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DISPUTE OVER DATE OF IRANIAN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION.

Deputy Interior Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Seyyed Mahmud Mirlohi has said the Guardians Council wants to hold the next parliamentary election on 26 February, which would coincide with the Muharram mourning period, "Etemad" reported on 18 August.

In contrast, "the Interior Ministry has proposed holding the elections during the Ten Days of Dawn [revolution anniversary celebrations in early February] and coinciding with the Id al-Ghadir [the anniversary of the Prophet Mohammad's designation of Ali as his successor], which is a celebratory occasion, and the people would take part in the elections with enthusiasm and joy," Mirlohi said. Reformist campaigning, which tends to be positive and cheerful by Iranian standards, would seem inappropriate during a somber period like Muharram and could be criticized by conservative forces. BS

Comment: What do you think of the effect of the suggested dates?

The above article as well as the one below is from RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 7, No. 157, Part III, 19 August 2003

INTIFADA CONFERENCE OPENS IN TEHRAN.

A conference entitled Intifada -- a Step Toward Freedom will open at Tehran University on 19 August, ISNA reported the previous day. It will be hosted by the student committee of the secretariat of the Support for the Palestinian Intifada conference series. Hojatoleslam Ali Akbar Mohtashami-Pur -- who is secretary of the Support for the Palestinian Intifada conference series, a founder of Lebanese Hizballah, President Hojatoleslam Mohammad Khatami's special envoy, and a reformist parliamentarian from Tehran -- and Palestinian scholar and Hamas ideologue Munir Shafiq will give the opening speeches. Conference secretary Ruhollah Owhadi said that "active Palestinian students from numerous Palestinian Jihadi groups" will be there, and "a number of Iranian students from various branches of political parties have also been invited to attend the conference in order to establish cultural and civil ties with the Palestinian students, and to reaffirm their support for the Palestinian nation's resistance against the Zionist regime." BS

Comment: Welcome to the world of terrorism.