Iranian Alert -- August 3, 2004 [EST]-- IRAN LIVE THREAD -- "Americans for Regime Change in Iran"

AUTHORITIES STEPS UP REPERESSION AGAINST THE POPULATION

By Safa Haeri
Posted Monday, August 2, 2004

TEHRAN, 2 Aug. (IPS) The Islamic Republic had dramatically increased the level of social repressions, mostly against women and the youngsters following the control of the Majles, according to press and eyewitnesses reports.

Attacks by the conservatives-controlled Islamic militias on women and young girls, on the pretext of fighting un-Islamic social behaviours, mainly so-called “provocative dresses” have increased in Tehran and all major cities.

Eyewitnesses reported agents from the notorious “Monkerat”, the organization responsible to enforce Islamic values, like the wearing of proper Islamic dresses and separation of men and women in public places were busy beating up and arresting women, girls and young boys in Esfahan, Shiraz, Tabriz, Mash-had and Tehran.

In the north-eastern city of Sabzevar, situated 700 kilometers from the Capital, units from the Basij militias and Revolutionary Guards attacked a wedding party, arresting all the participants, including the musicians, who were badly beaten up in public “to set an example”.

Restaurants, coffee shops and cyber coffees across the nation have been ordered no to let in un-accompanied women, or female clients not wearing proper Islamic dresses, generally a chador or baggy, large manteaux in black, gray or brown colours covering the whole of the body, or face closure.

A great number of shops selling western women dresses have been shot and others ordered not to display in windows “provocative items”, like underwear.

Agents have been seen tearing down signs from shops displaying foreign, meaning western names and shop-owners arrested. Owners of cinemas have been urged not to put up posters with female stars as “the view of beautiful women provokes men and adds to problems among married people”, according to Tehran Muicipality now under the control of the conservatives.

In public parks, a favourite place for young boys and girls to meet, chat and flirt, municipalities have enforced sexual segregation, forbidding young girls to practice sports.

On the popular Caspian Sea cities and resorts, where millions of people flocks during summer time escaping the heat from Tehran and the social atmosphere is generally more relaxed, patrols from the “Monkerat”, Basij and Revolutionary Guards have increased in number, calling on the people to respect Islamic behaviour and to dress up properly, eyewitnesses told Iran Press Service.

Hard line ayatollahs demanded recently that the Monkerat be given growing powers, similar to the one existing in Saudi Arabia.

In Bandar Anzali (formerly Pahlavi) Chaloos, Noshahr, Babolsar and Mahmoud-Abad, all popular cities situated on the Caspian, people, mostly young, un-related couples, are “systematically” arrested and questioned, often taken to Police stations where “as a current and generalized practice”, they are beaten up and deliberately insulted, they added.

The ban of satellite antennas and dishes is enforced with more intensity than ever before, with raids on houses and building displaying such equipments increased and providers and owners fined and jailed

“On the pretext of fighting traffic jams and bad driving habits, thousands of agents are roaming the streets in Tehran and most major cities, making them looking as cities in emergency situation. But instead of helping the traffic, the agents, of both sexes, are seen arresting people, mostly young girls not fully covering their hairs and bodies”, inhabitants coming from Tehran to Europe reported.

Hanging and execution by firing squads of drug smugglers, thieves and criminals both in public and in prisons have increased dramatically, with twelve case of hanging reported last week in Tehran and two other cities.

At the same time crackdown on the press, intellectuals and political dissidents has also increased.

According to Mr. Mohammad Basteh Negar, a spokesman for the banned Nationalist-Religious movement, “the massive, mass crackdown on the Iranian press is unprecedented in the nation’s history”, he said, pointing to the closure of more than 200 publications in the past three years.

Two pro-reform newspapers, “Jomhouriyyat” and “Vaqay’e Ettefaqiyyeh” were both closed two weeks ago, charged of printing misleading articles, propaganda against the regime and insulting its senior leaders, a “package” used to explain shutting down reformist and independent publications.

Hundreds of weblogs and internet sites had been closed or filtered and internet service providers put under more control.

Attacks on libraries and bookshops have also multiplied recently.

While professor Hashem Aqajari had been released three days ago with a 950 million Rials bail (one green back is worth some 8.500 Rials), a dozen of journalists, intellectuals and lawyers are in prison.

Mr. Aqajari, a disabled Iran-Iraq War veteran who urges reforms in Islam, was arrested three years ago and condemned to death for apostasy, insulting Islam and the Shi’a clergy after, during a conference, he observed that “people are not apes to follow blindly clerics”.

His comments were seen as directed against the present Iranian regime, which is ruled by ayatollahs.

“What worries the Iranians is that most of the new lawmakers, including several female deputies not only encourages these measures, but demand for more crackdowns”, one analyst pointed out.

ENDS IRAN REPRESSION 2804

http://www.iran-press-service.com/ips/articles-2004/august/iran_repression_2804.shtml

ZARQAWI IS ALONG IRAQ-IRAN BORDER

Middle East Newsline
August 3rd, 04

BAGHDAD [MENL] -- Abu Mussib Al Zarqawi, regarding as the leading foreign insurgent in Iraq, was believed to be shuttling between Iran and Iraq.

Western intelligence sources said the United States has quietly determined that Al Zarqawi has not been in Iraq for more than a month. The sources said Al Zarqawi left the Sunni Triangle for the Iran-Iraq border and has been moving in an arc from Iran in the east to Syria in the west as he continued to relay orders, plan operations and relay funding.

"Much of the time he is in Iran, where he has been given safe haven," an intelligence source said. "The United States won't cross the Iranian border to get him."

The sources said Al Zarqawi was last seen in the Iraqi town of Dour in the area of Baghdad on June 18, where he held a meeting with a senior aide to deposed President Saddam Hussein, Izzat Ibrahim Douri. Douri, regarded as a major financier of the Sunni insurgency, was said to have provided the Al Qaida-aligned insurgent with a large amount of weapons and equipment. From Al Dour, Al Zarqawi traveled to Iran and was said to have been in Marivan in northern Iran through late July.

http://www.menewsline.com/stories/2004/august/08_03_1.html

Florida couple may be forced to return to Iran

Dara Kam
Tuesday, August 3, 2004

TALLAHASSEE -- A casual walk across Niagara Falls has turned into a bureaucratic nightmare for a Florida couple, who are now stranded in Canada and facing the possibility of being forced to return to their native Iran.

Mahmoud Ranjbari and his wife, Fariba Ghazvini, were denied reentry by U.S. immigration officials a week ago after they followed a throng of tourists across a bridge over Niagara Falls and stepped into Canada to take a picture and have ice cream.

Wearing sandals and shorts, Ranjbari and Ghazvini were questioned by customs and border patrol officers for six hours last Tuesday before their passports were stamped "Re-entry Denied," Ranjbari said Monday from Toronto.

"I do not know what will happen," he said.

Asked whether he thinks his nationality contributed to his situation, Ranjbari said, "It's a problem for the Iranian people because of our government, but my case is a very simple case because I just made a mistake."

A survey engineer, Ranjbari gained admission to the United States in 2002 on a work visa, which allows Iranians to enter the country only once and is valid for just three months.

Ranjbari applied for a new visa in Toronto last week, but was told it may take up to six months before security checks were completed and a decision made on whether to allow the couple, whose college-age children remain in Tallahassee, to return to the U.S.

That places the couple, who own a home in Tallahassee, in jeopardy. Because they do not have Canadian visas, officials there have given them until Aug. 15 to resolve their visa conflict or they will be forced back to Iran. And because Iran has no diplomatic relations with the U.S., they will have to go to Turkey to seek permission to return to Florida.

The Ranjbaris' situation is not unique and stems from confusion about what a visa is and how it works, said Bill Strassberger, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security. A visa is like "a ticket to the movie theater," he said.

"As long as the person doesn't leave the U.S., they're in good shape," Strassberger said. "Unfortunately for that individual, if they're out of the U.S., it does become problematic getting back in."

The couple's situation coincides with heightened terror warnings in New York, New Jersey and Washington and concern from the ACLU and others over terrorist watch lists that they say violate civil-rights laws.

In addition, the couple's homeland, Iran, is identified by the U.S. as a "terrorist-sponsoring" nation, along with countries such as Cuba and North Korea. Iran is considered to have close links with Al-Qaeda, according to Department of State documents.

Their Iranian nationality could increase the level of scrutiny of the security checks for the new visas, Strassberger said.

Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, said, "This is the war on terrorism out of control.

"If the government has lost its ability to distinguish between who's a terrorist and who may have made a mistake by walking over the Falls to get a better picture, then the government has lost all perspective on the war on terrorism," Simon said.

Ranjbari said Canadian border officials did not ask to see his passport and did not warn the couple that they may have trouble getting back into the U.S. without the proper papers.

"I warn any of my clients that if you travel out of the United States, you may not come back," said Edward Weisz, a Beverly Hills immigration attorney representing the Ranjbaris.

The couple's children, Saman and Sonia Ranjbari, sought assistance Friday from U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, whose office confirmed that he is working with the Department of State to help reunite the family. Saman, 19, Sonia, 21, and their mother attend Tallahassee Community College.

"Iran is still a dictatorship," Weisz said. "I always am fearful for all my clients when they go back. Over the years, when someone went back, they went right to prison."

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/auto/epaper/editions/today/news_14f0a02033a3419d00af.html

Iran's only female mayor has work cut out

IOL.co.za
August 3rd, 04

Saveh, Iran - Mehri Roustaie Gherailou is unlike any other mayor in Iran - she's a woman.

The 41-year-old manager of the small city of Saveh, situated around 100 kilometres southwest of Tehran, is only the second woman to run a town in the 25-year-old history of the Islamic republic, and at present the only female in such a job.

And she has no hesitation in pointing out her difficulties swimming against the tide in a traditionally male-dominated society.

"Men cannot give up power to women that easily," she says in her office in Saveh, once famed for its pomegranates but now a busy industrial centre and trading crossroads between six provinces.

Women, she said, are generally seen as less tolerant of laziness and corruption, something that makes them "very hard to accept".

When the city council appointed her mayor in May - a political upset in the town - Roustaie said she started her job of cleaning up the drab town of 140 000 people by sweeping a broom through her new office.

"On my first day in the office, I made the necessary changes in the municipality that none of the previous mayors had done," said Roustaie, a calm but resolute woman who gives the impression of being well on top of her job.

"I immediately replaced two deputies and some directors who were no longer trusted by people. I also started to deal with cases that have been stuck in the bureaucracy for up to five years," she said.

She said the council backed her simply because she dared to apply for the job, which Roustaie admitted was a "teenage dream" of hers. In winning the post, she beat a male opponent backed by the town's deputy to the national parliament.

But the mayor has her work cut out, even if she has been earning points for heading with her team out onto Saveh's streets to meet and talk more with constituents.

The town has in recent years been flooded with some 40,000 migrant workers looking for work at its industrial, mining and agricultural facilities. There is an unmanaged labour structure, sloppy construction and overstretched public services.

The mayor also has a few ambitious projects up her sleeve: the "Ladies' Garden", a women-only cultural and sports complex which is the fourth of its kind nationwide; low-cost housing; a town computer centre and new cultural offices.

For whatever reasons, she admits some people in the small city of Saveh are upset.

"Some people have tried to set fire to one of the projects under contruction. I get discouraging messages from people hoping that, in the end, I will give up," she explains.

A family woman who was the eldest of eight children, she says her father always asked her opinion. She ended up completing her education with a masters degree in management - one of the thousands of women who currently outnumber and outperform their male counterparts at universities in the Islamic republic.

And now her husband, an agricultural engineer, gives his support to her political career, having told her "you can!" when she first showed an interest in becoming mayor.

Islamic Iran's only other female mayor served from 2001 to 2003 in the small town of Firouzkoh to the east of Tehran. There are also just a small handful of women serving in parliament, even if women are seen working in public offices across the country.

But Roustaie, clad in the ubiquitous black chador, shies away from defining herself as a feminist. Instead, she prefers to point out what she does not like: male-chauvinism.

And women, she says, could also do much more to advance their position in society.

"I do not mind about what gender my staff are. I used to be a teacher, a member of the town's Women's Committee, an advisor to the governor, a member of the city council since its establishment in 1999. So I believe women are as guilty as men for not getting decent positions in society."

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=126&art_id=qw1091505427239I651

U.S. Says Iran Must Cooperate on Nuclear Program

August 03, 2004
Reuters
Adam Entous

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration warned Iran on Monday that it would face rising international pressure if it refused to back down on its nuclear program, saying Tehran would be isolated if it continued on that path.

President Bush said the United States and the European Union's "big three" members -- France, Britain and Germany -- "expect there to be full disclosure, full transparency of their nuclear weapons programs."

White House national security adviser Condoleezza Rice further warned, "This regime has to be isolated in its bad behavior, not 'engaged."'

Rice said the administration was working with the Europeans and other International Atomic Energy Agency members on "a very tough set of resolutions" demanding Iranian cooperation.

"Iran is going to be confronted," Rice told Fox News, adding that the resolutions should be ready for consideration in September. If Iran refused to cooperate, she said, "They're going to be isolated."

Bush told reporters at the White House, "We are working with our friends to keep the pressure on the mullahs to listen to the demands of the free world."

The warnings came two days after Iran said it had resumed building nuclear centrifuges, which Washington says are intended to enrich uranium to weapons grade for use in bombs.

Iran's decision backtracks from a pledge in October to Britain, France and Germany to suspend all uranium enrichment-related activities.

Rice brushed aside a question about whether France would go along with U.S. plans to increase pressure.

"The French and the Germans and the British have been very clear to the Iranians that the activities that they're currently engaged in, or say that they are going to resume, are unacceptable, and we just have to keep working with the French and the British and the Germans to make certain that they stick to that position," Rice said.

"It's been our position all along that the Iranians are dangerous in this regard, and that the international community has got to be tough and steadfast here," she added.

Iran insists it needs enriched uranium for power stations being built to meet booming domestic demand for electricity.

Secretary of State Colin Powell warned Iran last week that its case was increasingly likely to be referred to the sanctions-imposing U.N. Security Council for failing to meet IAEA commitments.

Washington says Iran's nuclear energy program is a cover for development of nuclear weapons.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=5851571

Iran Linked To Madrid Bombings

August 03, 2004
The Media Line
The Media Line Staff

Iran played a pivotal role in supporting the terrorists who carried out the deadly Madrid attacks in March, according to European investigators.

European experts say Iran has served as a refuge for Al-Qa’ida operatives suspected of planning attacks on Europe and the Middle East as well playing a central part in the Iraqi insurgency, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Experts say there are increasing indications that Iran harbors important members of the terror network, including the masterminds of the attack in Madrid that left some 200 people dead, and the bombings in Saudi Arabia in 2003 that targeted Westerners in the kingdom.

It is difficult to determine the nature of the relationship between Iran and Al-Qa’ida due to the lack of transparency in the Iranian establishment, investigators said.

In July, the final report on the September 11 attacks revealed an Iranian link to the events, since eight of the assailants traveled through the country prior to the attacks.

A French law enforcement official told the Los Angeles Times that Iran has arrested important Al-Qa’ida members while allowing other members to operate.

The dominant sect of Islam in Iran is Shi’ism, which is a traditional and historic rival of the Sunni sect that characterizes the radical Al-Qa’ida network. European experts said they believe Iran tolerates the group because it serves their interests in Iraq and against the U.S., Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Iran denies any ties to Al-Qa’ida.

According to the Los Angeles Times, European investigators and court documents point at Abu Mu’s’ab A-Zarqawi as one terrorist who is allegedly linked to Al-Qa’ida and is thought to have operated in Iran. Mu’stafa Setmariam Na’sar, who the Spanish police believe might have planned the Madrid attacks, may also have links to Iran.

Iran is also suspected of links to the bombings in Casablanca, Morocco, last year, the French official told the paper.

http://themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=6857

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