Iranian Alert -- August 17, 2003 -- LIVE THREAD PING LIST

The Iranian Student Movement Up To The Minute Reports ^ | 8.17.2003 | DoctorZin

[DoctorZIn]

To find all the links to all 69 threads since the protests started, go to:

[DoctorZIn]

Join Us at the Iranian Alert -- August 17, 2003 -- LIVE THREAD PING LIST

Live Thread Ping List | 8.17.2003 | DoctorZin

"If you want on or off this Iran ping list, Freepmail me”

[DoctorZIn]

U.S. said No. 4 on target list

Charlotte Observer
WAR NOTEBOOK
Posted on Sun, Aug. 17, 2003

LONDON - The United States is the fourth likeliest of 186 countries to be the target of a terrorist attack within the next 12 months, a research company based in London says in a report to be released Monday.

The company, World Markets Research Center, ranks Colombia, Israel and Pakistan as the only countries with a greater terror risk than the United States. The company researches the risk of terrorism for 500 public and private multinational clients.

"Another Sept. 11-style terrorist attack in the United States is highly likely," the report states. "Networks of militant Islamist groups are less extensive in the U.S. than they are in Western Europe, but U.S.-led military action in Afghanistan and Iraq has exacerbated anti-U.S. sentiment."

The only other Western nation ranked in the top 10 of countries at risk was Britain, rated ninth. -- NEW YORK TIMES

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/6552104.htm

"If you want on or off this Iran ping list, Freepmail me”

[DoctorZIn]

Taking care of our own

Editorial
Aug 15, 2003

Bill Sampson's family is furious at Ottawa, and it is easy to see why. According to documents recently released in response to Access to Information requests, Mr. Sampson repeatedly told visiting Canadians -- including diplomat Jean Gobeil, Bloc Québécois MP Stéphane Bergeron and a psychiatrist sent to examine him -- that he was brutally tortured during his 31 months in a Saudi Arabian prison. But these reports were dismissed as mere allegations by our Department of Foreign Affairs, which has now admitted its officials may have followed "quick media lines" in repeating Saudi Arabia's denials of abuse.

Assuming Mr. Sampson spoke the truth -- and given the Saudis' atrocious human rights record, there is good reason to assume he was -- our government's lack of action was shameful. True, officials may have had legitimate concerns that publicly criticizing Saudi Arabia would only have made things worse for Mr. Sampson. (Bill Graham, the Foreign Affairs Minister, claimed yesterday that "rais[ing] the temperature in this case could have in fact resulted in the death of Mr. Sampson.") But given the tremendous international outcry that would have resulted had the Saudis responded to Canadian criticism by hastening the execution of a prisoner, we find this difficult to believe. More relevant, we suspect, was the Western habit of giving a large oil-supplying nation and nominal ally the benefit of the doubt.

But Ottawa now has several opportunities to set a better precedent for dealing with rights violations of Canadians abroad. And in one case, at least, it appears to be taking full advantage. Since photojournalist Zahra Kazemi's violent death last month while in the custody of Iranian police, our officials have been duly vocal in seeking answers. When Tehran announced her body would be buried in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz, despite repeated requests from senior Canadian officials and her Montreal-based son that she be shipped home, the government recalled our ambassador. Now, it is reportedly considering introducing a United Nations resolution condemning Iran's human rights record.

Certainly, we hope such a resolution is forthcoming. But if the Canadian government is to send a clear message that rogue governments cannot abuse Canadian citizens and get away with it, Ottawa must be just as diligent in two other pending cases as well.

Last month, Calgarian Bruce Balfour was arrested at the Beirut airport. Mr. Balfour, an evangelical Christian in Lebanon as part of a group that wants to reforest a mountain range with cedars, will stand trial for "collaborating with the enemy" on August 20. Lebanese authorities claim he acted as a spy for Israel, providing intelligence on both army and Hezbollah positions.

Others, however, have noted that he is probably just paying the price for having previously visited Israel (Lebanon does not permit entry to anyone with an Israeli stamp on their passport). And according to Elias Bejjani, a spokesman for the Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights Federation, "collaborating with the enemy" is a catch-all charge favoured by many Middle Eastern countries. "In the Arab world, whenever they want to get somebody, this charge is always ready, and they fabricate it," Mr. Bejjani explained recently.

A cloudier case -- but one that is no less deserving of attention -- is that of Maher Arar, an Ottawan arrested last year while changing flights in New York. U.S. authorities suspected Mr. Arar of being an Al-Qaeda agent and sent back to Syria, which he left in 1988. He has since been held in a Syrian prison without charge, and the London-based Syria Human Rights Committee claims that "confirmed reports from confidential and knowledgeable sources" indicate he "has received heavy and severe torture."

Yesterday, Bill Graham told reporters that Mr. Arar assured Canadian consular officials in a private meeting that he has not been tortured, and that his treatment has improved because of Canadian intervention. Given what we now know about Mr. Sampson's treatment -- and about what Ottawa told us at the time -- we have our doubts. But in either case, our government must continue to be vigilant. Although the charges against Mr. Arar may not be quite as flimsy as the ones against Mr. Balfour, both men are threatened by the same primitive brand of Middle Eastern justice that cost Ms. Kazemi her life, and very nearly cost Mr. Sampson his as well.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_1775.shtml

[DoctorZIn]

Official Denounces U.S. Ploys Against Iran

Politics Section
Aug 16, 2003

NEISHABOUR, Khorasan Province -- Director General of the Khorasan Intelligence Department Mehdi Mousavi said here Wednesday that 11 satellite TV channels based in the United States are staging anti-Iran propaganda.

By allowing the TV channels, the United States is supporting ploys against the Iranian system; he noted adding that the U.S. is after creating division between the Iranian people and officials.

Mousavi said the officials have to consider the social realities and avoid words and deeds that may be used as pretexts by enemies to launch anti-Iran propaganda.

The official was critical of the performance of the media circles which he said have created a somber image of the Islamic Republic. He touched on the directives given by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei who named the current Iranian year as "the year of rendering service to the people."

Mousavi said the U.S. is not afraid of the nuclear breakthroughs of Iran but it is afraid of the strong unity between the people and officials adding that the United States is after launching a psychological war on the Islamic Republic to bring it to its knees.

He called on the Muslim ummah to remain vigilant vis-a-vis the ploys hatched by the global arrogance as it is after sowing the seeds of discord among the people.

The weak pillars of the economic, political and cultural infrastructures of the United States were revealed with the September 11, 2001 hijacked airliner mid-air attacks against the U.S. major cities New York and Washington, he said.

Mousavi commented on the developments in Iraq and Afghanistan saying the United States attacked Afghanistan to cover up its internal problems.

In Iraq, he said, the U.S. forces have created many problems with the Iraqis continuing to face many challenges and hardships.

He warned about the divisive behaviors and actions by some individuals and groups in the country and called for unity to suppress threats to nation.

The promotion of the rule of law, he asserted, would contribute to a strong unity and solidarity among the masses.

He said the factional aspirations should not be given more attention than the genuine national interests and added that if the political camps and factions set aside their discrepancies, national unity would be promoted.

Proper measures and efforts to promote the national unity and solidarity among masses are now of critical importance, he said.

The achievements of the Islamic revolution are so numerous that the poisonous propaganda of the western media can do nothing to make the Iranian people ignore them, concluded Mousavi.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_1770.shtml

[DoctorZIn]

Official Denounces U.S. Ploys Against Iran

Politics Section
Aug 16, 2003

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/965430/posts?page=5#5

"If you want on or off this Iran ping list, Freepmail me”

[DoctorZIn]

Iran Praises U.S. for Action on Dissidents

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
8.17.2003
NYTimes

TEHRAN, Iran, Aug. 16 (AP) — Iran conferred rare praise on the United States today when its foreign minister said the State Department's closing of the offices of Iranian dissidents was a "positive" act.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell on Friday shut down the Washington offices of the National Council of Resistance of Iran and the Mujahedeen Khalq. The council says it is an umbrella organization for dissident groups, including the Mujahedeen Khalq, but American officials say the two are virtually interchangeable.

Mujahedeen Khalq is on the State Department's list of terrorist groups, but the United States allowed the council to operate with little interference. Following Mr. Powell's order, the Treasury Department froze the council's nearly $100,000 worth of financial assets in the United States.

The Iranian foreign minister, Kamal Kharrazi, called the U.S. action "a positive step that conforms to its international responsibilities," the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/17/international/middleeast/17IRAN.html

[DoctorZIn]

1.25 million young Iranian women may not marry

Via Iranmania
Aug 16, 2003

TEHRAN - Some 1.25 million Iranian women in their 20s are unlikely to marry because of a shortage of men, according to a survey published Saturday.

The survey, carried out by the national centre for youth and carried in the reformist daily Nassim Saba, claims there are 6.2 million women aged between 20 and 29 in Iran, compared with only 4.8 million men in the 25-34 age bracket.

Given the trend for Iranian men to marry younger women, the report concluded that up to 1.25 young women may become spinsters.

Experts say increased migration by men, as well the death of hundreds of thousands of Iranans during the 1980-88 war with Iraq war are the main reasons for the population imbalance.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_1766.shtml

[Pro-Bush]

The United States is the fourth likeliest of 186 countries to be the target of a terrorist attack within the next 12 months

#4 is not bad..We must be winning SOME hearts.

[Pro-Bush]

Iran defies US with plan for second nuclear plant
AP/The Guardian

Iran is to get a second nuclear reactor with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts, and is beginning feasibility studies for a 5,000MW reactor, the official news agency IRNA reported yesterday.

First Vice-President Mohamad Reza Aref authorised the atomic energy organisation to sign contracts for the second reactor at the Bushehr nuclear power site, it said.

State television said on Wednesday that plans for a second reactor had been approved, but it did not report the size of the plant.

Iran is building its first nuclear reactor at Bushehr, on the shore of the Gulf, with Russia's assistance. It has a capacity of 1,000MW and should be completed next year.

Washington suspects it of developing a clandestine nuclear weapons programme and has lobbied for the International Atomic Energy Agency to declare Iran in violation of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

Iran denies that it has ambitions to make nuclear weapons and says it wants nuclear power as an alternative source of energy as its oil reserves diminish.

At its meeting yesterday, Iran's supreme nuclear council commissioned the atomic energy organisation to prepare studies for building a 5,000MW nuclear plant, IRNA reported.

The IAEA has called on Iran to allow unfettered access to its nuclear sites. It director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, will report on Iran next month.

[Miss Marple]

Is this the group that was arrested in France (Mujahedeen Khalq)? Can you explain who they are? (I don't think the AP did a very good job explaining them.)

[F14 Pilot]

Tehran Says Foiled Al Qaeda Attacks in Iran

Sun August 17, 2003 04:55 AM ET

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has foiled a number of attacks which al Qaeda had been planning to carry out inside the Islamic Republic, the official IRNA news agency quoted a senior Iranian official as saying on Sunday.
"Their (al Qaeda's) plans for a wide range of terrorist acts inside Iran were neutralized by our intelligence organizations," IRNA quoted Hassan Rohani, secretary-general of the Supreme National Security Council, as saying.

Rohani gave no details of the planned attacks or whether any al Qaeda members linked to them were arrested.

Iran says it has arrested a number of al Qaeda members in recent months, including some senior figures in Osama bin Laden's organization, blamed for the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States and other "terrorist" attacks.

But Tehran has declined to name who it is holding and says it will not hand them over to U.S. officials for questioning.

Intelligence sources and media reports suggest Iran may be holding Saad bin Laden, a son of the al Qaeda leader as well as al Qaeda's security chief Egyptian Saif al Adel and its Kuwaiti-born spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, among others.

Washington has in the past accused Iran of sheltering al Qaeda and said members of bin Laden's network in Iran may have planned the May 12 bombings in Riyadh which killed 35 people.

Tehran accuses Washington of double standards on terrorism and called on it to deal with the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK) -- an Iranian opposition group based in Iraq which has long been termed "terrorist" by the State Department.

The State Department on Friday announced the Washington offices of two organizations linked to the MEK -- the National Council of Resistance of Iran and the People's Mujahideen of Iran -- had been closed down.

Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi welcomed the U.S. move against MEK as a "positive step." But Kharrazi also called on Washington to take action against MEK fighters in Iraq.

"It should be considered that the heads of this terrorist grouplet are in Iraq which is under U.S. control and America should act upon its responsibilities to confront them," he was quoted as saying by the Mardomsalari newspaper.

Security analysts have speculated that Iran may be willing to swap some of its al Qaeda detainees for MEK leaders. Iran has firmly denied offering Washington such a swap.

Iran says it has arrested and deported around 500 al Qaeda suspects in the last year who fled across its borders from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"We are serious in our fight against terrorists," Rohani said. "The arrest, expulsion and handing over of many al Qaeda members is proof of that."

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3289722

[F14 Pilot]

Iran foils al Qaeda attacks

17.08.2003 - 09:45

http://www.swisspolitics.org/en/news/index.php?section=int&page=news_inhalt&news_id=4136643

[F14 Pilot]

Iraqi embassies in Iran, UK, US, Tunisia resume activity Sept.1.03

Tehran, Aug 17, Itar-Tass/ACSNA/IRNA -- Iraqi embassies in the
capitals of a number of countries including Iran, the UK, US and
Tunisia will resume their activities on September 1, it was reported
by Iran's official news agency on Saturday.
The Islamic Republic of Iran (IRNA) quoted a statement by an
Iraqi Foreign Ministry official broadcast by the Voice of Iraq radio
station on Friday.
The afore-stated embassies will initially restart their work by
opening their consular sections, the news agency added. Other sections
will open at a later time.
The Iraqi Foreign Ministry official was further quoted as saying
women have been appointed to diplomatic posts in those embassies.

http://www.irna.ir/en/head/030817090302.ehe.shtml

[windchime]

"Fourth? That's totally bonkers. Surely, the Philippines, Indonesia, Nepal, Algeria, Iraq and Afghanistan are higher on the list than us."

 

Pertinent excerpts from article:

.......a research company based in London says in a report to be released Monday........The company, World Markets Research Center......... The company researches the risk of terrorism for 500 public and private multinational clients...........Networks of militant Islamist groups are less extensive in the U.S. than they are in Western Europe, but U.S.-led military action in Afghanistan and Iraq has exacerbated anti-U.S. sentiment

I share your skepticism, Seamole.

[F14 Pilot]

Number of tourists visiting Iran declines

Tehran, Aug 16, IRAN -- The number of tourists visiting Iran has
declined by 9.5 percent in the current Iranian year (started March 21)
compared to the same period last year.
The Customs Organization reported that 1.352 million have arrived
in the country, "of whom 812,500 were Iranians and the rest foreign
nationals."
It said the number of Iranian and foreign nationals visiting the
country have declined by 7.6 percent and 12.8 percent, respectively
compared to the previous year.
In the same period 1.096 million have left the country which is
21.1 percent less than the same period in the preceding year.
Of the sum 743,000 were Iranians and 353,000 foreign nationals,
the Customs report added.
Iran has been giving greater attention to its tourism sector
considering the sector's potential for boosting employment and
increasing foreign exchange earnings as a long-term alternative to
oil income.
A Majlis deputy from Chaharmahal Bakhtiari, Ali Qanbari, here last
week said that more attention should be paid to the tourist industry
since studies show that each single tourist visiting the country
creates three jobs.
Speaking to IRNA, he said Iran has the potential to attract one
million tourists per year, its tourism industry should also be in a
position to create three million jobs.
Turning to the comparatively poor tourism facilities for foreign
tourists visiting the country, he pointed to the need to implement
political, social, cultural and economic changes in the national
infrastructure particularly in terms of ensuring their safety and
thereby attracting greater numbers to visit the country.

http://www.irna.ir/en/head/030816234509.ehe.shtml

[nuconvert]

"We are serious in our fight against terrorists," Rohani said

Sure they are. The ones that don't play by their rules.
The rest are more than welcome.

[nuconvert]

LOL!
"Turning to the comparatively poor tourism facilities for foreign
tourists visiting the country, he pointed to the need to implement
political, social, cultural and economic changes in the national
infrastructure particularly in terms of ensuring their safety and
thereby attracting greater numbers to visit the country."

LOL!
"he pointed to the need to implement
political, social, cultural and economic changes in the national
infrastructure particularly in terms of ensuring their safety..."
I think this needs to be done for the Iranians living there, first.

[nuconvert]

"Number of tourists visiting Iran declines"

Gee, I can't imagine why?