Renouned Zoroastrian Magi, Dr. Yazdi, was on Persian Satellite Television claiming he's had holy visions that Iran will be free in exactly 52 days. He's on RangaRang TV one of the over 20 stations beamed from California. He said that he's planning on going in with loads of people on 70 UN-chartered planes and is one hundred percent certain of the revolution due to his prophetic visions.
Sounds pretty crazy to me, but he's adamently sticking by his word. I'll post further later.
Kazemi lawyers appeal Iranian court verdict
CTV.ca News Staff
Lawyers in Iran have launched an appeal in the case of murdered Canadian photo-journalist, Zahra Kazemi.
A legal team representing Kazemi's mother -- who says she was forced by authorities to bury her daughter in Iran last year -- is appealing an Iranian court verdict from last month that acquitted the only defendant in the case.
"We appealed on Wednesday and expect the appeals court to invite Tehran prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi and Iran's Information Minister Ali Yunesi as witnesses," said Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, a member of the legal team.
Dadkhah told The Associated Press that Iranian government reports showed the named officials are well informed about the case, but the initial court didn't summon them to appear at the trial.
Kazemi, a Canadian freelance journalist who holds both Canadian and Iranian citizenship, died while under arrest in Iran on July 10, 2003. Kazemi was in detention for taking photographs of a student-led protest.
At first, the country's judiciary said she died of a stroke. But an inquiry later determined she died of a fractured skull and brain hemorrhage.
The sole defendant in the case, Mohammad Reza Aghdam Ahmadi, was charged with "semi-premeditated murder." But in July, a court in Tehran acquitted him.
The judiciary said Kazemi's death must have been an accident. It suggested Kazemi was weakened by a hunger strike, that her blood pressure dropped and she fell to the floor, striking her head on the ground.
Iran rejected the idea of Canadian observers attending the trial and barred the Canadian ambassador from attending the last session of the open trial.
Canada has already recalled its ambassador to Iran. A day after the ruling, Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew said he did not believe Iran's assessment.
"We are demanding Iran to go to the bottom of this thing," said Pettigrew. "We want the truth."
Pettigrew has also asked that Kazemi's body be returned to Canada. Kazemi's son, Stephan Hachemi, has made the same request.
"There are sentimental reasons of course for (her son) Mr. (Stephan) Hachemi but we want the body back in Canada as well because we could determine really whether she died the way we know she has," Pettigrew said. "It is a murder case here."
Hachemi has been critical of the response by the government. He wants diplomatic sanctions, and to see the case taken to the International Court of Justice at The Hague, Netherlands.
The Kazemi family's legal team is headed by 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi.
http://sympaticomsn.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1092497716668_62?hub=TopStories
8/14/04
Iraqi Prime Minister welcomes invitation to visit Iran
Najaf, Aug 14, IRNA -- Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has welcomed an invitation to visit Iran despite a recent war of words which have dogged ties between the two neighbors. Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi announced Tuesday that Allawi had been invited to pay an official visit to Iran.
"We want establishment of good relations with neighboring countries, especially Iran, and believe that our bilateral ties are based on common interests," Allawi told IRNA reporter at this Iraqi holy city Saturday.
Allawi's conciliatory statements come in the wake of accusations levelled by few interim Iraqi government officials, including Defense Minister Hazem al-Shalaan, accusing Iran of interference in Iraq's domestic affairs.
The Iraqi prime minister stressed that 'the complaint` had only been made against 'unofficial figures` in Iran, saying, "We do not accuse the Iranian government of interference in Iraq's domestic affairs."
They also follow the arrest of several Iranians in Iraq, including four IRNA correspondents and a consular official.
Baghdad bureau chief Mostafa Darban and two Iraqi staff, Mohammed Khafaji and Mohsen Madani, have been arrested and Iranian officials say the fate of the fourth is still unaccounted for.
Tehran said one of its consular officials in Iraq, Fereidoun Jahani, had disappeared on August 4 on the road between Baghdad and Karbala.
A statement from a group, calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq, has alleged that Jahani was 'detained for stirring sectarian strife and for activities outside his diplomatic duties'.
An unnamed source has been quoted as saying that the group had acted in collaboration with the US embassy in Iraq under direct supervision of US ambassador John Negroponte.
Iran has twice summoned Iraq's top diplomat to Tehran for explanation following the accusations, including allegations that four Iranian intelligence officers had been arrested on suspicion of spying and carrying out acts of sabotage in the country.
http://www.payvand.com/news/04/aug/1132.html
Iran starts training program for Afghan officials
Kabul, Aug 14, IRNA -- Iranian experts started training 60 officials of three Afghan ministries -- mines and industries, water and power and communications -- in Kabul on Saturday.
The training program is being conducted with the help of the World Bank, the Iranian embassy at the Afghan capital declared.
Iranian experts are to teach principles of management to the Afghan officials.
The one-month training program is being conducted in the premises of the Afghan Ministry of Mines and Industries.
It may be recalled that on August 3 some 45 personnel of the Afghan Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock headed for Tehran to participate in an agricultural equipment and gardening training program.
Talking to IRNA, Minister of Agriculutre and Livestock Mohammed Sharif said: "Iran has contributed to Afghanistan's reconstruction in several areas, particularly in providing training for agricultural personnel."
Iran last year donated to the Afghan Ministry of Agriculture 211 agricultural machinery as well as fertilizers and pesticides worth US dlr 12 million, the official added.
Some 200 officials from Afghanistan's Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock had attended training programs in the first month of 2003 to expand the country's agriculture sector and increase its production of agricultureal products.
http://www.payvand.com/news/04/aug/1129.html