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“Rejection of Iran’s WTO membership, political”

Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - ©2004 IranMania.com

Tehran, February 24 (IranMania) – Iran’s next call for joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) will not be rejected. The rejection of Iran’s recent call for joining the world body was politically-motivated, Iran’s Minister of Commerce, Mohammad Shariatmadari said.

Saying that Iran’s call was denied only because of the US opposition, the Iranian Minister stated: “Even Iran called for a 5-year supervisory membership. This is while all European countries hold a positive stance toward Iran. We hope that the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s efforts in this field prove fruitful.”

The Former Head of the World Trade Organization said: “The issue of Iran’s membership in the WTO is very complicated because of the governmental nature of Iranian companies and the obstacles in the way of privatization of the state run sectors. I wanted a working group to be formed on Iran’s joining the WTO, but my proposal was rejected.”

http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=22869&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs

Iran: Amir Abbas Fakhravar, freelance journalist and prisoner of conscience
Amnesty International is gravely concerned for the safety of prisoner of conscience Amir Abbas Fakhravar, aged 26, following a series of incidents in which he appears to have been subjected to treatment amounting to torture.

This is the first time that Amnesty International has documented evidence of the practice of “white torture” in Iran.

Amir Abbas Fakhravar has been in prison for over a year. In January 2004, he was taken from Qasr prison to a detention centre called 125 to be interrogated about his alleged links with a political organisation called Jonbesh-e Azadi-ye Iraniyan, which opposes the Iranian government. The centre is under the control of the Revolutionary Guards, a military force responsible for matters of national security.

His cell in the 125 detention centre reportedly had no windows, and was entirely coloured creamy white, as were his clothes. At meal times, he was reportedly given white rice on white, disposable paper plates and if he needed to use the toilet, he had to put a white slip of paper under the door of the cell to alert guards, who reportedly had footwear designed to muffle any sound. He was forbidden to speak to anyone.

Amnesty International has been told that the “silence is deafening” in the facility and that this technique of sensory deprivation is called “white torture” (shekanjeh-e sefid). Such conditions of extreme sensory deprivation appear to be designed to weaken the prisoner by causing persistent and unjustified suffering which amounts to torture.

On or around 8 February, Amir Abbas Fakhravar was reportedly allowed to leave the detention centre. However, two days later he was taken into custody again. This is a form of psychological torture, which keeps a prisoner in a permanent state of uncertainty and anxiety. While he was free he was able to tell others about what was being done to him. It is not clear whether he is now held at 125, Qasr or elsewhere.

Amir Abbas Fakhravar was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment on defamation charges in November 2002, because of comments on Iran's political leadership in his book Inja Chah Nist (This Place is Not a Ditch). In February 2003, he and imprisoned student demonstrator Ahmad Batebi signed an open letter which criticised the Iranian authorities.

The letter stated, "We wish to openly and overtly express our dedication to all universal covenants. We want to show our respect for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, universal peace, non-violence, environmental protection, permanent progress" and added that "violence has absolutely no place in our struggle, neither in our words nor in our deeds." Shortly afterwards, he was reportedly beaten in front of judges in the court room where his appeal was being heard.

Background information

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that sensory deprivation, as used by UK security forces interrogating prisoners held under emergency legislation in Northern Ireland, amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment. The European Commission of Human Rights had previously found that it amounted to torture.

More recently, the Committee against Torture found that the regime of sensory deprivation and “almost total prohibition of communication” under which prisoners at a maximum security detention centre in Peru were held caused “persistent and unjustified suffering which amounts to torture”.

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/deliver/document/15199

Iran’s election winners to support Khatami
Feb. 24 – The winners of Iran’s parliamentary elections proclaimed Tuesday that they will support the reform trend of President Mohammad Khatami.
“We have seen some pros and cons in Mr. Khatami’s seven year record, but nevertheless we acknowledge his achievements and will support him and his course until the end of his term (August 2005),” Hadad Adel, head of the conservative Abadgaran party, told reporters in Tehran.
Abadgaran – Islamic Iran Developers – won the parliamentary elections in the capital Tehran, the politically most important district, and will dominate the next legislative term along with other conservative deputies from the provinces.
“We will generally focus our activities on economic reforms and at the same time respect the civil rights of the people,” Adel said.
On the controversial nuclear issue, Ahmad Tavakoli, the second man in the Abadgaran party, said that the approval of the additional protocol of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was not a factional but a state matter which should be made whenever necessary.
The IAEA protocol, which will allow inspectors to check without prior notice all nuclear facilities of the country, was a main demand by the West to continue dialogue with Islamic Iran.
After more than 2,000 reformist candidates were eliminated by the hardline clergy due to their secular standpoints, the victory of Abadgaran had been clear even before last Friday’s elections Therefore, both in Iran and abroad, the elections were classified as not legitimate for having deprived the Iranian people from their right to chose.
Abadgaran however is not considered by observers as a hardline but just a conservative group, however loyal to the Islamic framework of the power apparatus in Iran./-
(Photo by Abedin Taherkenareh)

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