Join Us At Today's Iranian Alert Thread – The Most Underreported Story Of The Year! 
"If you want on or off this Iran ping list, Freepmail DoctorZin”
Posted on 05/26/2004 9:01:10 PM PDT by 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
Gaining friends in the land of Persians
By: Slater Bakhtavar
Few can forget President Bush' State of the Union speech in 2002 where he bluntly labeled Iran alongside Iraq and North Korea as the worlds leading advocates of terrorism. Not surprisingly immediately following the controversial speech Mideast Experts, Journalists, and Politicians spewed forth an anchorage of viewpoints regarding its effects on the battle for the soul of Iran. Predominately all leftist liberals contented support for democratic movements within the country aided the hard-line Islamists establishment while American Conservatives dissented that it did exactly the opposite. Contrary to NY Times propaganda, polls inside the country drastically side with the latter. In polls stationed by reformists within the country, 75 percent of Iranians favor relations with the United States, 58 percent favor a separation of Mosque and State, 74 percent favor a referendum supporting a change of regime, and perhaps most importantly 52 percent of Iranians feel that Bush administration policy on Iran is 'somewhat correct'.
In 2003, President Bush once again renewed his support for the Iranian people. This time with a deeper sense of urgency and depth. "The government of Iran "represses its people". Iranian citizens are risking intimidation and death to speak out for liberty, human rights, and democracy. Iranians have a right to choose their own government, and determine their own destiny -– and the United States supports their aspirations to live in freedom." In a message separating the good natured people of Iran with the government, the President won the hearts and minds of many Iranians demonstrating for human rights, democracy, and freedom against a ruthless dictatorship.
Several months before departing, a group of 127 Iranian reformist MPs launched a blistering attack on their powerful hard-line rivals, warning supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that the political deadlock was threatening the very survival of the Islamic republic. The letter stated that "Perhaps there has been no period in the recent history of Iran that was as sensitive as this one," warned the strongly-worded letter, citing "political and social gaps coupled with a clear US plan to change the geopolitical map of the region."
Furthermore, "If this is a glass of poison, it should be drunk before our country's independence and territorial integrity are put in danger," the letter said in its call for "fundamental changes in methods, attitudes and figures". It also highlighted the Iranian people's desire for fundamental changes within the regime including calls for democracy and human rights. "Most people are dissatisfied and disappointed. Most of the intellectuals are either silent or leaving (and) foreign forces have surrounded the country from all sides."
Perhaps one of the most striking sections of the letter spoke of the possibility of either internal revolution or foreign invasion if massive reforms aren't implemented. The unprecedented direct and uncompromising tone of the warnings to Mr. Khamenei reminded the last days of the deposed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1979, when many nationalist personalities, forecasting the dangers ahead, would advise him to return to democratic rules, but he would not accept.
The President's support for freedom fighters inside of Iran has fueled virus debate at home. While Pentagon officials have been pressing hard for public and private actions that they believe could lead to the toppling of the government through a popular uprising, State Department officials are advocating supporting the lamed reformers surrounding President Khatami inside of Iran. But then again when has the State Department ever been correct regarding International Politics. They were predicting horrible consequences following our War on the Baathist party in Iraq, consequences which never came to be.
While no one believes that the current status quo can survive inside of Iran there is a lively discussion regarding the possibility of either an internal revolution or possibility of hard-liners relinquishing their power. Whichever the outcome of the mounting debate on US policy towards Iran President Bush' unrelenting support for the demonstrators in Iran has had an immensely positive effect. The majority of Iranians stand with our President'; not because of belligerent hypocrisy, but because of shared ideology and desires for a free, democratic, and secular Iran.
SETTING EXAMPLE OF ISLAMIC JUSTICE, A JUGE BIT JOURNALIST
By Safa Haeri
Posted Wednesday, May 26, 2004
TEHRAN 26 May (IPS) One of the Islamic Republic’s top Judge and Prosecutor bit the hand of a journalist and threw at him ashtrays during a meeting of the Judiciary with newspaper owners and editors on Tuesday, Iranian newspapers reported despite the authorities ban on the incident.
Ayatollah Mohsen Ezheh’i, the president of the controversial Clergymen’s Special Court and a close friend of Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, the leader of the Islamic Republic had gone mad after an angry Isa Saharkhiz, representing the newspapers owners and editors told him “let’s go out and see how the people greets me and greets you”.
The scuffle broke out while the board was reviewing the article of a magazine in which a sociologist would warn that if bys and girls are not given more freedom, they would go underground, out of the eyes and control of the families.
According to eyewitnesses, the cleric got angry at Mr. Saharkhiz defending the article and charged him to be also one of the corrupt people responsible for the wide spread prostitution in Islamic Iran, seeing no problem even if his children are engaged in such sinful practices.
“My children are already married. But if you insist, let’s go out to see how the people receives me and how they treat you”, Mr. Saharkhiz shut back.
It was at this time that Judge Ezheh’i lost his temper, threw one ashtray to the face of Mr. Saharkhiz, who was slightly wounded.
Not satisfied, the cleric took another ashtray and hit the journalist’s head. When Mr. Saharkhiz tried to stop the angry judge hitting more, Mr. Ezheh’i bit his arm and tore up his shirt, eyewitnesses confirmed, adding that the whole bizarre affair had been filmed.
Mr. Ahmad Ne’mati, a lawyer for Mr. Rastakhiz, who was taken to hospital for his slight injuries, suggested the film be shown to Mr. Khameneh'i who, as the leader of the Iranian regime, controls the Judiciary and appoints top judges, including the biting judge.
Asked by a reporter to comment on Mr. Ezheh’i behaviour, Mr. Ne’mati said there has been sometimes skirmishes at the Majles or in other meetings between opposing people, but we never saw a judge biting, throwing ashtray or tear down some one’s shirt because of disagreement”.
ENDS BITING JUDGE 26504
http://www.iran-press-service.com/ips/articles-2004/may/biting_judge_26504.shtml
Tomorrow's Iran
May 25, 2004
Iran va Jahan
Reza Pahlavi
Original in French, L'iran de Demain
Paris
Sciences-Po
(National Foundation of Political Sciences-l'Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris)
Chapsal Amphitheatre
Tuesday May 25, 2004
Tomorrow's Iran
Born from a crisis, surviving only because of a crisis, the Islamic Republic of Iran, for the past 25 years, has turned the livelihood of my country and my compatriots into a crisis. Why such a permanence of crisis and such an absence of normalcy? As a generator of crises by nature, the theocratic totalitarianism sacrifices the wellbeing of my country in the name of the Sharia' - the divine law.
Turning into the instrument of religious fascism, the Islamic Republic has sapped all the moral & spiritual bases of an ancient country with several millennia of civilization & history. The harmful effect of this genre of fascism is dualistic - it is both temporal and spiritual.
Engulfed more than ever by three antagonisms, the Theocracy in Iran opposes the sovereignty of the people by forcing upon them the guardianship of the usurpers of these two spheres. But what are these antagonisms?
The first antagonism is one that opposes "referential legitimacy", emanating from idiosyncratic readings of sacred scripts, to "representational legitimacy”, rooted in the will of the sovereign people. Indeed, all the key components of the theocratic system are placed under the direct “absolute guardianship” of the Supreme Leader or that of institutions accountable to no other but to him. Within such a system, absolutism is the Fundamental Law itself and not just a drift from it. Here, a simple letter of a few words from the Supreme Leader suffices to force the “parliament”, putatively representing the will of the people and supposedly legislating in their name, to withdraw an amendment. Here, the will of 70 million people is subordinated to that of one man.
The second is the rejection of rational thinking by the obscurantism that was born out of the revolution. From the far east to the far west, from Japan to California, billions of people have embraced, through successive waves, the principles of rational, modern, and democratic governance. Such tenets of governance are judged incompatible with the theocratic reading that lays the foundation of the Iranian regime. What is considered as music the world around, is dismissed as "cultural invasion” by the theocrats.
And Lastly, the third is the antagonism of the laws in a system where any attempt at standardization, in essence any legal standardization, are rendered futile.
In no man’s land which separates these opposing front lines, are the people of Iran. Tightly bound as in a straitjacket in a constitutional dead-end, disillusioned with a dying revolution, the people of Iran aspire to an end to the attrition of life under theocracy.
Iran requires only one thing: to return to a democratic normalcy and mutual respect for & friendship with other nations. Is the Islamic regime able to return Iran to this status of normalcy - a status desired eagerly by its citizenry? No, if one fails to recognize the obvious notion that the patch of "reform" for the "Theocracy" in Iran never functioned - neither under the Rafsanjani version nor under that of Khatami's. With quarter of the oil incomes of the Theocratic regime, the pre-revolutionary Iran had made enormous economic and social progress. However, Iran today is an impoverished country. Why? The calamitous management of the theocratic administration and its multiple ramifications are simply one piece of the answer. The other piece, is due to the fact that the theocracy in Iran is expansionist in nature and by its Constitution. The balance, is the absence of a democratic legitimacy - that of the will of the sovereign people - which underlies this impoverishment and has turned disastrous on all aspects. However, democratic normalcy will never be born in Iran as long as this regime - this irreformable and expansionist regime - remains in place.
The question is whether Iran is destined to live in a permanent void of normalcy?
No, if all the protagonists accepted that anarchy is not an option.
No, if the entire Iranian political spectrum met around a joint project, turned towards the future, towards a common destiny.
No, if this spectrum, in all its diversity, agreed upon a single remedy: a constitutional overhaul,
No, if Iran's diverse array of political thought, with all its intellectual richness, armed itself with a powerful instrument: a national free and fair referendum.
No, a permanent state of crisis would not be the destiny of Iran, if western powers understood the reality of today’s Iran: that of the most pro-western population in the Middle East.
No, a permanent state of crisis would not be Iran’s fate, if western powers understood that continued business relations with the theocratic regime of such a country will, on the long run, engender a redoubtable backlash: the resentment of a predominantly young population whose eyes are turned for support towards the West.
No, crisis would not be a fatality if the West supported the people of Iran and not its theocratic regime. For, as long as this regime is in place, there will be no normalcy, neither internal nor external.
In Iran, the project of modernity and people's sovereignty, initiated over a century ago, is the only one that can put an end to the state of crisis - a crisis maintained by the theocracy in Iran. The lighthouse of a region whose restive young population is increasingly confronting the same fundamental flaws, tomorrow's democratic Iran, will know how to share its hard-won modernity and maturity with its neighbors. At the cross-road of peoples and beliefs, tomorrow’s democratic Iran will become once again the bridge of hope and the cradle of cultural synthesis which it has always been.
From the source of a modernity acquired by consensual entente, others will come to quench their thirst. From this maturity a harmonious modernization will be born - one that others will imitate. From its religious reformation, others will be inspired. From its political maturity, others will be impelled.
Such an alternative Iran is within reach. Never before has internal demand, in its largest expression, been so high for reform and coexistence in harmony with the rest of the world. Never before have external conditions been so ripe for the realization of such a demand. Stability, prosperity, and democracy are tied. Democracy in Iran will be the most decisive contribution to stability and reform throughout the region. The West has its share of responsibility in the project.
Tomorrow’s democratic Iran is our common denominator. Let us seize this historic opportunity.
http://iranvajahan.net/cgi-bin/news.pl?l=en&y=2004&m=05&d=26&a=14
U.S. Expels Mahdi Army From Shi'ite Cities
May 26, 2004
Middle East Newsline
MENL
BAGHDAD -- The U.S. military has asserted that an Iranian-backed Shi'ite force was expelled from major Iraqi cities. U.S. officials said U.S. and coalition troops have forced the Mahdi Army, led by Iranian-backed cleric Moqtada Sadr, out of such Shi'ite cities as Karbala, Kut and Najaf.
They said the Shi'ite force, which numbers up to 10,000, withdrew under U.S. fire over the last three days.
In Karbala, the Mahdi Army appeared to have completely withdrawn from the central Iraqi city, officials said. But they did not rule out that Mahdi combatants had merely removed their uniforms and remained in the city with their weapons.
"Since then Iraqi police have begun patrolling the city, and it would appear that life -- normal life is returning to the city of Karbala, absent the militia that had been holding the city hostage for so many weeks," Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of coalition operations, said.
http://www.menewsline.com/stories/2004/may/05_26_2.html
Iranian Judiciary Summons 20 Reformists to Court
May 26, 2004
Reuters
Khaleej Times Onlinel
TEHRAN -- Twenty senior Iranian reformists may face judicial charges for criticising the disqualification of hundreds of candidates in February’s parliamentary elections, the official IRNA news agency said on Wednesday.
“Two deputy interior ministers and 18 governors have been summoned to court for charges linked to February’s elections,” IRNA quoted an unnamed Interior Ministry source as saying.
IRNA said the officials would face charges such as inciting public opinion and spreading lies.
Interior ministry and judiciary officials could not be reached for comment.
Iran’s reformist-run interior ministry and state and city governors were highly critical of the unelected Guardian Council hardline watchdog for banning more than 2,000 mostly reformist would-be candidates from the February 20 vote.
Islamic conservatives won a comfortable majority in the election, labelled a sham by reformists, and will take up their seats in the new parliament on Thursday.
Nearly a dozen pro-reform lawmakers, including the younger brother of President Mohammad Khatami, have been summoned by the hardline judiciary in recent months on a range of charges including making “provocative speeches” about the election.
None have been convicted so far and analysts doubted the new cases would result in jail terms.
“The conservatives do not need such harsh measures ahead of the presidential elections in mid-2005 as they are sure about their victory,” said one political analyst, who declined to be identified.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2004/May/middleeast_May730.xml§ion=middleeast&col=
Iran MPs Clear Ex-President's Son in Statoil Bribery Case
May 26, 2004
AFX News
Ample
TEHRAN -- An Iranian parliamentary probe found no proof that former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's son Mehdi Hashemi was linked to a bribery case involving Norway's oil giant Statoil ASA, state news agency IRNA said.
A report issued on the last working day of the outgoing reformist-led parliament said Hashemi had acknowledged "meeting Statoil officials" as part of his job, but his contacts did not concern any contract between Statoil and the Islamic republic.
In September, Statoil's chairman, Leif Terje Loeddesoel, stepped down after the launch of a police probe into bribery allegations over the company's contract with London-based consultancy, Horton Investments.
Switzerland said in early May that it was also investigating possible money-laundering in connection with the Norwegian company.
http://www.iii.co.uk/shares/?type=news&articleid=4984978&action=article
I published this yesterday, but it is a Must Read Article. Please read it and send a copy to your friends. - DoctorZin
No Way Out - Iran is at War with Us
National Review - By Michael Ledeen
May 26, 2004
Wake-up Call: Iran is at War with Us
Meet Hassan Abbasi, a well-known Iranian political scientist, longtime top official of the Revolutionary Guards, and currently "theoretician" in the office of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (how does one get a job description like that, I wonder) and the head of the National Security and Strategic Research Center. Abbasi holds special responsibility for North American affairs.
Apparently morale is very low in the ranks of the Basij, the group of fanatical thugs that do the regime's dirty work in the streets, things like beating up women whose scarves show too much hair, rounding up student protesters, and so forth. Friends of mine in Iran tell me that Basiji are becoming convinced that the regime's days are numbered, and they are understandably discouraged.
There is plenty of evidence that Iranians are utterly contemptuous of the regime, and are not afraid to demonstrate it. When the New York Times's Nicholas Kristof went to Iran a few weeks ago, he was astonished to meet Iranians in all walks of life who attacked the regime and told him he could use their names. And on May 18, the well-known university professor, Hashem Agajari, told an Iranian judge that he would not appeal his death sentence (for blasphemy, having said that the people should not be "apes to follow blindly whatever the mullahs say"). "Free me unconditionally or carry out the sentence," he said. As iran-press-service.com dryly remarked, Agajari had been banned for ten years from professional activities, "but (the court) did not say if the bans would take effect before or after the application of the death sentence."
Meanwhile, an outspoken journalist, Ensafali Hedayat, went on a hunger strike to protest his 18-month prison sentence for "insulting regime leaders and writing propaganda against the Islamic Republic."
Such demonstrations of contempt have strained the nerves of the regime's leaders, especially the judges. On May 25th, for example, Judge Mohseni-Ezhei attacked yet another journalist, Isa Saharkhiz, by "throwing two glass bowls at his head and then biting him on the lower abdomen."
So, last Sunday, Abbasi set out to restore the Basiji's enthusiasm for the Islamic Revolution. Speaking at the Technical College of Tehran, he made some amazing statements. "The infidels — Western countries and America — are the sworn enemies of God and Muslems and any action taken to terrorize them or frighten them is considered holy and a source of pride." Abbasi went on, "Lebanese Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas have all been trained by these hands," that is, Iranian hands.
Thus far, the usual jihadist rhetoric, although the specific confirmation of Iran's intimate links to three of the world's most lethal terrorist organizations was a bit unusual. But then he went on with a megalomanical vision that bears some attention. "We intend to withdraw $53 billion of Iranian and Arab investments from the U.S.A. and thus cause instability [in] its economy, we take pride that our actions have brought 1/9 of the budget deficit in America's economy this year and we shall keep up with our economic actions." The claim to have caused nearly ten percent of the American deficit probably refers to the rise in oil prices. But this was only the beginning of his promise to bring America to its knees.
"We have identified some 29 weak points for attacks in the U.S. and in the West, we intend to explode some 6,000 American atomic warheads, we have shared our intelligence with other guerilla groups and we shall utilize them as well. We have set up a department to cover England and we have had discussions regarding them[;] we have contacted the Mexicans and the Argentineans and will work with anyone who has an axe to grind with America."
Let's not quibble over the details, since I doubt Abbasi would be inclined to reveal chapter and verse about specific Iranian operations. His list of potential South American allies omits Venezuela, which actively cooperates with the terror masters, and the figure of 6,000 warheads targeted by Iranian-backed saboteurs is beyond the pale, even for a mullah. But when an official as authoritative as Abbasi tells the regime's loyalists in a closed meeting that Iran is sabotaging our economy and organizing terrorist attacks on our territory, you can take that to the bank.
Iranian operations inside the United States are of course an old story — enemies of the revolution were killed here in the early 1980s — and Iranians may even have been involved in the September 11 attacks. According to CNSNews.com, documents from the U.S. District Court in south Florida cite a government informer (and former Colombian drug smuggler) that his erstwhile partner in the drug business, an Iranian named Mehrzad Arbane, told the informer he had also smuggled people into the United States.
This sort of link between jihadis and conventional drug smuggling has long existed and available public evidence suggests it is getting even stronger. Little attention has been given to Spanish investigators' discovery that the terrorists who bombed Madrid on 3/11 had financed their operations by smuggling drugs into Spain. And a leading Italian judge recently announced that the "camorra," the infamous Neapolitan criminal organization, had worked hand-in-glove with Middle Eastern terrorists.
We can't wage war against terrorism without fighting the narcotraffickers as well. It's often impossible to say where the one ends and the other begins. And here again, the mullahs play an important role. Iran is a major conduit for Afghan poppy seeds and opium, and can easily place its terror agents within the drug caravans heading south and west. That long pipeline eventually arrives at America's borders, where, as Abbasi announced last Sunday, Iran is passionately courting our southern neighbors.
Perhaps Secretary of State Powell, who remains aloof from the life-and-death struggle for freedom in Iran, and his loyal deputy, Richard Armitage (who proclaims the Islamic Republic "a democracy") might study the remarks from Abbasi, and ask themselves if it is in our interest to have this hateful regime continue to attack us, even as they speed toward acquisition of atomic bombs.
You'd have thought this president, who has spoken so often and so well about his support for freedom in Iran, would have long since insisted that his administration develop a coherent policy to support the Iranian people's desire to rid themselves of these murderous mullahs. It hasn't happened. Moreover, President Bush eloquently and spontaneously condemns the mullahs in private conversations as well as in public speeches, yet he seems oddly detached from his State Department's slow mating dance with the black widows in Tehran.
Sooner or later we will be forced to fight back against the mullahs, because their war against us is driven by fanatical hatred of everything we stand for and the knowledge that their regime is doomed if we succeed in Iraq and Afghanistan. There is no escape from this war, whatever the appeasers in Foggy Bottom may think. We can win or lose, but we can't get out of it.
Faster, please.
http://www.nationalreview.com/ledeen/ledeen200405260957.asp
2,500 candidates disqualified. Mr. Khatami elected after 95% of candidates were disqualified. 20 members of former Parliament charged for questioning the disqualifications.
Islamic Democracy at work.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1140876/posts
Iran 'anti-cleric' film to hit US
Thursday, 27 May, 2004
BBC News
A US judge has ruled against an Iranian film distributor who tried to block the release of a controversial Iranian film in America.
The smash hit Marmoulak (The Lizard) was banned in Iran for allegedly mocking the ruling conservative clergy.
Distributor Kamal Mosafaye Tabrizi sought a temporary restraining order, arguing that the film could not be shown abroad without his approval.
But Los Angeles Judge Dzintra Jamavs denied the request as unmerited.
Mr Tabrisi's lawyer, Patrick Saboorian, said another restraining order would be filed if the parties are unable to reach a private agreement.
Cuts
The satirical film featuring a thief disguised as a mullah proved to be an instant box-office success in Iran on 21 April.
Marmoulak's debut was delayed by a month as the religious authorities debated whether or not to ban it.
It was finally released with minor cuts from the version that won the best film award at Tehran's international film festival in February.
The film grossed almost $1m in the capital Tehran alone before authorities banned it on 19 May.
The audience lapped up the comedy, as the film's lead character - Reza the Lizard - revels in the privileges and power his clerical robes bring him.
Eventually he captivates his congregation's imagination by his simplicity and brings worshippers flocking back to the mosques.
After the ban, the film's director, Manushehr Mohammadi, sought to market it abroad, agreeing to a contract to distribute the film through Atlantis Enterprises company.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3752025.stm
To watch/Download movie "The Lizard" you should visit
http://www.neo-modus.com/
And download the program/software of the website, then you have to search for Marmoolak in Persian category.
Hope it works!
What a ridiculous ruling.
So a Judge in Tehran is ruling if a Film is going to shown in Los Angeles California? Honestly, does it matter one bit what any government official thinks about the airing of anything in LA?
Does that same Judge approve of the millions of Iranians receiving massively anti-Islamic Republic programming every night through satellite dishes?
This just in from a student inside of Iran...
"DoctorZIn,
This is the list of abuses that Islamic Regime has done just in one year ( Since 20 March 2003- 21 March 2004 )according to what European based Iranian Human Rights activists say:
1- Execution : 108 persons
2- Accusing MPs: 45 Cases
3- Torture resulting the death : 1 case (Zahra Kazemi)
4- Interrogating jouranlists: 343 cases
5- Imprisoned Journalists: 16 Persons
6- ARRESTED STUDENTS: 4000 Students
7- Beating journalists in public: 8 cases
8- Arrested Political Activisits: 218 cases
9- Number of Killed Protestors: 33 Persons
10 Blocking Political Websites: 187 Cases
11- Number of Death sentences for Political Activists: 3 cases ( One included Doctor Aghajari )
The above info are from an open letter written to the UN Human Rights Council which also proves the brutality of the Islamic Regime of Iran."
Another report from a student inside of Iran...
DoctorZin,
"Khamenei announced National Mourning on Friday because of the damages the US troops did on Holy shrine.
The funny point is that all persian Media say that the damages was done by Iran intel units in Iraq and Sadrs troops."
PING on # 9 -- A MUST READ ARTICLE! Plz send a copy to your friends and ping freepers to read that! -- Pilot.
http://www.nationalreview.com/ledeen/ledeen200405260957.asp
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1142969/posts?page=9#9
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.