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IRAN BLAMED US AND ISRAEL FOR HAKIM’S ASSASSINATION

BAGHDAD, 31 Aug. (IPS)

As thousands of Iraqis mourned Sunday in Baghdad the tragic death of Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim, crying vengeance and protesting to the American-led occupation forces in Iraq, Iranian conservative clerics and their proxies in the media and Islamic associations openly blamed the United States and Israel for the Friday terrorist operation in the holy city of Najaf.

Officials and hospitals sources put the final toll of the powerful explosion on Friday at the entrance of the shrine of Imam Ali, the Muslim Shi’ite’s first imam, at about a hundred, with some three hundreds wounded, some of them seriously

Contrary to most Iraqi religious dignitaries who blamed "enemies of Islam" and supporters of the toppled dictator Saddam Hoseyn for the unprecedented explosion, senior Iranian clerics, in statements, accused randomly the "world estekbar (i e, American imperialism), occupation forces and Zionist circles" for the deadly terrorist operation.

In an editorial carried on Sunday, the hard line "Keyhan" evening daily, a mouthpiece for Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, the leader of the Islamic Republic, said presenting al-Qa’eda or the followers of Saddam Hoseyn, known as Saddam’s feda’iynes as the culprits is a "ploy" used by the Americans and the Israelis for "diverting the public opinion and the Muslims from the realities, covering up their dirty crime".

The paper also criticised pro-reform newspapers for having "bought" the American, Western and Israeli propaganda by front-paging the arrest of members of al-Qa’eda terrorist organisation and Saddam’s supporters as some of those responsible for the explosion.

Although the 63 years-old Ayatollah Hakim lived in Iran after he fled the terror of Saddam Hoseyn and his Ba’thist regime 24 years ago and formed the SAIRI with the full backing of the ruling Iranian ayatollahs, yet some Iranian and Iraqi analysts speculates that Hakim’s triumphal return to his native Iraq last May and the fact that the SAIRI accepted to be part of the American-sponsored Iraqi Provisory Council of government was not welcomed in Tehran.

Dr Alireza Noorizadeh, a prominent Iranian independent journalist said beside followers of Saddam and Shi’ite extremists close to Hojjatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr, a young and turbulent cleric who fights for the leadership of the Iraqi Shi’a, some fingers also points to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Qods Unit.

Writing in the pan Arab newspaper "Al sharq al-Awsat", Mr. Noorizadeh said officers at the Qods Unit, responsible for carrying out terrorist operations outside Iran, had warned Ayatollah Hakim not to be cooperative with the American forces in Iraq.

Whoever carried out the attack, several Iraqi Shi'ite leaders have said the U.S. must shoulder some blame, as occupying powers are responsible for ensuring security in a country under their rule, according to international law

In a statement issued Sunday, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, Iraq’s highest Shi’a religious authority joined other clerics in blaming the Americans for the lack of security and indirectly, urged the allies in passing to the Iraqi the exercise of government powers.

Ayatollah Mohammad Bahr al-Oloum, a leading Shi'ite scholar and member of the Provisory Council announced Sunday that he was suspending his membership of Iraq's U.S.-appoined Council in protest at Hakim's assassination.

He said in a statement that there was "a dangerous security void in Iraq, especially in Najaf".

Hojjatoleslam Mohsen Hakim, a nephew of the assassinated Ayatollah and his representative in Tehran said SAIRI had warned the Americans about threats against the life of the organisation’s leader as well as on the appalling security situation of the nation, but they did not acted.

Analysts and political observers said the assassination of Ayatollah Hakim not only would make more difficult the already tense relations between the occupations forces, mostly Americans, with the Sh’ite community, that makes some 60 per cent of the Iraqi population, but also draw the community closer to the hard line clerics openly opposed to the presence of foreign forces.

Iraqi police on Saturday said it has arrested 19 men, among them some Iraqis, Saudis, Kuwaitis and Palestinians who admitted links to al-Qa’eda.

But US officials have not confirmed the details of the arrests, and have not taken an active role in the investigation because of Iraqi sensitivity to any US presence at the holy site.

The Iraqi police officer said the four suspects first arrested after Friday’s attack claimed the recent bombings were designed to "keep Iraq in a state of chaos so that police and American forces are unable to focus attention" on the country’s borders, allowing foreign fighters to gain easy access to the country.

On orders from Ayatollah Khameneh'i, the Islamic Republic declared a three days national mourning for the "martyrdom" of Ayatollah Hakim.

Meanwhile, experts said the explosive material used in the Friday bombing in Najaf was similar to one that destroyed the offices of the United Nations in Baghdad on 19 August, killing more than 20 people, including the UN’s special Representative, and the Jordanian Embassy on 7 August, killing 19 people.

Early Saturday, a fresh explosion and fire hit the export pipeline carrying oil from Iraq’s northern Kirkuk fields to Turkey. The huge blaze burned out of control, further delaying the resumption of the vital link which is costing Iraqis an estimated $7m a day it is out of operation.

The explosion and fire were the fourth to hit the line since it briefly reopened earlier this month. ENDS AYATOLLAH HAKIM KILLED 31803

http://www.iran-press-service.com/

[DoctorZIn]

This is not a news article, but interesting. -- DoctorZin

Even landing planes is hard in the Middle East
Amir Taheri

August 31, 2003

It was a beautiful day caressed with a fresh breeze from the Mediterranean. And yet Houari Boumedienne was in a bad mood. He had a problem.

The Algerian dictator had spent hours at Algiers airport, named after him years later, receiving a procession of heads of state coming to attend the first summit of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

All had gone well until that afternoon. Now he was told that both the Shah of Iran and Saddam Hussein al-Takriti, Iraq's " strongman", were heading towards Algiers abroad their respective special jets and scheduled for touchdown at almost the same time. The question was which of the two should be allowed to land first.

This was not a mere technical problem. Boumedienne had succeeded in mediating between Iran and Iraq, which had fought a bloody but unpublicised border war between 1971 and 1974, and obtained an un-announced ceasefire. He had done even better: the Shah and al-Tarkiti had agreed to meet in Algiers to sign a memorandum of understanding that would open the way of negotiations for a final settlement of the border dispute.

So why did it matter which plane landed first?

Iranian protocol, having spent weeks negotiating with the Algerians about the Shah's presence, insisted that the Shah's plane should land first so that when he met Saddam Hussein at the airport it would be the latter that was coming to him. The idea was that the subsequent news story would say: His Imperial Majesty the Shahanshah (King of Kings) granted an audience to Iraq' Vice President at the Algiers Airport.

For similar reasons the Iraqis wanted Saddam's jet to land first so that it would be the Shah who came to him. The Algiers Memorandum was, in effect, an act of surrender by Saddam. In it Iraq had abandoned its claims against Iran and even swallowed the presence of Iranian troops in large chunks of Iraqi territory in the Zaynal-Kush salient that pointed like a geographical dagger towards Baghdad. Saddam, however, wished to present his surrender as a triumph, thus consolidating his position within the Ba'ath Party and government.

At the airport feverish diplomatic activity continued with frequent calls to the two approaching jetliners. In the end Boumedienne offered a compromise: Saddam would land first but then would accompany the Algerian President on the runway to welcome the Shah on arrival. All three would then proceed to the VIP lounge where the Shah and Saddam would formally meet for the first time. In that way no one went to anyone while Iranian propaganda could boast that The King of Kings had been welcomed by both Boumedienne and Saddam.

While waiting for the Shah to arrive, Saddam insisted on expressing his "sense of an historic occasion" and his hopes for the future of Irano-Iraqi relations.

"Today is a good day for Iraq and Iran, for OPEC and the Third World," he said. "It is also a bad day for those who wish to divide us and plunder our resources."

Using classical Ba'athist terminology, the dictator was trying to offer a version of events in which "the progressive camp", supposedly led by Iraq at the time, had persuaded the "reactionary camp", supposed to be led by Iran, had scored a victory.

The Shah and Saddam were less than an hour together, plus the time spent with other OPEC leaders during the summit. But it was enough for both to assess one another. One might even suggest that they developed a degree of mutual admiration.

On the journey back to Tehran the Shah was not prepared to comment on his assessment of Saddam beyond a laconic phrase: "He understands what it is all about"!

This was 1975 and a time that Iran under the Shah was at the peak of its power. The Shah's dream was to make Iran the only country in the Middle East with fully determined and internationally recognised borders. In the preceding decade Iran had signed border agreements, including continental shelf accord, with all its neighbours except Iraq. With the Algiers accord the Iraqi border would also be fixed forever, as the Shah hoped.

The problem had bedevilled Irano-Iraq relations ever since Iraq had been created as a state in 1920. But none of the successive Iraqi leaders had felt strong enough to negotiate a border settlement. The fact that Saddam had done the unthinkable was a reflection not only of Iran's military power at the time but also of Saddam's own strength within the Iraqi ruling elite. Although only a Vice-President, Saddam was clearly the first Iraqi leader to be in full charge.

With the Algiers accord in place, Iraq became the big story in our media. It meant the reopening of Najaf and Karbala, favourite destinations for millions of Iranian pilgrims.

I was, therefore, interested to go and have a look for myself. Between 1968, when I had just become a reporter on Iran's English-language daily Kayhan International, and 1975 I had met a number of visiting Iraqi leaders.

There was Taher Yahya, a retired general and a diminutive version of Oliver Hardy.

Although he bore the title of Prime Minister under President Abdulrahman Aref, it was clear that he had little authority. In an interview, he offered so many monosyllabic replies that I had to spend hours extracting a story from our meeting. There was also a certain Khairallah, the Foreign Minister, who looked more like a Mafia hit-man than a diplomat. Another Foreign Minister, Abdelkarim Abdel-Sattar al-Shaikhly looked and acted like a character out of Joseph Conrad's "Secret Agent". Even in his luxury suite at a Tehran hotel he looked like a man who feared being gunned down at any moment.

Of all the Iraqi leaders that I met before 1975, only Hardan Abdul-Ghaffar al-Takriti, an overweight air force general and number-two of the Ba'athist regime before Saddam kicked him out, acted like a man with a measure of self-assurance and authority. (He was subsequently murdered by Saddam's hit-men in Kuwait). But then he, too, belittled himself by revealing that one aim of his mission to Tehran in the autumn of 1968 was to ask the Shah to persuade the Emir of Kuwait to provide a bridge loan to Iraq to pay the salaries of Iraqi government employees.

The only Iraqi official that had appeared to me as normal was Saadoun Hammadi whom I had met as Oil Minister during a visit to Tehran. But Hammadi, a Shiite, was obviously destined to remain marginal in a regime dominated by the Takritis. I had also met the ever jovial Taleb Shabib, the bilious Murthadha Sabri al-Hadithi and Ismet Kittani, a philosophical bureaucrat.

By coincidence I had published an article about Saddam Hussein in August 1968 just weeks after the Ba'ath had seized power in a coup. In it I had reported that Saddam was "the strongman" behind the new regime. The news story's headline was: "The Mystery Man Who Runs Baghdad From Behind the Scene". The story had been taken up by news agencies and published throughout the world, giving me my first exposure in the international media. Much of the information on Saddam had come from two sources: Dr. Al Yassin who was Iraq's Ambassador to Tehran at the time and Fereydoun Zand-Fard, the young diplomat in charge of the Persian Gulf desk at the Iranian Foreign Ministry. Speaking on condition of anonymity, both told me that Saddam, who had no official position at the time, was the real "strongman" of the new regime.

Saddam had been known to the Iranian embassy in Baghdad and almost certainly to the intelligence services as well, since the mid-1960s.

In 1965 and 1966 his faction received financial support from Tehran because of its militant stance against the Nasserists. Long before the 1968 Ba'athist coup, the Iranian Ambassador to Baghdad Ezatallah Ameli had listed Saddam among "the rising stars of Iraqi politics" and claimed that he shared Iran's strategic aim of containing and ultimately defeating the Nasserist trend in the Arab world.

Later, of course, Iranian intelligence services backed other factions within Ba'ath and, on at least one occasion, became involved in a plot to assassinate Saddam. But the harebrained coup scheme quickly fell apart largely because its ultimate leader , an Iranian agent named Davoud Taher, overplayed a weak hand.

In 1975 I was anxious to meet and interview Saddam, the mystery man I had written so much about but had never had a chance to sit down with. The opportunity came when Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas-Ali Khalatbari led a delegation to Baghdad to negotiate the practical aspects of implementing the Algiers accord. The sessions were to be chaired by Algeria's Foreign Minister Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika. I accompanied our foreign minister and, thanks to his intervention, obtained an appointment with Saddam Hussein.

I was surprised that Saddam had agreed to see me in his private home for what was described as a "working lunch". This was a fairly modest villa with minimal security, at least as far as I could see. There was little protocol as I was shown into an L-shaped salon dominated by a huge table with a marble top. Before lunch, Saddam's wife Saijdah, then still a schoolteacher, popped in to say hello and see that all was well with the lunch arrangements. Later, Uday, Saddam's eldest son, then aged 11 or there about, came in to say hello before returning to school.

I asked him what he wished to do when he grew up. He said he would want to become a footballer.

Then he hesitated and, pointing to his father, he said: You must ask him what he wants me to become!

This was a Spartan lunch of boiled chicken and rice, designed to portray Saddam as a simple man of the people, living in a modest house, eating a frugal fare and acting like any family man. In other words my portrayal of a "mystery man" known for his brutality and arrogance had been wide of the mark!

One point struck me above all during the interview which lasted more than two hours: Saddam had an almost pathological fear that Iraq may one day disintegrate into several mini-states. He firmly believed that there were many " dark forces" inside and outside the country that were plotting to destroy it. When I asked why would anyone want to break up Iraq , he sneered like a man who is asked why the sun shines in the sky.

" Iraq is the only Arab country with the potential to claim a role in the world," he asserted. " The same forces that do not wish to see Iran grow , also do not tolerate the rise of Iraq as a significant player in regional and international politics."

Saddam sounded like a man with a strategy that consisted of four phases. The first was to impose his full and unquestioned control over the party and the state. The second was to " eliminate" the Kurdish problem once and for all with a mixture of force and political concessions. The third phase was to strengthen Iraq's " natural Arab character", partly by importing up to a million other Arabs to replace Iraqis of Kurdish and/or Iranian origins who had been expelled in the previous seven years. It also meant the dismantling of the traditional Shiite clerical structures that had always acted as an alternative to the authority of the state. Finally, the fourth phase would see Iraq established as the leader of the Arab world, first by dominating the oil-rich Gulf states and then by setting the agenda for other Arab countries. Ending the conflict with Iran, which Iraq could not win then, was a key to that strategy as a whole. For, as long as Iraq's resources were drained in a futile struggle with the Shah, Saddam would have little left to devote to building the powerful state he dreamed of.

During our meeting Saddam said that he was taking a BA course in history at a local university and asked whether I could recommend any books that he could read. I told him that I was a passionate amateur of ancient history and suggested that he reads Gibbon's " Decline Sand Fall Of the Roman Empire" in six volumes and almost 10,000 pages. I think he took this as a joke. " That will have to wait for my retirement," he quipped.

Meanwhile at the Palace of Peace, where the negotiations continued, there was frustration on both Iranian and Iraqi sides because of the Algerian foreign minister's working habits. Bouteflika was a night owl who could not go to bed before dawn. As a result he was unable to be in the chair at 8 a.m, and twice kept Khalatbari and Hammadi, the two ministers, waiting for up to two hours.

Someone must have reported the situation to Saddam because on the third day of "waiting for Bouteflika" comedy, the Iraqi leader turned up at the palace at 7:30.

Hew announced that he would spend just a few minutes at the conference to congratulate all on their good work. Needless to say the Algerian entourage of Bouteflika, swallowing their fear of the boss, managed to coax him out of bed and into the conference hall, hastily dressed and unshaved.

Waiting for the conference to begin it was clear that Saddam did not want to talk to the Iranian minister who was already in the lobby. The reason was that he did not wish Hammadi and other Iraqi negotiators to believe that they were being short-circuited. Saddam had come to teach Bouteflika a lesson, not to undermine the Iraqi delegation's position. Spotting me among the waiting crowd, Saddam came forwards, shook may hand and said he hoped I was pleased with our interview the day before.

Because he continued walking it was clear that he wanted to use me as cover to avoid more than a handshake with the Iranian minister and other dignitaries present.

While we were walking, Saddam stopped for a few seconds to watch a Tom and Jerry cartoon that was shown on a television set in the lobby. This provided him with the ideal non-subject to spend the time. He unleashed a tirade against how Hollywood and American culture in general propagated violence and inhumanity. He said American cartoons taught children from early age that life was about nothing but " to kill or to get killed." This was an interesting film review, coming from a man who had recently personally shot a number of his Ba'ath comrades. At the end of our walkabout in the lobby, Saddam had decided to order a ban on showing any American cartoons on Iraqi TV.

By pure coincidence, two of my closest personal friends, Hussein Shahid-Zadeh and Fereydoun Zand-Fard were to be successively named as Iran's ambassador to Baghdad after the 1975 accords. The foreign ministry desk that dealt with Iraq was headed by another friend, Sadeq Sadrieh. This must have given Saddam, always looking for conspiracies, the impression that the Shah had assigned a special task force on Iraq of which I was an unofficial member. This was, of course, not the case, and the fact that I gave news of Iraq prominence in Kayhan, Iran's largest daily newspaper of which I had become editor-in-chief in 1972, was due to the fact that the public was keen to read about a neighbour that was so close and yet so troublesome.

My next meeting with Saddam Hussein was a few months later, again while accompanying, Khalatbari, the foreign minister. One day, virtually the whole of the Iraqi top leadership, with the exceptions of Saddam Hussein and the ailing President Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr, had been invited to lunch at our ambassador's residence. After lunch we sat around the table listening to a live radio broadcast of a match between the youth football teams of Iran and Iraq being held in Kuwait. We were in the second half-time when it was announced that Saddam was dropping in for an unexpected visit. The Iraqi leaders, including Izzat Ibrahim al-Durri, Taha al-Jizrawi, Saadoun Hammadi and several other ministers and party leaders, immediately got up and stood to attention like schoolboys. It was not for another 10 minutes before Saddam arrived. But the Iraqi officials continued to stand up.

When Saddam arrived he shook a few hands, pushed a finger into Jizrawi's bulging stomach with a curt " we need to reduce weight", and walked into the salon where he sat in a chair that someone was carrying for him. ( Because of a back problem, Saddam always had his own special chair.) He then asked what the score of the match was. The Iranians were ahead two-nil, and this was bad news. None of the Iraqi leaders present wished to be bearers of bad news. The ambassador broke the silence by saying : " We are at half-time, nothing has been decided yet, but the Iranians are ahead with two goals to nil."

Saddam seemed to be in a jovial mood.

He broke into a long speech about how he believed that the signing of the Algiers accord had been his "greatest contribution to our history" and how he saw a rosy future in which Iraq and Iran will provide joint leadership for the Gulf region and turn it into a centre of gravity for the developing world as a whole. Having completed his rambling speech and swallowed several small glasses of sweet and extremely hot saffron tea, the dictator got up, shook hands all around and walked out, leaving all wondering what message he had meant to convey.

I met Saddam on four other occasions, in Baghdad and Tehran, each time finding him more disconnected from reality. He had imposed his absolute rule on Iraq through unprecedented violence. But, in the process, he had also turned himself into a prisoner in a golden jail where no one dared tell him the truth.

Amir Taheri is an Iranian journalist and author of 10 books on the Middle East and Islam. He is reachable through www.benadorassociates.com .

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/GuestColumns/Taheri20030831.shtml

[DoctorZIn]

More executions carried in Iran

SMCCDI (Information Service)
Aug 31, 2003

Official sources of the Islamic republic regime have announced, today, the executions of 4 more men. Three of these sentences were carried in Karaj, a western suburb of Tehran, and the 4th one in the provincial city of Kerman.

Those executed in Karaj have been identified, by the same sources, as Shahram M., Mehdi, and Shahram. , but no name has been revealed for the victim in Kerman.

All charges against these 4 new victims of the regime have been declared as "Drug Trafficking" and "Creation of Gang" which are labels used by the Islamic regime to qualify its unknown opponents. Such policy helps the European and Japanese backers of the Islamic regime to justify, vis a vis their public opinions, the continuation of their economic relations with the repressive Clerical regime.

Karaj and Kerman have been scenes of bloody riots against the regime.

Also, 43 harsh sentences of long imprisonment have been given against young freedom lovers of the City of Razghan located in the Fars province. They were arrested last July 9th during the crackdown on the popular demo held at the occasion of the 4th anniversary of the 1999 Student Uprising.

Some of them have traces of forced interrogations such as taking off their nails.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_2063.shtml

[risk]

DoctorZin, I just wanted to thank you again for keeping us up to date on Iran. I haven't forgotten Iran or Hong Kong, either.

[DoctorZIn]

Iranian Daily: Mossad Agents Behind Najaf Blast

September 01, 2003
Middle East Media Research Institute
MEMRI

The September 1, 2003 edition of the Tehran Times released two articles - one stating that extremist Jews are plotting to assassinate French President Jacques Chirac, and the other implicating Israeli agents for the blast in Najaf on Friday. The following are excerpts from the articles:

'Jews Plot to Assassinate Chirac'

"A group of extremist Jews through establishing firm connections with the rightist groups in France try to convince them to agree with a plot to assassinate French President Jacques Chirac. The Al-Quds Al-Arabi daily reported that hardline Jews are plotting to assassinate Chirac because of his support for Islam and Arabs.

"The French security system has warned against the plot, it said. The plot is entering its operational stages, it said. A number of Israeli and Russian Jews are trying to assassinate Chirac to create insecurity in France, it added.

"The extremist Jews are in close connection with the rightist Christians in France. Recently Chirac escaped an attempt on his life when a rightist Christian shot at him, it said. Chirac's security has been beefed up. In close connection with the neo-Nazi organizations, the extremist Jews have planned to attack the Muslim mosques to create disorder in the country.

"About 700,000 Jews live in France, most of whom are in Paris. Muslims in France are about nine million, that is, nine times that of the Jews…" [1]

'Mossad Agents in Najaf Blast'

"An Iraqi analyst said traces of Mossad agents were found at the Najaf blast site where Ayatollah Seyed Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim, the leader of the Supreme Assembly for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SAIRI), and more than 80 others were martyred on Friday. The analyst, who requested anonymity, told the Mehr News Agency that Zionist intelligence agents have made great efforts to infiltrate Iraqi groups in order to thwart efforts to create national unity.

"After Saddam Hussein was ousted, the Zionist regime took advantage of a lack of cooperation among the Iraqi Shia and sent a large number of extremist Jews and Mossad agents to Iraq, with the help of the occupying forces, to infiltrate Islamic groups and obtain information, the analyst said. "He added that a few months ago, a Mossad agent who knew Arabic and was quite familiar with Iraqi Muslim groups made a great effort to infiltrate organizations in southern Iraq and even influenced these groups. According to some reports… members of the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) have helped Zionist operatives in this mission…" [2]

---

[1] Tehran Times (Iran), September 1, 2003, http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=9/1/03&Cat=2&Num=009.

[2] Tehran Times (Iran), September 1, 2003, http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=9/1/03&Cat=2&Num=006.

http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD56303

[DoctorZIn]

Iran Drops Charges in Canadian Journalist's Death

September 01, 2003
The Associated Press
Ha'aretz

TEHRAN, Iran - Tehran's prosecution office on Monday rejected charges issued last month against two Intelligence Ministry agents over the killing of an Iranian-Canadian photojournalist, according to a statement released by the office.

The statement said Tehran's deputy prosecutor general, Jafar Reshadati, returned the Aug. 25 indictments against the agents and called for "further investigations" into the charges.

An independent judge charged the agents with complicity in photojournalist Zahra Kazemi's "semi-premeditated murder." She died July 10 after sustaining head injuries while in custody.

Kazemi, 54, died nearly three weeks after being detained for taking photographs outside a Tehran prison during student-led protests. After 77 hours of interrogation, she had been rushed to a hospital's intensive care unit, where she died 14 days later.

The Intelligence Ministry has criticized the accusations that the agents, both interrogators, were involved in Kazemi's death as "sheer lies." The Ministry also accused a judiciary agent of beating Kazemi to death.

Such charges and countercharges have characterized Iran's probe into the death of Kazemi, which has become the latest battleground in the power struggle between elected reformers and hard-liners who control Iran's police force, judiciary and security agencies.

Initially, the hard-line Tehran prosecutor, Saeed Mortazavi, was quoted as saying Kazemi had died of a stroke.

But a presidential-appointed committee discredited this version and found that she had died of head injuries sustained while in custody.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=335576&contrassID=1&subContrassID=8&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

[DoctorZIn]

Iran Wants U.N. Approval of Nuclear Power

September 01, 2003
The Associated Press
Ali Akbar Dareini

TEHRAN -- Iran said Monday it will not allow unfettered inspections of its nuclear facilities until the U.N. atomic agency recognizes its right to acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

On Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said Iran was ready to begin talks on signing an extension to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty that would strengthen international inspection powers.

But before signing the protocol, the country wants "the recognition of Iran's right of peaceful use of nuclear energy. This is not something we can bargain about," government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh said Monday.

The United States accuses Iran of developing a clandestine nuclear weapons program in violation of the treaty. Iran insists its nuclear programs are for generating electricity - a right that it says is guaranteed under the treaty.

However, under the protocol, Iran would have to accept tougher inspections of its nuclear sites without notice.

Iran has said it would agree to unfettered inspections if it is granted access to advanced nuclear technology as provided for under the treaty. Tehran says Washington's influence is blocking that technology.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said in Tehran on Saturday that Iran should not expect rewards from the European Union for signing the protocol.

Reacting to his comments, Ramezanzadeh said: "we want no reward or concessions. We only want assurances that the International Atomic Energy Agency fulfills its obligations to Iran" under the treaty.

President Mohammad Khatami assured Solana over the weekend that "nuclear weapons have no place in Iran's defense policies."

The IAEA has said traces of weapons-grade uranium have been found at a nuclear facility at Natanz in central Iran, but Iran said the equipment was contaminated before it was purchased....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10426-2003Sep1.html

[DoctorZIn]

Riyadh Denies Receiving al-Qaeda Members From Tehran

September 01, 2003
Radio Free Europe
Bill Samii

Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayif bin Abd al-'Aziz al-Sa'ud says that none of the Saudis detained in Iran have been sent to Saudi Arabia, according to an interview that appeared in the 30 August "Al-Hayat."

Prince Nayif urged Tehran to extradite the Saudis in its custody. Iran's ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Ali Asghar Khaji, had said on 23 August that Tehran has extradited alleged Saudi Al-Qaeda members to their country of origin, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported. He did not identify any of these individuals by name.

Among the alleged top Al-Qaeda figures who reportedly are or have been in Iran are Saad bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Saif al-Adel, Suleiman Abu Ghayth, and Abu Musab Zarqawi.

According to anonymous "Iranian sources" cited by the "Financial Times" on 23 August, Saad bin Laden has been sent to Pakistan, and al-Zawahiri is "too big a fish to keep in Iran." The British daily noted that there is controversy in Iran over what to do with the alleged Al-Qaeda personnel. Further complicating the issue, some of the detainees have been stripped of their citizenships....

http://www.rferl.org/iran-report/

[DoctorZIn]

Israel's 'Annihilation' Demanded at Tehran Conference

September 01, 2003
Radio Free Europe
Bill Samii

A conference, titled "Intifada: a Step Toward Freedom," was held at Tehran University from 19-21 August. It was hosted by the student committee of the secretariat of the Support for the Palestinian Intifada conference series, the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) reported on 18 August.

Conference secretary Ruhollah Owhadi said that "active Palestinian students from numerous Palestinian Jihadi groups" would 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."

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 gave the opening speeches.

Another reformist parliamentarian from Tehran, Seyyed Hadi Khamenei, spoke in praise of "martyrdom operations" (suicide bombings) at the conference. He said, "The second Intifada is dependent on the martyrdom operations of Palestinian resistance and youngsters," "Aftab-i Yazd" reported on 21 August.

Khamenei also described Iranian influence on regional events: "The Islamic Republic of Iran and its founder the late Imam Khomeini, God's benedictions upon him, have been the true founders of the Intifada movement in the Palestinian territory. Thus, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the ideas of the imam, God's benedictions upon him, play the central role in the Palestinian territory and would surely have an influence over all issues there including the plans for peace."

Mohtashami-Pur gave the 21 August closing speech of the conference. He said that the existence of Israel precludes the establishment of regional peace and stability, "Iran" reported on 23 August, citing ISNA. He also said, "The racist Israeli regime will be isolated because of the unity, solidarity, and unanimity of the Islamic world. Only through the disintegration of that regime will a government of the people be established in Palestine." The Palestinian issue will be resolved only if, in the words of "Iran," "the Jews who invaded the land of Palestine went back to their own countries." Mohtashami-Pur called for a referendum in which all Palestinians, be they Muslims, Christians, or Jews, determine their own destiny.

"The participants in the conference consider the annihilation of the Zionist regime as a prerequisite and precondition for democracy in the Middle East," according to the final resolution of the conference, as reported in the 23 August "Siyasat-i Ruz." The resolution condemned Israel for a variety of reasons and called on the international community to support Palestinians' rights. The resolution promoted a nuclear-free Middle East and the disarmament of Israel. The Al Aqsa Intifada was hailed as the only way to defeat the occupation of Palestine. The resolution condemned U.S. threats against independent countries and occupation of Islamic ones, and it called for an end to the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq....

http://www.rferl.org/iran-report/

[DoctorZIn]

Appeal for Urgent Action to Save the Lives of Deported Iranian Kurds

September 01, 2003
Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan
The Bureau of International Relations

Appeal to humanitarian organization for urgent action to save the lives of deported Iranian Kurdish refugees to Iranian authorities by Turkish police.

According to news obtained by the International Relations Bureau of PDKI from refugee groups stationed in Van, Turkish police have detained a number of Iranian Kurdish refugees on Saturday and Sunday of 30 and 31 of August, and has transferred these detainees to unknown locations. According to these sources, the threat of being deported to Iranian authorities endangers the lives of these refugees. The past cases have proven that such deportations to Iranian agents can lead to executions. The cases of Karim Toujali and Khalid Showghi prove these claims: they were sent to prison right after their deportation, and consequently, after a few years of imprisonment and torture they were executed on the 24 January 2002 and 7 October 2002 respectively.

It is the existence of such threats that we appeal to all the international human rights organizations and centers to reach out to assist these refugees before it is too late, and pressure the Turkish government to stop the deportation of these desperate people to the assassins of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

It should be noted that the International Relations Bureau, in defense of these refugees, is in constant contact with the UNHCR offices in Geneva, Ankara and Van and also with Amnesty International, France-Liberty Foundation, and the League for the Defense of Human Rights in Iran and others institutions.

Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan

The Bureau of International Relations

Paris 2003/09/01

http://iranvajahan.net/cgi-bin/news.pl?l=en&y=2003&m=09&d=01&a=9

[DoctorZIn]

Iran Bans Travel by 40 Senior Officials, Generals

September 02, 2003
The Middle East Online
MENL

London -- Iran has banned travel abroad by 40 senior officials and military commanders out of concern that they could be arrested on charges of being involved in Islamic insurgency attacks sponsored by the Teheran regime.

The London-based A-Sharq Al Awsat reported on Monday that the Iranian regime imposed the ban in wake of the arrest in Britain of a former Iranian ambassador to Argentina last month. Hadi Soleimanpur, who was enrolled at Britain's Durham University, has been charged with participating in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in which 85 people were killed.

Argentina has issued arrest warrants for Soleimanpur and 11 other prominent Iranians. They include former Intelligence Minister Ali Fallahijan. Last week, an Iranian diplomat was stopped in the Netherlands and briefly questioned before he left for Teheran.

A-Sharq Al Awsat, in an article written by Ali Nuri Zadeh, said the ban on travel was imposed on nine Iranian diplomats, four generals and a former minister. The newspaper said the decision by the Supreme Council for National Security included Fallahijan and seven Iranian diplomats sought by Argentina in connection with the 1994 attack.

http://www.menewsline.com/stories/2003/september/09_02_1.html

[DoctorZIn]

Bombing Democracy

September 02, 2003
The New York Times
Marc Gerecht

WASHINGTON -- Of all the bad news from Iraq recently - the bombing of the UN headquarters, attacks on coalition soldiers, hints of foreign terrorists being drawn to a holy war - the car bombing Friday in the Shiite holy city of An Najaf is clearly the most worrisome.

The attack, which killed scores of Iraqis, including the prominent cleric Ayatollah Muhammad Bakr al-Hakim - and which took place less than a week after a bomb went off at the home of Hakim's uncle, Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Said al-Hakim - has convulsed the Shiite community. That should be of vital concern to the United States, whose fortunes in Iraq will rise or fall with the political sentiments of the Shiites, who make up at least 60 percent of Iraq's population.

These bombings were undoubtedly intended to terrorize Iraq's clerical establishment and to snuff out the growing dialogue between mainstream Shiites and Americans. Both ayatollahs had been talking to U.S. officials and favored democracy. Muhammad Bakr al-Hakim controlled the only effective Shiite paramilitary force, but had chosen not to direct it against the occupation. This had angered Shiite extremists, notably the young cleric Moktada al-Sadr, leader of a violent faction known as the Sadriyyin.

It may never be totally clear who planned the two bombings: the Sadriyyin, fundamentalist Sunni Muslims, Baath Party loyalists or agents of Iran's hard-core mullahs. Some U.S. officials and Ahmad Chalabi, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, quickly blamed anti-American Sunnis.

This may well be true, but it is important to note that the Baath Party loyalists and Sunni fundamentalists, at least until now, have kept their distance from the Shiite south, killing "collaborationists" and American soldiers only in the Sunni regions.

It is also possible that the bombings were the result of an unexpected marriage of convenience. When I was in Iraq in June, there was much gossip among Shiites that Sadr and his Sadriyyin were trying to forge an alliance with Sunni fundamentalists. If so, U.S. troops may face an ugly two-front war, far worse than the isolated attacks they have endured so far.

Still, whether or not Sunnis were involved in the bombings, the greater concern is that they will spur a Shiite-versus-Shiite tug of war. The Sadriyyin movement has aggressively vied for power with the grand ayatollahs of An Najaf. The Sadriyyin are hard-core revolutionaries, spiritual disciples of the "Khomeini of Iraq," Muhammad Bakr al-Sadr, who was killed by Saddam Hussein in 1980.

In recent weeks Moktada al-Sadr had been ramping up his anti-American vitriol. The reason is clear: Time is working against him. Local governance in the Shiite regions has been solidifying as American administrators have passed more responsibility to Iraqis. As Iraqis slowly gain confidence in the Governing Council, the debate over the coming constitutional convention will dominate Iraqi politics. And if Iraqis succeed in drawing up a new, broadly accepted constitution, the radicals know they will be exiled to the fringes of society.

Indeed, the two bombings can be seen as evidence of extremists' failure to gain traction on the "Shiite street." If so, the decision to resort to violence may backfire. Few Shiites will countenance violence against such respected figures, or such ghastly slaughter so near the Imam Ali mosque.

It is critical for the American administration to react decisively. Until now it has shown commendable restraint toward the Sadriyyin movement, not wanting to aid the extremists' recruitment efforts. But if American officials get solid proof that Sadr's followers were involved in the bombings, the military should move quickly and ruthlessly.

And Washington should not tolerate the small stream of holy warriors coming over the Syrian and Iranian borders. Shiite leaders view U.S. efforts against these foreigners as a test of America's resolve and capacities. The only way to stop the flow will be to apply pressure on Syria and Iran to end it. Saddam was never able to seal the Iranian-Iraqi border, and thousands of additional U.S. troops won't either.

In the long term, America's goal must be to create a civil society among Iraqis of all faiths and races. But the principal focus for now must be helping the Shiites and their senior clergy, America's strongest allies in the country. They - not the United Nations and more foreign troops - are the key to creating the democracy America has promised.

The writer, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer, is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

http://www.iht.com/articles/108426.html

[yonif]

per Haaretz:

Iran prosecution office rejects charges against 2 Intelligence Ministry agents over murder of Iranian-Canadian journalist

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