.

Walid Phares is a Professor of Middle East Studies and an MSNBC terrorism analyst.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=10300

Swiss open human rights dialogue with Iran

NZZ.ch
10.13.2003

A Swiss foreign ministry delegation has travelled to Iran to open dialogue on human rights.

It comes amid mounting international concern over the Islamic state’s nuclear programme, commitment to fighting terrorism and treatment of dissidents.

The visit also comes 12 years after Bern started similar talks with China, which have been criticised by some human rights groups.

Switzerland has looked after American interests in Iran since relations were broken off between the two countries after the hostage crisis at the US embassy in Tehran in 1979.

Simon Amman, one of the officials on the two-day trip, says this good relationship between Switzerland and Iran was central to the decision to send a government delegation there.

“The human rights record of Iran is not very good at the moment and at the same time Switzerland and Iran entertain good relations,” he told swissinfo.

Prison standards
Ammann says the main aim of the trip is to hold discussions with a view to improving the human rights situation in the country.

The delegation, headed by diplomat Peter Maurer, will be holding talks with high-ranking Iranian officials on corporal punishment, including the use of stoning, and prison standards in Iran.

Ammann says the Swiss will also be discussing the possibility of helping to train prison officers.

The foreign ministry official says the project is a long term one and although Switzerland is a small country on the political scene, he is convinced it can make a difference.

“Switzerland maybe doesn't have huge weight, but there are other countries including the European Union, Japan, Australia which have started human rights dialogues with Iran,” explained Ammann.

“We work as so-called like-minded states and I think together we should have quite a lot of weight,” he said.

China – a success?
Twelve years ago Bern started similar talks with China, which is accused of having a poor human rights record.

But rights campaigners say very little has been achieved in this time.

The project, which still ongoing, is coordinated by Pascale Baeriswyl from the Swiss foreign ministry.

She says there have been successes, notably in the release of political prisoners in Tibet. And she points out that Switzerland was the first country to start a human rights dialogue with the communist country.

But Baeriswyl says it was never Switzerland’s aim to impose changes.

“With a human rights dialogue the first aim is not to influence directly or to improve directly the human rights situation on the ground, but to give some input to a country that is in transition,” Baeriswyl told swissinfo.

“This means we try to help the Chinese to meet the intentional level in human rights, concretely to ratify the UN conventions and to implement them on the ground,” she added.

A different situation
The Iran visit has been welcomed by human rights groups in Switzerland who say they have long been battling for Swiss intervention in the country.

Alain Bovard of Amnesty International Switzerland says that the talks might even have more chance of success than with China.

“The Iranian attitude towards Switzerland is quite different from the Chinese attitude towards Switzerland, as Switzerland is more respected in Iran than it is in China,” said Bovard.

He says that the Swiss have always had quite an open attitude towards Iran, which is in their favour.

But he warns that Switzerland shouldn't become complacent, saying that the country will have to offer something more concrete than just dialogue to achieve its aims.

swissinfo, Isobel Johnson

http://nzz.ch/2003/10/13/english/page-synd4302872.html

Nuke Dispute Tightens U.S., Iran Tension

Monday October 13, 2003 2:01 PM
By BRIAN MURPHY
Associated Press Writer
Guardian.co.uk

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - At a Tehran University forum on nuclear technology, a bright green banner proclaimed the nation's ``absolute right'' to build reactors. Nearby, a student took notes in a folder decorated with Uncle Sam chasing an elusive atom around the Middle East.

The scene last week was another snapshot from one side of the huge gap between Iran and the United States. The tremors over Iran's nuclear ambitions have apparently wrenched it even wider at a delicate time.

Russia is building a nuclear reactor for Iran that the United States fears could be part of efforts to produce material for atomic weapons. In response, the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency has set an Oct. 31 deadline for Iran to prove it has no secret agenda for producing nuclear weapons.

Iran is also being pressed to sign an additional protocol to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty giving U.N. inspectors unfettered access to any site.

The tension has reduced hopes that shared regional interests - topped by Afghanistan and Iraq - could draw the United States and Iran into the most productive dialogue since relations ended after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Instead, many Iranian leaders and opinion-shapers have revived the bitterness that followed President Bush's ``axis of evil'' label last year. They see Washington directing the international pressure to clarify Iran's nuclear objectives and capabilities - though the European Union and others also fully support unrestricted U.N. inspections of nuclear sites.

``It's a classic case of two sides of the same coin,'' said Davoud Hermidas Bavand, a Tehran-based political analyst. ``The United States sees big worries. The Iranians say they are being unfairly bullied.''

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - the pinnacle of power in Iran - claims the United States wants to cripple Iran's economic potential by blocking nuclear development. It's one of the few messages that unite feuding reformers and conservatives.

``There is the right for all countries to have the peaceful use of nuclear technology,'' an Iranian atomic scientist, Mohammad Kazem Marashi, told a gathering of Tehran University students and professors. ``Every time someone mentions nuclear power all they can think of is bombs.''

Weapons are clearly on the minds of Washington and some allies.

The White House fears a chilling scenario: Iran could develop nuclear warheads for its Shahab-3 missiles, which could reach as far as Israel. That could touch off a regional arms race or an Israeli pre-emptive strike - as in 1981 when Israeli warplanes hit an Iraqi nuclear reactor.

Iran insists it has nothing to hide and wants nuclear plants for research and power - looking decades ahead to when its oil reserves dwindle.

But there is resistance to the U.N. demands that Iran allow international inspections. The Iranian leadership wants assurances that the nuclear reviews won't turn into spying, with inspectors combing ministries and offices.

That's as far as the objections go for the moment. Iran does not want an impasse that ends up in the U.N. Security Council, which could lead to international sanctions and a new host of problems for the ruling theocracy.

``Every way you look at it, the stakes are very high and getting higher,'' said Jonathan Stevensen, a regional analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

It's also thrown obstacles into what could have been a rare patch of common ground between Iran and the United States.

Iran sits between two of Washington's biggest burdens: Afghanistan and Iraq. And Iran shares the West's immediate goals in those countries.

A modernized Afghanistan would open important new commercial routes for Iran. A stabilized Iraq could boost Iran's regional power as the ally of Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority.

Iranian and American envoys have taken part in Afghan meetings. Iran is expected to attend an Iraq donors' conference in Spain later this month.

But - for the moment - much of the diplomatic energy is being diverted to the nuclear dispute.

The United States seeks to keep a united front with European allies, although some have said Iran should be allowed to pursue nuclear power if inspections are thorough.

Iran, meanwhile, must deal with internal quarrels on how far to push nuclear development.

A Russian-built reactor could go into service as early as 2005, and Iran says it will continue to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes. Highly enriched uranium is needed for nuclear weapons and lower grades are used in power plants and research.

Some hard-line groups have openly urged Iran to develop nuclear weapons, citing neighboring Pakistan's nuclear program and the belief that Israel has nuclear warheads. Israel has never admitted to having a nuclear program.

In July, the conservative Students' Islamic Association urged Iran's government to ``openly and seriously'' develop nuclear arms as ``deterrence against our enemies.'' Others have also insisted Iran should hold open the right to develop such weapons.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3258511,00.html

Iran hiding nuclear site from UN - exiled opposition

13 Oct 2003 12:57:38 GMT
VIENNA, Oct 13 (Reuters)

An Iranian opposition group that has provided accurate information about undeclared nuclear facilities in Iran in the past said on Monday that Tehran has been hiding another nuclear facility from U.N. inspectors.

"We have information about another secret nuclear facility in Iran," an official from the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an exiled opposition group, told Reuters. The official gave no details about the site, but said NCRI officials would provide full details on Tuesday.

In August 2002, the NCRI broke the news of two undeclared nuclear sites in Iran -- a massive uranium-enrichment complex at Natanz and a heavy-water production facility at Arak.

Tehran later declared these facilities to the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has placed surveillance cameras at Natanz to ensure that no undeclared nuclear activities take place there.

Earlier this year, the IAEA found traces of weapons-grade enriched uranium at Natanz, fuelling fears that Iran has been secretly purifying uranium for use in an atomic bomb.

Tehran denies it secretly enriched uranium and blamed the traces on contaminated machinery purchased abroad in the 1980s.

The NCRI is a coalition of moderate or left-wing groups and presents itself as a potential replacement for Islamic rule in Iran. The U.S. State Department and the European Union list the NCRI's armed wing, the People's Mujahideen, as a terrorist group.

Last month the governing board of the IAEA gave Iran until October 31 to prove it is not diverting nuclear resources to a secret weapons programme, as the United States alleges, or face sanctions by the U.N. Security Council.

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei has been invited to Tehran on Thursday, though an agency spokeswoman said he had not decided yet whether he would accept.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L13574376.htm

Iran Warns Israel Over Reports of Planned Air Strike

October 13, 2003
Ha'aretz
News Agencies and Ha'aretz Service

TEHRAN -- The Iranian government issued a warning to Israel over reports appearing in a German news magazine Monday that Jerusalem was researching how to strike Iranian nuclear sites.

"We are used to such foolish rhetoric from Israel and consider it not even worth replying, but still Israel knows not to mess around with us," government spokesman Abdullah Ramezanzadeh told journalists.

According to the news magazine Der Spiegel, Israeli intelligence services were ordered two months ago to study ways of knocking out more than half a dozen nuclear sites in Iran.

A Mossad team in Jerusalem had drafted "scenarios" in which raids would be flown by F-16 fighter-bombers that destroy the sites "simultaneously and completely."

Source: Iran hiding another nuke site

An Iranian opposition group that has provided accurate information about undeclared nuclear facilities in Iran in the past said Monday that Tehran has been hiding another nuclear facility from UN inspectors.

"We have information about another secret nuclear facility in Iran," an official from the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an exiled opposition group, told Reuters. The official gave no details about the site, but said the NCRI would provide full details Tuesday.

In an emailed statement, the NCRI also said it would provide information on Iran's use of foreign technology in its atomic program, as well as details about the Kalaye Electric Co., where UN inspectors found traces of weapons-grade uranium.

IAEA officials were not immediately available for comment.

Russia puts off start-up of Iran nuclear plant
Meanwhile, a source in the Russian Atomic Energy Ministry said Monday that Moscow has postponed plans to start up a nuclear reactor in Iran until 2005, due to technical reasons.

"We are putting off the start-up of the first generating set of the Bushehr plant because much of the technical equipment has not been supplied in time," the source told Reuters. "But mind you, this has nothing to do with politics and other issues surrounding Iran at this point."

In August 2002, the NCRI broke the news of two undeclared nuclear sites in Iran - a massive uranium-enrichment complex at Natanz and a heavy-water production facility at Arak.

Tehran later declared these facilities to the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has placed surveillance cameras at Natanz to ensure that no undeclared nuclear activities take place there.

In addition to the uranium found at Kalaye, the IAEA found traces of weapons-grade enriched uranium at Natanz, fuelling fears that Iran has been secretly purifying uranium for use in an atomic bomb.

Tehran denies it secretly enriched uranium and blamed the traces on contaminated machinery purchased abroad in the 1980s.

The NCRI is a coalition of exiled opposition groups and sees itself as a potential replacement for Islamic rule in Iran. But the U.S. State Department and the European Union list the NCRI's armed wing, the People's Mujahideen, as a terrorist group.

Last month the governing board of the IAEA gave Iran until October 31 to prove it is not diverting nuclear resources to a secret weapons program, as the United States alleges, or face sanctions by the UN Security Council.

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei has been invited to Tehran on Thursday, though an agency spokeswoman said he had not decided yet whether he would accept.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=349435&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

Iran Seeks to Extend Nuclear Deadline

October 13, 2003
VOA News
James Martone

Iran is indicating it wants more time to comply with demands from the International Atomic Energy Agency beyond the October 31 deadline the agency has set.

Iran's envoy to the IAEA says his country is committed to boosting cooperation with the agency but may need more time to satisfy all of its demands.

In comments published in the state-run daily Iran, envoy Ali Akbar Salehi said Iran's cooperation with the IAEA has "quickened" since talks earlier this month. Mr. Salehi said cooperation should accelerate further in the coming weeks but that more time may be needed. He said it would be wrong to declare failure as long as progress is being made.

The IAEA has given Iran until the end of October to fully disclose the nature of its nuclear program and to agree to an additional protocol that would subject its nuclear sites to closer scrutiny by agency inspectors.

Meanwhile, Iran's Presidential Advisor Ali Rabiee told the country's news agency that "highly placed officials in the Iranian government were discussing seriously the issue of the additional protocol." The presidential advisor also announced that IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei is expected to arrive Thursday in Tehran for more talks on nuclear issues.

Iran is a signatory of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, and says its nuclear program is purely for peaceful purposes. The United States has accused Iran of pursuing a clandestine nuclear-weapons program.

In a related development, Egypt's official news agency reports from Tehran that the Deputy Speaker of Iran's Parliament, Mohamed Reza Khatami, has called on his country to allow more IAEA inspections in order to convince the world Iran has no nuclear weapons. Mr. Khatami is the brother of Iranian president Mohamed Khatemi.

http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=70010289-95E3-41FE-AF70B7B6AC649639&title=Iran%20Seeks%20to%20Extend%20Nuclear%20Group%20Demands&catOID=45C9C78D-88AD-11D4-A57200A0CC5EE46C&categoryname=Mid

EU Attacks Iran's Human Rights Record

October 13, 2003
The Financial Times
Judy Dempsey

The European Union on Monday issued a blistering attack on Iran's human rights record but stopped short from agreeing to table or co-sponsor a United Nations General Assembly resolution that would single out Iran for its human rights violations.

In a session devoted to human rights in Iran, EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg criticised the country's continuing use of the death penalty, public executions, torture, amputation as an alternative punishment and arbitrary detentions.

"The situation with regard to freedom of opinion and expression continues to be deeply troubling, especially on the eve of parliamentary elections," the council said.

Ministers, however, insisted the "establishment of a dialogue [with Iran] is without prejudice to the tabling or co-sponsoring of a resolution at the third committee of the United Nations General Assembly or the Commission on Human Rights." The third committee is responsible for human rights. It is expected to issue a resolution on Iran later this month.

Diplomats said the two-pronged strategy by ministers meeting in Luxembourg was aimed at sending a message to both reformers and conservatives.

The EU wants to maintain for a long as possible its human rights dialogue that started with Iran ten months ago. While Iranian reformers believe the dialogue is one way to introduce reforms and prevent Iran from being isolated, Iranian conservatives resent any discussions of human rights.

Diplomats said the strategy was also about maintaining unity among all 15 EU member states that have unusually pursued a common and strong policy towards engaging Iran on human rights. They have also consistently backed the US and the International Atomic Energy Agency in insisting Iran sign an additional protocol that would provide the IAEA with maximum transparency over its nuclear energy programme.

Ireland, Britain, Sweden and the Netherlands had wanted the EU to agree to table or co-sponsor a UN resolution. Several other countries, however, managed to win some time before committing the EU.

"We believe the human rights dialogue is a long term investment," said a senior EU diplomat involved in negotiations with Iran. "We hope we can separate our dialogue from what might happen at the UN," he added.

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1059480551206

Judge Orders Intelligence Agent Freed

October 13, 2003
The Associated Press
Ali Akbar Dareini

TEHRAN -- A judge on Monday ordered an Iranian intelligence agent charged in the murder of an Iranian-Canadian photojournalist to be freed on bail.

Lawyer Ghasem Shabani said his client, Mohammad Reza Aghdam Ahmadi, would be released Tuesday after posting the equivalent of about $50,000 Cdn bail.

On the first day of his open trial last Tuesday, Ahmadi pleaded not guilty to charges in the death of photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, 54, who died July 10 after suffering fatal head injuries during 77 hours of interrogation after her June 23 detention.

Ahmadi is charged with "semi-premeditated murder," meaning he did not intend to kill Kazemi but that his actions led to her death.

Shabani told The Associated Press that Judge Rasoul Ghanimi accepted his argument that Ahmadi should be in custody only if charged with deliberate murder, and not the semi-premeditated murder count he faces.

The lawyer said he could not provide bail Monday, but would do so Tuesday.

Shabani also said the judge agreed to give him a month to prepare his defence case.

Last Tuesday, Tehran's deputy prosecutor general, Jafar Reshadati, told he court that Ahmadi was the only interrogator who had spent long periods of time alone with Kazemi.

Ahmadi had also refused to answer some questions about Kazemi's treatment and gave contradictory statements, he said.

Reshadati said a prison doctor had confirmed on the afternoon of June 26 that Kazemi was in good health and responded to questions in writing - only hours before she was rushed to hospital with lethal injuries.

"Now, the accused should explain how a healthy person in his control who responded to questions in 18 pages by her own handwriting is then transferred to hospital and finally dies," Reshadati said.

Iran's Intelligence Ministry is backing its agent and has blamed officials in the hardline judiciary for Kazemi's death.

On Monday, Shabani insisted the indictment against Ahmadi was flawed and showed "serious and deep contradictions" with documents provided by the Intelligence Ministry proving his client was innocent.

Kazemi, 54, was detained while taking photos outside north Tehran's Evin prison during student-led protests. After her interrogation, she was taken to a hospital's intensive care unit.

The killing has damaged ties between Iran and Canada and ignited a round of finger-pointing between Iran's cleric-backed hardliners and the moderates in the government of President Mohammad Khatami, who control the Intelligence Ministry.

Last week, Khatami reiterated that members of the hardline judiciary should be questioned, including the judiciary official who initially said Kazemi died of a stroke.

"Why all those who were in contact with Kazemi are not questioned, including those who ordered a Culture Ministry official to say she died of stroke," Khatami said, in reference to Saeed Mortazavi, the hardline Tehran prosecutor general.

Authorities initially denied that Kazemi, who held both Canadian and Iranian citizenship, had been killed. However, the head of the foreign press department at Iran's Culture Ministry said in July that Mortazavi kept him hostage in his office and forced him to announce that Kazemi had died of a stroke.

A presidential-appointed committee later ruled that Kazemi died of a fractured skull and brain hemorrhage due to a blow to the head.

A statement released last week by the Intelligence Ministry said Kazemi complained in writing on June 24 that she had been beaten on the day of her arrest by a prison official, part of the hardline judiciary.

Canada threatened sanctions and withdrew its ambassador after the photojournalist's body was buried in her birthplace, the southern Iranian city of Shiraz, against the wishes of Canadian authorities and her son, who lives in Montreal.

Canadian Ambassador Philip Mackinnon returned to Iran earlier this month and has been attending the trial.

http://iranvajahan.net/cgi-bin/news.pl?l=en&y=2003&m=10&d=13&a=17