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Fall of the Dictators

January 10, 2004
The Straits Times
William Choong

ONE of the world's biggest gatherings of dictators - both past and present - can be found in a private garden in the American state of Texas.

There, a notorious crowd of top names mingles. It includes Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, Romanian despot Nicolae Ceausescu and long-serving Cuban autocrat Fidel Castro.

Owned by Dallas real estate investor Harlan Crow, the statues and busts of such colourful personalities were bought off sculptors or officials as regimes crumbled.

Lenin's statue, for example, was toppled by a Georgian crowd celebrating the end of Moscow's formal control there.

It was found behind a warehouse and was ferried by truck across Georgian and Turkish checkpoints before being shipped to Texas.

'I had to sleep with one eye open for three days, but it was worth it,' Mr Crow told the New York Times.

His growing collection bears out one key fact: For those adept at harassing their citizens and political rivals, stashing away large wads of their countries' hard-earned foreign exchange and building up huge arsenals of banned weapons, dictators had a torrid year in 2003.

The trend is new. For years, dictators got away into relatively tranquil retirement, unfrazzled by trial or retribution.

Nigeria's Ibrahim Babangida, for example, kept enough political power to even avoid the bother of exile.

But in recent years, a confluence of factors has affected tyrants from Baghdad to Tripoli.

Across many countries, there has been a burgeoning of an educated and well-informed middle class which has enjoyed some aid from Western democracies to rout their local despot.

Another push factor has been the growing web of globalisation and democracy. And after the Sept 11 attacks in the US, the American doctrine of pre-emptive strikes against so-called rogue states has yielded significant returns.

Iraq's deposed president Saddam Hussein, for example, bore the brunt of this policy in April last year when his regime fell to US-led forces.

And analysts believe that Libyan autocrat Muammar Gaddafi was all too aware of this policy when he announced the termination of his country's banned weapons programmes last month.

'There's a fear on the part of Gaddafi and North Korea's Kim Jong Il that if they don't change, the US might actually invade,' said Mr Mark Palmer, author of Breaking The Real Axis Of Evil: How To Oust The World's Last Dictators By 2025.

And this is a long-term trend, the veteran US diplomat told The Straits Times.

Since 1974, about 30 of the world's despots - or half the global total - have been toppled.

According to a widely watched annual report by Freedom House last year, a New York-based human rights group, about a quarter of the world's 192 countries were tagged 'not free' - markedly lower than 43 per cent in 1973.

The departure of many big-name dictators, however, would mean a loss of entertainment value - particularly for news hacks.

For years, their notoriety stemmed not only from their clinical efficiency in dispatching their political opponents, but also their quirky and quixotic qualities.

According to Italian journalist Riccardo Orizio, who wrote a book based on hard-won interviews with seven dictators, Ugandan strongman Idi Amin takes the cake.

To Britain's Queen Elizabeth, Amin - nicknamed the 'buffoon tyrant' - offered to send a cargo ship full of bananas to help Uganda's former coloniser with its 'economic problems'.

According to Mr Orizio, Amin once wrote a telex to the Queen saying: 'Dear Liz, if you want to know a real man, come to Kampala.'

Amin - who died in August in Saudi Arabia - was also reported to have expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler and kept the severed heads of political opponents in his refrigerator.

In Turkmenistan, President Saparmurat Niyazov has named some days of the week after himself, including a new name, 'Turkmenbashi', or 'father of all Turkmen'.

A golden profile of the man is also broadcast on a corner of two state television channels at all times.

All said, analysts and diplomats agree that there is much work to be done about the world's remaining dictators.

To some, however, the process of 'domino democratisation' is again happening.

This happened across Eastern Europe in the early 1990s and Latin America in the 1980s.

It is the exact opposite of the 1960s-vintage domino theory put out by American policymakers, which predicted a communist wave engulfing states during the Cold War.

Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer has argued that American military force used in Iraq has yielded results across the Middle East.

Besides Libya, Iran has agreed to surprise checks on its nuclear sites while Syria - Israel's arch foe - has made peace overtures.

'The domino effects of the Iraq campaign are already in clear view,' he noted.

Another instrument to bring down dictators would be the full force of international law, said other analysts.

Already, a growing number of leaders have been brought to international tribunals.

They include former Yugoslavian leader Slobodan Milosevic, Liberia's Charles Taylor and Jean Kambanda, the Rwandan prime minister jailed for life for genocide.

'The practice of dictatorship should really be considered a crime against humanity,' said Mr Palmer.

There are other more novel ways as well.

Some have proposed the 'fatal hug', where the United States would grant its enemies full diplomatic recognition.

The end-result: This opens the door to the 'insidiously attractive' forces of globalisation and democracy - Coca Cola, Levi's and Big Macs.

This could work in relatively isolated countries like Iran and North Korea, where anti-American rhetoric has been used to mask decades of autocratic rule.

'It would certainly catch the mullahs by surprise,' Iranian dissident Azar Nafisi told Time magazine.

'It would drive them crazy - the thought of having an American embassy in Teheran again, with lines of people around the block, trying to get green cards,' said the fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

An even more innovative way to manage dictators like North Korea's Mr Kim could well be something akin to a Dictators Anonymous.

Mr Ralph Cossa, president of the Pacific Forum CSIS, a research institute based in Honolulu, has even suggested that Libya's reformed Mr Gaddafi speak to Mr Kim himself.

Such a form of private diplomacy beats other private initiatives conducted by well-meaning professors, former politicians and diplomats, he argued.

Novel initiatives aside, the year 2003 was probably the only year where so many of the world's most noxious leaders have fallen.

'Unfortunately there are still several dozen well-entrenched dictatorial regimes in the world and I think they will fall only slowly,' Mr Thomas Carothers, a senior associate at Washington's Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told The Straits Times.

The key problem could lie with the US.

During much of the Cold War, Washington supported oppressive regimes which it used to form a defence against the expansion of the former Soviet Union's communist empire.

Notable examples were Saddam and the Shah of Iran before the revolution of 1979.

Former US president Franklin Roosevelt reportedly said this about murderous Nicaraguan dictator Anatasio Somozo: 'He may be a son of a b***h, but he's our son of a b***h.'

Now, however, a similar trend is occurring - states with dictatorial leaders who are on-side with Washington in its global war against terror have been given lots of latitude.

Take, for example, Ethiopia's ruling People Revolutionary Democratic Front, Uzbek leader Islam Karimov or Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf, an army general who toppled an elected government.

And quite often, such dictators clothe themselves with the tools of political legitimacy - democracy. 'They are elected autocrats,' argued former Foreign Affairs editor Fareed Zakaria, referring to leaders such as Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and Azerbaijan's Ilham Aliyev.

'Maybe that's the form new dictatorship takes, through leaders who have found a way to use the symbols of legitimacy of the modern age.

'They embrace one element of democracy - elections - and forgo all the others.'

Rogues Gallery

For many decades, the career paths of the world's dictators went from the brutal oppression of citizens and the amassing of great wealth, and then into leisurely retirement. Recently, however, an increasing minority are finding themselves out of a job, in court or in prison.

THE FALLEN ...

Saddam Hussein (1979-2003)

Styling himself as a Arab nationalist, Saddam ruled his people with brutal force and even gassed them. He also led Iraq into three wars in two decades.

He was captured by US forces last month and is awaiting trial.

Slobodan Milosevic (1989-2000)

Milosevic rode a wave of Serbian nationalism to power in 1989 when he was elected President of the Serbian Republic.

But Nato action to stop ethnic cleansing of Kosovo resulted in his capture and removal from power in 2000. He is on trial at the Hague for war crimes.

Idi Amin (1971-1979)

Dubbed the buffoon tyrant, Idi Amin presided over a reign of terror in Uganda during which an estimated 300,000 people died.

He declared himself King of Scotland, banned hippies and mini-skirts, and appeared at a royal Saudi Arabian funeral in 1975 wearing a kilt. He died in August last year.

Charles Taylor (1989-2003)

He came to power after launching a revolt against Liberia's dictator Samuel Doe in 1989. An estimated 200,000 people died before his supporters emerged as the dominant force.

He is accused of masterminding conflicts in West Africa. He lives in exile in Nigeria which, for now, is refusing to extradite him for trial before a UN tribunal.

THE SURVIVORS

Muammar Gaddafi (1969 - )

Hostile towards the West and reportedly a sponsor of terrorism, Colonel Gaddafi rules by decree and denies Libyans a range of basic rights.

With Libya becoming increasingly isolated, however, he has sought to have Libya accepted back into the international community.

Kim Jong-Il (1997 - )

Diplomats and escaped dissidents talk of a vain, paranoid, cognac-guzzling hypochondriac. He is said to wear platform shoes and favour a bouffant hairstyle to appear taller than his 1.57m.

Analysts said such eccentricities could mask the cunning mind of a master manipulator, or betray an irrational madman.

Fidel Castro (1959 - )

Life in Castro's Cuba is essentially controlled by the state, and political dissent is a punishable offence.

He earned the enmity of the US by nationalising US-owned properties and has reputedly survived more than 600 CIA-sponsored attempts on his life.

Sources: BBC, Christian Science Monitor, Newsday

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/world/story/0,4386,229322,00.html

When I think of the Iranians I think of the people that fought the invading Mongols so well that even in defeat, after Gengis had made mountains of severed Persian heads, Gengis himself said Persians were worthy of respect.

Gengis was a tough audience!!!!

You guys hang in there, things are working out. Keep George Walker Bush President. That is what it takes.

Rebuilding Bam Could Cost $1 Billion, Says UN

January 10, 2004
VOA News
AFP and AP

United Nations humanitarian affairs officials say reconstruction costs in the earthquake stricken Iranian city of Bam could reach $1 billion.

U.N. experts said Friday that rebuilding would likely take several years. The majority of the cost will be paid by the Iranian government, but the United Nations will be involved in the planning phase.

As plans get under way to rebuild the devastated city, U.N. officials are dealing with the immediate issue of trying to feed and shelter survivors.

In Rome Friday, the World Food Program launched a three-month emergency operation to feed 100,000 people affected by the Bam earthquake.

The U.N. food agency has allocated nearly $3 million to provide survivors with daily rations of food, including special nutritional crackers. The food aid is meant to help meet their daily needs, so they can try to get on with the monumental task of rebuilding their lives.

More than 30,000 people died in the December 26 quake. Thousands more were injured and most of the city's residents were left homeless.

Some information for this report provided by AFP and AP.

http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=BD69C74C-E599-433A-89B4D2CAC61A9690&title=Rebuilding%20Bam%20Could%20Cost%20%241%20Billion%2C%20says%20UN&catOID=45C9C78D-88AD-11D4-A57200A0CC5EE46C&categor

Special Visa Created Just for Well-off from Iran

January 10, 2004
The Sydney Morning Herald
Mike Seccombe

Australia will host foreign guest workers for the first time, after changes to immigration law permitting indentured workers to stay for up to three years.

But the new visa provisions, which came into force on January 1, will allow only a fortunate few Iranians to have "working holidays" here, under conditions far more lenient than those applying to other temporary visitors.

So far, only five have been granted and only three people have arrived in Australia.

The unique provisions arise from a secret memorandum of understanding between Iran and Australia, aimed at reducing the number of asylum seekers.

Under the deal, Iran agreed to accept the return of asylum seekers, and Australia agreed to grant extra visa privileges to well-off, well-educated Iranians.

Under visa subclass 462 such people can apply for up to three consecutive work and holiday visas, and can do so without leaving the country as others do.

They can also, for the first time, apply even if they have dependent children. Usually, working holiday visas are for young, dependent-free tourists to fund extended visits with casual work.

However, the special category appears closer to the concept of guest-worker visas, as used by many other countries.

Details on the Immigration Department website stipulate that to apply for an extension the visa holder must have the "support of their foreign government and of their current employer".

When the Herald sought details from the department, a written response said it was part of "ongoing implementation of the memorandum of understanding with Iran, signed in March 2003".

It said the aim was to help combat illegal immigration, and said it would allow "young Iranians and Australians to work and holiday in each others' countries".

The Foreign Affairs website warns that visiting Iran carries risks, including from terrorist attacks, battles between security forces and drug lords, corrupt officialdom, and dying in an air crash aboard the country's aged aircraft.

A spokesman for the Immigration Minister, Amanda Vanstone, said yesterday it was "completely wrong" to categorise the holders of such visas as guest workers, because the category was restricted to the tertiary qualified.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/01/09/1073437469428.html

US: Iran Must Address Freedom, Nuclear Capability

January 10, 2004
AFP
TerraNet

Iran must improve democratic rights and come clean about its nuclear assets, the US Department of State said.

The department also said US engagement with Iran would come "if and when" President George W. Bush determines the time is ripe.

Analysts had thought US aid to earthquake victims in Bam, southern Iran might open a door to rapprochement, but US officials said Iran is still developing nuclear weapons and hampering democracy.

"Our policy has been to engage Iran on specific issues of concern in an appropriate manner if and when the president determines he wants to do so," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

"I don't want to speculate at this point of whether there might be such discussions again but we do think these issues need to be addressed," Boucher told reporters.

Boucher said Washington continues to have "issues with Iran."

"Issues like the voices of people in Iran that look for more freedom, issues like al-Qaeda members who are in Iran, issues like Iran's nuclear program, which needs to be resolved in a satisfactory manner consistent with Iran's promises and commitments to the international community," Boucher said.

He said the two countries had broached some of these issues, alluding to secretive US-Iranian diplomatic talks in Geneva last May.

However, Iran's former president said Friday that it was time for the United States to put such "accusations" behind it.

The Islamic republic's former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said the United States must stop making accusations against Iran if it wants to open a new page in relations with Tehran.

"If the United States wants to extend the hand of friendship and turn a new page, they should stop repeating past accusations (against Iran) which are totally false," Rafsanjani said at weekly Friday prayers in the Iranian capital.

The two countries broke off relations in 1980 following the Islamic revolution that deposed the Shah of Iran. Bush has described Iran as part of the "axis of evil."

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, said Thursday that US humanitarian aid for the victims of the Bam earthquake had not improved relations, saying Washington continues to show "basic hostility" toward Iran.

In Washington, US Secretary of State Colin Powell, on Thursday, seemed more upbeat on diplomatic prospects following the dispatch of US aid to the quake zone.

"This is not a political breakthrough, but it was nevertheless a human breakthrough ... so we will see what happens in the future with respect to our relationship with Iran," Powell said.

http://www.terra.net.lb/wp/Articles/DesktopArticle.aspx?articleId=130822&channelId=4

Iranians Can't Import Booze, But Iraqis are Happy to Help

January 10, 2004
The Associated Press
St. Petersburg Times

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq - Just east of here, where the towering peaks of the Zagros mountains mark the border with Iran, a single product dominates the Iraqi exports hauled across the frontier by pack mule and tractor-trailer.

That product is liquor: from well-known Western brands of bourbon and Scotch whisky to various types of vodka, gin and anise-flavored arak.

Iraq's booming liquor trade with Iran is a consequence of the divergence between the two countries' laws. Alcohol is banned in the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is perfectly legal in secular Iraq, even if most Iraqis avoid it for religious reasons.

Not only is liquor legal in Iraq, it is untaxed and cheap. Stores sell liter bottles of Johnny Walker Red Label for $10. In Iran, the same bottle commands at least five times the price, people here say.

"A tractor-trailer load of Jack Daniels is worth a few million dollars on the other side," said Staff Sgt. David Spence-Sales, 34, of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division. "It's illegal to bring alcohol into Iran but it's not illegal to ship it out of Iraq."

The penalty for sale or consumption of alcohol in Iran is a fine or flogging, or both.

Iranian citizens who are Armenian Christians are legally allowed to make their own wine for church services and spirits for personal consumption.

The arbitrage keeps afloat a plethora of liquor stores in Sulaimaniyah, the largest city in the Kurdish lands of northeastern Iraq and a center of trade with Iran.

Spence-Sales, whose long-range surveillance unit has trained several groups of Iraqi border police, says Iraqi customs officers simply wave the trucks through the main border post near the town of Penjwin, despite knowing the trucks ferry goods banned across the line.

At least a few of the 100 to 200 trucks that cross into Iran at Penjwin each day are laden with liquor, said Sgt. Louis Gitlin of Wasilla, Alaska. Across the border, truckers pay bribes to see the loads through Iranian customs.

"They'll pick a small border site and pay the Iranians $20, and they'll leave it open all day," said Spence-Sales, a Canadian from Toronto. "It's big money over there."

"Everybody gets his little piece," Gitlin said.

At a staging point trains near the border, a group of smugglers loaded crates of vodka, whiskey and gin onto a dozen pack horses destined for a rocky trail that leads into Iran. The smugglers, all ethnic Kurds, said the smuggling is made easier because Kurds, who dominate the population on both sides of the border, are able to move back and forth with ease.

Besides liquor, Iraqi exports to Iran include cigarettes, televisions, vacuum cleaners, scrap metal and heavy machinery, as well as subsistence food such as rice and beans, the soldiers said. But liquor is the most lucrative, Spence-Sales said.

Six U.S. military surveillance units and 870 Iraqi border police officers - most of them ex-Kurdish independence fighters - patrol the 434 miles of border between Iraqi Kurdistan and Iran.

"They call us infidels for our loose moral standards," Spence-Sales said. "But they live just like everyone else. You have to balance the rhetoric with what really happens."

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/01/10/Worldandnation/Iranians_can_t_import.shtml

Jailed Iranian Journalists Start the New Year in Harsh Prison Conditions

January 09, 2004
Reporters Without Borders
RSF

Reporters Without Borders has expressed its indignation at the prison conditions of 11 Iranian journalists, most of them ill and in a very physically and psychologically weakened state. The international press freedom organisation renews its objections to their often-arbitrary detention and calls for their release.

"It is completely unacceptable for journalists like Siamak Pourzand, who is sick and 74-years old, to still be held in solitary confinement," said Robert Ménard, secretary general of Reporters Without Borders."The same goes for Ali-Reza Jabari, 60, who is suffering from heart problems and has even received 253 lashes. The journalists' families are not even allowed to bring warm clothing to the sick prisoners.". Ménard added that Reporters Without Borders remained very concerned by the cases of Taghi Rahmani, Reza Alijani and Hoda Saber, whose legal position was unclear at the least and for whom the legal period of being held in custody had long ago passed.

Information about the 11 jailed journalists :

Siamak Pourzand, freelance journalist for several independent newspapers, sentenced to eight years in prison, has been jailed since November 2000. This 74-year-old has been put under heavy psychological pressure and has been tortured during interrogation. In an open letter his wife said, "He is held in solitary confinement in the basement of Evin Jail. According to a diagnosis given on 30 July 2003 at the Imam Khomeini Hospital in Teheran he is suffering from an arthritic neck and worrying disc problems that will require an operation. He is unable to walk and to attend to his daily needs".

Ali-Reza Jabari, journalist with the monthly Adineh, jailed since 17 March 2003, was sentenced to three years in prison and 253 lashes. At over 60 years old, Ali-Reza Jabari has heart problems. Held in a cell with common-law prisoners, he has been treated even worse since a letter detailing his prison conditions was published on an Internet site. The prison authorities refuse to allow his wife to bring him warm clothing.

Hassan Youssefi Eshkevari, journalist for Iran-e-Farda, sentenced to seven years in prison, has been jailed since 5 August 2000. Diabetic and insulin-dependent and suffering from bleeding from his eyes, he was given a temporary release to seek medical treatment but his doctors say he urgently needs intensive care outside of prison.

Akbar Ganji, journalist with the daily Sobh-e-Emouz, sentenced to six years in prison, has been jailed since 2 April 2000. Suffering from an acute throat disorder, he was allowed a 10-day pass for treatment but doctors believe he needs an urgent operation.

Iraj Jamshidi, editor in chief of the financial daily Asia, held in detention since 6 July 2003, has still not been tried. On the eve of a visit from the UN special rapporteur, Ambeyi Ligabo, he was transferred from his isolation cell to a dormitory. Since then he has been returned to the basement of Evin Jail. He has been allowed only one visit, coinciding with Ligabo's trip.

Ali-Reza Ahmadi, also of Asia, jailed since 29 July 2003, and still remanded in custody.

Hossein Ghazian, journalist with the daily Norouz, sentenced to four and a half years in prison and jailed since 31 October 2002.

Abbas Abdi, of the daily Salam, sentenced to four and a half years in prison and held since 4 November 2002.

Taghi Rahmani, of Omid-e-Zangan, imprisoned since 14 June 2003, for no official reason, has been held in solitary confinement for nearly two months and has not been allowed to receive any visitors since 6 December. He was reportedly sentenced on appeal, in another case, to 13 years in jail.

Reza Alijani, editor in chief of Iran-e-Farda and laureate of the Reporters Without Borders-Fondation de France press freedom prize, imprisoned since 14 June 2003, for no official reason, held in solitary confinement for nearly two months and not allowed any visitors since 6 December. He was reportedly sentenced on appeal in another case to six years in prison.

Hoda Saber, managing editor of Iran-e-Farda, also held since 14 June 2003. He was reportedly sentence on appeal in another case to ten years in prison.

The Association for the Defence of Prisoners' Rights, set up at the end of December by the journalist Emadoldin Baghi (given a one-year suspended jail sentence on 4 December) and human rights activist, on 6 December 2003 released a statement in Teheran condemning the situation of Iran's jailed journalists.

A petition signed by more than 1,000 university students and professors was published and addressed to the 'Iranian people' on 5 January 2004, calling for the release of Taghi Rahmani, Reza Alijani and Hoda Saber whom it said had been "illegally and unfairly arrested".

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=9005

Powell sees chances for dialogue with Iran

By Reuters
1.10.2004

WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Friday the Bam earthquake had opened up some opportunities for dialogue between the United States and Iran even though there was no reason to expect a quick political rapprochement

In his comments to Arab television network Abu Dhabi TV, Powell went further than other U.S. officials over the last few days in raising the possibility of a dialogue between the long-time adversaries.

"It showed that in a crisis like that we could cooperate, and maybe that will lead to other areas of cooperation. But we should not think that just because of this humanitarian rapprochement it immediately leads to a political rapprochement," Powell said according to a transcript of the interview released by the State Department.

"But I think it has opened up some opportunities for dialogue with Iran," the top U.S. diplomat added.

In the aftermath of the December 26 disaster that killed more than 30,000 people in the city of Bam, the U.S. relief efforts seemed to have prompted something of a thaw in relations between Washington and the Islamic state.

But when Iran rejected a U.S. proposal to also send a high-level humanitarian mission, including Sen. Elizabeth Dole, a former head of the American Red Cross, the chances of further contacts appeared to cool.

Amid mixed messages from Tehran, Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi on Thursday again raised hopes for fresh contacts saying the government was willing to resume dialogue with the United States, provided the talks were based on mutual respect.

While adopting a softer tone since the earthquake both Tehran and Washington have set pre-conditions for improving relations, which have been formally broken for more than two decades.

Washington wants Tehran to hand over detained al Qaeda suspects, abandon its nuclear program and stop backing Palestinian militant groups that attack Israel.

Iran has called on Washington to lift economic sanctions imposed in 1995, which among other things prevent U.S. companies from investing in OPEC's second largest oil producer or trading in Iranian oil.

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=381443&contrassID=1&subContrassID=8&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

I just received this from a student in Iran regarding the upcoming elections in Iran...

"I have got some thing for you. Another poll done by the Social Science faculty of University of Tehran.

The poll shows that 31 percent of the people being asked haven't decided whether to vote or not, 26 percent won't vote and 42% will vote.

Those who plan to vote get their news from state run media, those who wont vote get news through LA based TV channels."

No Plans to Start Talks with US, says Iran FM

January 11, 2004
Reuters
The Peninsula

TEHRAN -- Iran said yesterday it had no plans to start talks with its long-time adversary the United States, and that US policy towards the Islamic Republic must change.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Friday Iran’s acceptance of US aid after the Bam earthquake had opened up opportunities for dialogue between the foes although there was no reason to expect a quick political rapprochement.

“Now there is no plan for starting negotiations,” said Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi. “US policy towards Iran must change, getting rid of its hostile atmosphere.”

“We have said that it is important for the negotiations between the countries to be based on mutual respect and to take place on an equal footing,” he added.

In the aftermath of the December 26 earthquake in the city of Bam that killed more than 30,000 people, the US relief effort was seen as prompting moves towards improved relations between Washington and Tehran.

Washington broke ties with Iran shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution when radical students stormed the US embassy in Tehran and held 52 hostages for 444 days.

The United States has accused Iran of seeking nuclear weapons, of supporting anti-Israeli Islamic militants and of fomenting violence in Iraq. US President George W Bush said it was part of an “axis of evil” along with North Korea and Iraq under Saddam Hussein.

Iranians widely term the United States “The Great Satan” and President Mohammad Khatami was quoted in the hardline Jomhuri-ye Eslami daily on Wednesday as saying it was an “enemy” and “unreliable”.

Iran has called on Washington to lift sanctions imposed in 1995, which among other things prevent US companies from investing in OPEC’s second-largest producer or trading in Iranian oil.

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Gulf%2C+Middle+East+%26+Africa&month=January2004&file=World_News200401114105.xml

MAJORITY OF CANDIDATES OPPOSED TO THEOCRACY REJECTED

TEHRAN, 9 Jan. (IPS)

A majority of candidates running for the next Majles (parliament) elections have been invalidated because of their rejection of the very fundaments of the present theocratic Constitution, according to a statement released Friday by the leader-controlled Council of the Guardians (CG).

Based on results obtained from the various examining bodies, including the Intelligence Ministry, the Office of the Public Prosecutor and the Law Enforcement Forces and the Interior Ministry, 54.5 per cent out of the 8.146 candidates that have registered so far have been rejected by the Council of the Guardians because they either "do not believe in Islamic principles (13.8%); do not believe in the fundaments of a religious governance (14.5%) or do not agree with the Constitution (16.5%).

Another 32 per cent of the runners have been rejected because of "financial and moral corruption or bad antecedents", the pro-conservative "Baztab" internet newspaper said without explaining, quoting the regime’s powerful but controversial 12-members Council of the Guardians that vets all candidates to all elections in the Islamic Republic.

"The result confirms the growing trend pointing to the majority of Iranians being divorced with the religion, opposed to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic and supporting s parliamentary system based on secularism", one Iranian scholar teaching at Tehran University told Iran Press Service on condition of anonymity.

According to Baztab, an internet website belonging to Mr. Mohsen Reza’i, the Secretary of the Expediency Council, some leading reformist figures like Dr. Mohammad Reza Khatami, the younger brother of the powerless President Mohammad Khatami who is both the leader of the Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF) and vice-Speaker, Mr. Mohsen Armin and Mr. Behzad Nabavi, both influential leaders of the Islamic Revolution’s Mojahedeen Organisation, the most important and best organized member of the Second Khordad Coalition that supports the lamed Khatami, Mrs. Fatemeh Haqiqatjoo, an outspoken reformist deputy from Tehran and Mr. Naser Shirzad, a representative to the Majles form Esfahan are among the hopefuls that have been rejected on charges of activities against the regime.

Next legislative elections are slated for 21 February and odds are that the conservatives would regain the control of the Majles, as a majority of young voters, deceived with both the reformist’s failure to carry out reforms promised by Hojjatoleslam Khatami during his first election campaign in 1997, have decided not to go to the polls, while other voices, including from the ranks of the reformists, call for a total boycott of the elections.

Expressing serous concern about the outcome of the elections, the seventh in the life of the Islamic Republic, Mr. Nabavi contested the Guardian’s self-appointed right of vetting candidates, saying, "Majles representatives are servants of the people, not the Council of the Guardians".

"I rather explode over a mine or I would disclose all information about the existence of a General Staff working against reformist candidates, he warned during a press conference on Friday, confirming an earlier statement by the Government’s official spokesman about the formation of such an "illegal" group.

ENDS MAJLES ELECTIONS 9104

http://www.iran-press-service.com/articles_2004/Jan_04/majles_elections_9104.htm

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