Iranian Alert -- May 10, 2004 [EST]-- IRAN LIVE THREAD -- "Americans for Regime Change in Iran"

The Iranian Student Movement Up To The Minute Reports ^ | 5.10.2004 | DoctorZin

[DoctorZIn]

The US media almost entirely ignores news regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran. As Tony Snow of the Fox News Network has put it, “this is probably the most under-reported news story of the year.” Most American’s are unaware that the Islamic Republic of Iran is NOT supported by the masses of Iranians today. Modern Iranians are among the most pro-American in the Middle East.

There is a popular revolt against the Iranian regime brewing in Iran today. I began these daily threads June 10th 2003. On that date Iranians once again began taking to the streets to express their desire for a regime change. Today in Iran, most want to replace the regime with a secular democracy.

The regime is working hard to keep the news about the protest movement in Iran from being reported. Unfortunately, the regime has successfully prohibited western news reporters from covering the demonstrations. The voices of discontent within Iran are sometime murdered, more often imprisoned. Still the people continue to take to the streets to demonstrate against the regime.

In support of this revolt, Iranians in America have been broadcasting news stories by satellite into Iran. This 21st century news link has greatly encouraged these protests. The regime has been attempting to jam the signals, and locate the satellite dishes. Still the people violate the law and listen to these broadcasts. Iranians also use the Internet and the regime attempts to block their access to news against the regime. In spite of this, many Iranians inside of Iran read these posts daily to keep informed of the events in their own country.

This daily thread contains nearly all of the English news reports on Iran. It is thorough. If you follow this thread you will witness, I believe, the transformation of a nation. This daily thread provides a central place where those interested in the events in Iran can find the best news and commentary. The news stories and commentary will from time to time include material from the regime itself. But if you read the post you will discover for yourself, the real story of what is occurring in Iran and its effects on the war on terror.

I am not of Iranian heritage. I am an American committed to supporting the efforts of those in Iran seeking to replace their government with a secular democracy. I am in contact with leaders of the Iranian community here in the United States and in Iran itself.

If you read the daily posts you will gain a better understanding of the US war on terrorism, the Middle East and why we need to support a change of regime in Iran. Feel free to ask your questions and post news stories you discover in the weeks to come.

If all goes well Iran will be free soon and I am convinced become a major ally in the war on terrorism. The regime will fall. Iran will be free. It is just a matter of time.

DoctorZin

[DoctorZIn]

We have many friends in law enforcement.

In addition we know many Iranians who have offered their services to fight the war on terror, including many in Iraq right now.

[DoctorZIn]

A U.N. Whitewash for Iran

May 10, 2004
The Washington Times
Editorials/Op-Ed

One of Sen. John Kerry's central foreign policy complaints is that President Bush has refused to give the United Nations more responsibility in Iraq. But Mr. Bush has good reason to be wary because the United Nations has become a dysfunctional institution.

One example that deserves more attention than it has received to date is that of the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights (UNHCHR). On Tuesday, the United States walked out to protest a decision by the United Nations Economic and Social Council to give Sudan, one of the world's worst human-rights violators, a third term on the UNHCHR. Last month, the commission backed a resolution submitted by European countries calling for a death-penalty moratorium — an implicit slap at the United States. Members passed five resolutions condemning Israel and took several hours out of their busy schedule to mourn the assassination of Hamas terrorist boss Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

But when it came to the Iranian government's brutal treatment of its own citizens, the UNHCHR stood mute. At this year's session, which concluded in Geneva late last month, the organization declined to rebuke the Iranian government for violating human rights, despite a large body of evidence that it has engaged in summary executions, torture, and arbitrary arrests and detention.

In January, U.N. special investigator Ambeyi Ligabo, a Kenyan diplomat, issued a report documenting the cases of journalists and intellectuals who have received severe punishment for criticizing the Islamist government and clerical leadership that controls the country. Mr. Ligabo noted the case of Hashem Aghajari, a history professor in Tehran, who was arrested in August 2002 for a speech given two months earlier titled "Islamic Protestantism." Last November, Mr. Aghajari was sentenced to 74 lashes and death on charges of insulting Islam, apostasy and heresy. A journalist named Abbas Abdi was sentenced to eight years in jail after his November 2002 arrest following publication of a poll indicating that Iranians overwhelmingly support a resumption of relations with the United States. Journalist and film historian Siamak Pourzand, 75, has been chained to his bed at Modares Hospital in Tehran. Mr. Pourzand, who is barely able to walk following a March heart attack, is in jail for "undermining state security" by consorting with "monarchists and counterrevolutionaries."

But even though Mr. Ligabo documented these and other cases in his report, the UNHCHR has ignored his findings and refused to condemn the Iranian government. Given the abysmal performance of U.N. institutions like the Human Rights Commission in advancing the cause of freedom in places like Iran, why is Mr. Kerry so confident that they'll function any better in Iraq?

http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20040509-103920-1079r.htm

[DoctorZIn]

Austria's Haider, Vice Chancellor In Iran For Trade Talks [Excerpt]

May 10, 2004
Dow Jones Newswires
The Associated Press

VIENNA -- Austrian rightist Joerg Haider and Vice Chancellor Hubert Gorbach, a senior member of the ultraconservative Freedom Party, were heading to Iran Monday for meetings with Iranian leaders.

The visit by Gorbach and Haider, the governor of the Austrian province of Carinthia and a former Freedom Party leader, comes three weeks after the pair visited Libya.

Gorbach was to meet with Iran's minister of transportation, Ahmad Khorram, and also planned to meet with Iranian President Mohammed Khatami, Austrian media said. Gorbach and Haider were leading a 45-member delegation of Austrian businessmen hoping to explore trade possibilities in Iran, with the focus on helping Iran improve its roadway system.

The delegation said Austria, as a small, politically neutral country, was in a unique position to capitalize on Iran's desires to cement closer ties to Europe.

http://framehosting.dowjonesnews.com/sample/samplestory.asp?StoryID=2004051007420010&Take=1

[DoctorZIn]

Iran Critic Faces Death Penalty

May 10, 2004
BBC News
BBCi

The death sentence imposed on liberal Iranian academic Hashem Aghajari has been confirmed, his lawyer has said. Saleh Nikbakht says he has been officially told of the re-imposition of the death penalty originally passed on his client in 2002.

Mr Aghajari was charged with blasphemy for saying that Muslims should not blindly follow religious leaders.

The Supreme Court later annulled the sentence and sent the case back to the provincial court for review.

The provincial court, in the western city of Hamedan where Mr Aghajari made his comments, re-imposed the death penalty earlier in May.

Mr Nikbakht was quoted by the Iranian news agency as saying that the judge in the case had failed to clear any of the shortcomings pointed out by the Supreme Court.

He said that his client refuses to appeal, in protest at the re-imposition of the sentence.

Protests

The original imposition of the death sentence prompted protests by students and the intervention of influential reformists, including the Iranian president, Mohammad Khatami.

Mr Aghajari is currently being held in Evin prison in Tehran, where he is serving a four-year sentence imposed in place of the death penalty by the Supreme Court.

Mr Aghajari, a history professor at a Tehran college, made a speech in August 2002, which was a seen as an attack on the country's Islamic establishment and the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Khamenei.

He said that Muslims were not "monkeys" and "should not blindly follow" the clerics.

As well as the death sentence for apostasy and insulting the early imams, he received further sentences of a 10-year ban on teaching, eight years in jail and 74 lashes for lesser offences.

After student protests, Ayatollah Khamenei was forced to step in and order a review of his verdict.

Hashem Aghajari is a war veteran who lost a leg in the 1980-88 war with Iraq. He belongs to a left-wing reformist political group, the Islamic Revolutionary Mujahidin Organisation.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3699961.stm

[DoctorZIn]

Iran Denies Illegal Meetings at Embassy in Kuwait

May 10, 2004
AFP
Khaleej Times

KUWAIT CITY -- Iran’s embassy did not host meetings between Iranian officials and Kuwaiti Muslim Shiite representatives, Teheran’s charge d’affaires said here Monday, adding that the ”misunderstanding” was over.

“We strongly deny these reports... It had not taken place at all. We respect Kuwait’s sovereignty and have no plans to interfere in Kuwait’s internal affairs,” Abulkassem Shaashae told AFP.

He was summoned by the emirate’s foreign ministry on Sunday to hear a protest over such meetings, reported to have involved envoys from Iranian supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Ministry undersecretary Khaled al-Jarallah demanded “an explanation from Iranian authorities over these contacts which Kuwait believes do not serve the friendly relations between the two neighbours.”

“He asked me to convey (the protest) to authorities in Tehran and I did. I am waiting for a response,” Shaashae said.

Local newspapers have reported that the meetings with Kuwaiti Shiite politicians, which took place several months ago, focused on patching up “serious” disputes between various Shiite factions.

But Shaashae said all the Iranian officials arrived in Kuwait after obtaining visas from the Kuwaiti embassy in Tehran and were received as VIPs in the emirate.

Iranian ambassador Jaafar Musawi, who is currently outside Kuwait, hosted a dinner banquet in their honour, with several Kuwaiti personalities, and the function was not secret, Shaashae said.

“We never had secret visits. I believe the issue is over because we never had any intention to interfere in Kuwait. The issue is over because our position is very clear and have nothing to hide,” he added.

The reports claimed that senior members of the National Islamic Alliance, a political group with alleged ties to the international fundamentalist Shiite group Hezbollah, took part in the meetings.

But the alliance categorically denied in a statement Sunday that any of its members had taken part.

Shiites make up about one third of Kuwait’s indigenous population of 900,000. Their ancestors hailed from Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2004/May/middleeast_May276.xml&section=middleeast&col=

[DoctorZIn]

Federal Reserve Fines UBS $100 Million

May 10, 2004
The Associated Press
Yahoo News

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve fined Switzerland's largest bank, UBS AG, $100 million Monday for allegedly sending dollars to Cuba, Libya, Iran and Yugoslavia in violation of U.S. sanctions against those countries.

UBS operated a trading center for dollars in its Zurich headquarters under contract with the Federal Reserve of New York, to help the circulation of new U.S. notes and the retirement of old ones. A condition for the Swiss bank was not to deliver or accept dollar notes through the depot to or from banks in countries under U.S. trade sanctions.

In an announcement, the Fed said that UBS had violated the agreement and that some former officers and employees of the bank, whom it did not name, intentionally concealed the transactions by falsifying UBS' monthly reports to the U.S. central bank. The individuals were not part of the order issued Monday by the Fed, in which UBS agreed to pay a $100 million civil fine without admitting to the allegations.

The bank said Monday that some employees have been dismissed and disciplinary measures were taken against others. employees.

The Swiss Federal Banking Commission has reprimanded UBS and will inspect its operations to ensure that corrective actions are effective, the bank said.

"UBS recognizes that very serious mistakes were made, accepts the sanctions and expresses its regret," the bank said in a statement. "It has already instituted corrective and disciplinary measures and has decided to exit the international banknote trading business."

The New York Fed terminated its contract with UBS last October.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=1203&e=1&u=/ap/20040510/ap_on_bi_ge/fed_ubs_fined&sid=95609868

[DoctorZIn]

U.S. Resolution Highlights Standoff Over Iran

May 10, 2004
The Media Line
Stephen Foye

The never-ending confrontation between Washington and Moscow over Russia's nuclear cooperation with Iran was back in the news last week following the approval by the U.S. Congress of a resolution condemning Iran's nuclear program. The document, passed on May 6 by an overwhelming 376-3 vote, accused Iran of "continuing deceptions and falsehoods" involving the development of nuclear weapons. In addition to urging Europe and Japan to cut commercial and energy ties with Iran, the resolution called on Russia "to suspend its nuclear cooperation with Iran and refrain from making an agreement on supply of nuclear fuel to the reactor in Bushehr" until Iran halts "finally and verifiably all activities designed to ensure creation of its own nuclear arsenal" (AP, May 6; Pravda.ru, May 7).

Russia's Atomic Energy Ministry (which is to be reorganized as the Federal Atomic Energy Agency) reacted sharply to the U.S. resolution. One ministry spokesman said on May 7 that "We see no reason why we should end our nuclear energy cooperation with Iran." He insisted that "Moscow will fulfill its obligations to Tehran to the end." Another ministry representative said on the same day that Iran is in full compliance with demands laid down by the International Atomic Energy Agency and that Moscow's own nuclear activities in Iran likewise conform to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. "Russia has international obligations," the representative added, "and to discontinue nuclear cooperation with Iran without any legal basis or in the absence…of a decision by the IAEA or the UN Security Council would be illegal" (AFP, Russian Agencies, May 7).

On the same day, a high-ranking Iranian government official was quoted in Tehran as saying that Iran wants to team up with Russia and European countries to produce enriched uranium as fuel for nuclear power reactors. Hossein Mousavian, the secretary of the foreign policy committee of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said that "We could…start talking about setting up a consortium, which would include European countries and Russia, to work together on this program." He suggested that a joint effort of this sort would help to remove fears that Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. (Reuters, May 7).

The resolution passed by U.S. lawmakers and the comments made in Moscow and Tehran come as the international battle over Iran's nuclear program approaches a crucial juncture. Later this month Iran is to make a declaration of its nuclear-related activities to the IAEA, and the agency's director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, will follow that up with a report on Tehran's progress. The key event is a June meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors, but analysts are suggesting that the June meeting could prove a disappointment for both Tehran and Washington. They say that the Iranian government is unlikely to get what it wants - that is, removal of the issue of its nuclear activities from the IAEA's agenda - while the United States may be unable to provide sufficient proof of Iran's noncompliance with its obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty. That would frustrate Washington's hopes of getting the issue transferred to the UN Security Council (Arms Control Today, May, 2004; AFP, May 6; Reuters, May 7).

Moscow's role in this drama will likely become clearer later this week, when the Russian government is scheduled to host a visit by a high-ranking Iranian delegation. Russian-Iranian nuclear cooperation has been a regular irritant in relations between Washington and Moscow since the mid-1990s, and the May 6 U.S. Congress resolution is but the most recent manifestation of American efforts to get Russia to terminate the US million dollar nuclear project (some Russian sources put the value at more than US billion) at the Bushehr site.

Late last year there were hints that Russia might be prepared to seek an accommodation of some sort with Washington on the issue (RFE/RL, September 26, AP, November 6, 2003). But positions on both sides seem to have hardened since that time as bilateral relations more generally have turned chilly. And Moscow probably has less incentive now to cooperate with Washington: The post-September 11 rapprochement between the two countries is mostly a thing of the past and, against a background of mounting U.S. difficulties in Iraq and Arab outrage over Washington's backing for Israel, Moscow increasingly has reasons to seek better relations with the Arab world.

---

Stephen Foye is with the Jamestown Foundation.

http://themedialine.org/news/News_detail.asp?NewsID=5813

[nuconvert]

Aghajari pong

[mjaneangels@aolcom]

"Let's see, associates I've known for years in local and federal law enforcement tell me they're seeing no cooperation from your community but you, an anonymous propogandist on the internet, assure me that my sources are wrong, Iranians are actually helping us. Ok, I guess I'll take your word for it."

I have a better idea. Since you do not like this thread, why don't you just create your own and use quotes from all of those people that you know. You can give dates on what they said and when so that others will know how current those opinions are.

In the meantime, leave the rest of us alone.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Doc generally pings us to the start of the daily thread. He posts the articles of the day. It is much easier to only receive one ping and then check back on the thread later... rather than being pinged to approximately fifteen different posts a day.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

BUMP

[wtc911]

In the meantime, leave the rest of us alone.

Since I never posted to you by "the rest of us" I assume you mean those of you most concerned with trying to elicit US support for iran rather than the reverse.

There are a few here who know my connections are real, in fact we share some of them in back channel. You want me to name confidential LEO anti-terror people...on an iranian thread? Yeah, that will happen.

[wtc911]

Anything wrong with Freepers who have the Israeli flag on their home page? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If it is there in place of a US flag and the poster specializes in lobbying here for another country, any other country, then I do question the poster's agenda.

Anything wrong with that?

[Brooklyn Kid]

How do you determine it's there "in place of a U.S. flag"?

[Pan_Yans Wife]

http://www.freerepublic.com/~panyanswife/

I have the Georgia flag up. Does that mean I am not a patriotic American?

[Brooklyn Kid]

You see the name of this thread? What is your beef with people who want to get rid of the tyrants/terrorists in Iran? You think George Bush would disapprove of this Thread?
Maybe you should think about the ways these people ARE Helping the war effort with a thread like this. In fact they probably do a heck of a lot more to positively affect the situation in Iran and therefore the WOT, than most people on FR.

[freedom44]

Wtc,

interesting.

Iranian satellite TV dishes that air from California recruited hundreds after 9/11, they raised thousands for victims of 9/11, and they have consistently aided in various US activities.

Just because you "are not aware", does not mean it isn't happening.

Blame your sorry US Media.

[wtc911]

Maybe you should think about the ways these people ARE Helping the war effort with a thread like this. In fact they probably do a heck of a lot more to positively affect the situation in Iran and therefore the WOT, than most people on FR.

This thread is not about the WOT. It is about eliciting our support for their internal problem. Positioning the two in tandem is spin.