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ABANDONED BY KHATAMI, REFORMISTS HAVE LOST THE ELECTORAL BATTLE TEHRAN, 31 Jan. (IPS) The Iranian crisis over mass disqualification of reformist candidates, among them several leading reformist lawmakers deepened on Saturday with contrary statements attributed to the government and the President, saying that an amiable solution of the raw has reached a "dead end" and warning that elections in such situation "lacked legitimacy and legality". As the disqualified reformists announced their decision to resign, Iranian news agencies reported that obeying the Chief Executive, ministers and provincial governors decided to remain in office, forgetting earlier threats to resign and the office...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.TEHRAN, Iran - (KRT) - Dozens of Iranian lawmakers resigned from parliament Saturday to protest the refusal by Iran's ruling Islamic clerics to lift a widespread ban on pro-reform candidates in next month's parliamentary elections. The resignations herald an almost unavoidable showdown between the popularly-elected government of President Mohammad Khatami, who is allied with the reformers, and unelected hardline clerics on the Guardian Council. The clerics have been trying to wrest control of the assembly from reformers who are working to bring secular rule to Iran. On Friday, the all-powerful council refused...

Iranian Students Call Election Boycott - Crisis Not Over Wed Jan 28,11:58 AM ET Add World - AFP to My Yahoo! TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran's main pro-democracy student group weighed into a bitter political stand-off, calling for a boycott of next month's parliament elections in protest over the mass disqualification of reformist candidates. And dampening hopes that the Islamic republic could pull out of one of its worst political crisis amid intense government wrangling with hardliners, embattled President Mohammad Khatami cautioned it was too early to say if an acceptable solution could be found. A statement from the Office to...

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's hard-line Guardian Council on Sunday defended its disqualification of prospective candidates for next month's parliamentary elections, further deepening a political crisis. The Guardian Council, an unelected body controlled by hard-liners, has disqualified more than a third of the 8,200 people who applied to run in the Feb. 20 elections. Reformists believe the move was an attempt to skew the elections in favor of conservatives. "The Guardian Council won't back down at all," Guardian Council spokesman Ebrahim Azizi told a press conference. "Lawmakers whose speech or behavior suggest that they have had no loyalty to Islam or...

Greg LaMotte, Cairo Iran's supreme leader has ordered the hard-line conservative Guardian Council to reconsider its decision to ban thousands of candidates from next month's parliamentary elections. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is attempting to put an end to a political crisis that erupted in Iran after thousands of mostly reformist parliamentary candidates were barred from running in next month's elections. The supreme leader ordered the conservative constitutional watchdog Guardian Council to reconsider its decision to bar almost half of the 8,000 candidates seeking election in next month's vote. Among the barred candidates are more than 80 current members...

Iran's Political System Explained Iran's complex and unusual political system combines elements of a modern Islamic theocracy with democracy. The whole system operates under a Supreme Leader who, although appointed by an elected body, is in effect answerable to no-one. The constitution, however, also recognises the popular will, creating a system where the elected president and parliament struggle against the more powerful, but unelected, Supreme Leader and the institutions he influences. Consequently, although reformists dominate the parliament, the political system has seen little change. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/03/iran_power/html/default.stm

The opening bars of Richard Strauss’ composition “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” became famous as the theme for Stanle Kubrick’s 1968 movie “2001: A Space Odyssey.” But apart from academics and some 300-thosuand believers, few people know much about ancient Iranian prophet Zarathustra and his teaching. “Yet only one thousand years ago, millions, millions espoused Zarathustra’s monotheistic percepts in nations which stretched from (the ancient Chinese city of) Sian (western China) to the Eastern China across central Asia, northern India, Iran, Asia Minor, Mesopotamia up Greece in the west and Arabia, north Africa and Ethiopia in the south,” says Adi Davar, a...

Magi (Majusian) From old Persian language, a priest of Zarathustra (Zoroaster). The Bible gives us the direction, East and the legend states that the wise men were from Persia (Iran) - Balthasar, Melchior, Caspar - thus being priests of Zarathustra religion, the mages. Obviously the pilgrimage had some religious significance for these men, otherwise they would not have taken the trouble and risk of travelling so far. But what was it? An astrological phenomenon, the Star? Church of Nativity in Bethlehem, was erected in 329 by Queen Helena in the area it was believed to be where Jesus was born....

If you notice the title of dictionaries that have been written by several great Persian scholars (eg. Prof. Moein, Prof. Aryanpour, Prof. Baateni, etc.) The title of all of them is "English-Persian Dictionary" not "English-Farsi Dictionary". Meanwhile the official institution "Farhangestan" (the Academy of Persian language and literature, in Tehran) in an announcement has rejected the use of the word 'Farsi' instead of 'Persian' in English. (I have attached it). According to Dr. Hossein Sameie (visiting linguistics professor of Emory University in Atlanta), "PERSIAN, alongside the name of a language, may be used, as an adjective, for the other aspects...

"Please ... Call Me an Iranian, Not a Moslem!" Farhad Mafie "This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness." -Dalai Lama Hold on to Your Hat! Some days the Persian Gulf is referred to as the Arabian Gulf. Some days Rumi-the great Iranian poet and philosopher-is referred to as a poet from Afghanistan or a poet from Turkey. Some days Sina or Avicenna, Rāzi, Farabi, Birouni-the great Iranian scientists-are referred to as Arab scientists. Some days Iranian arts are...

The election of Mohammad Khatami as president of Iran in May 1997 launched what many of his supporters hoped would be the most ambitious attempt in the Islamic world to bridge the divide between the public and private spheres. In the years since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the conservative clerical establishment had systematically eliminated almost all traces of the democratic pluralist currents that had helped feed the original rebellion against the U.S.-backed shah. What is more, they fortified Iran's traditional political despotism with an equally despotic reading of the Shiite Muslim faith, forcing dissent, debate, and differences of opinion to...

If Europe wants to help the Iranian people they should realise that the present Islamic regime has done nothing but poison Persia and her people. February 2004 will see the next parliamentary elections in Iran. Already the municipal elections that took place in February 2003 were significant for the Islamic Republic, in which turnout hit rock bottom - in the capital city Tehran, only 9% of eligible voters did so. This clearly indicates a loss of faith in the Islamic regime and its potential for change, as people have become increasingly frustrated with the reformists’ legacy of broken promises. A...

The West Must Support the Iranian People December 5, 2003 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- by Amber Pawlik -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Most Westerners know very little about the psyche of the Iranian population. Those who think they do are usually nothing more than elitist leftists who are projecting what they want to believe about Iranians unto the Iranians. I’ve gotten into many debates with leftist elitists who insist that the Iranian population is Muslim. I was on the phone with a man (who sympathizes largely with communist theory), and I brought up Iran. The first thing he said to me was, “They are Muslim.” Although he...

Path to Mideast Peace Via Iran? The Washington Times / Constantine C. Menges October 25, 2003/There is a political solution to three grave Mideast dangers facing the United States and its allies. These risks include expanded terrorism, the new Iraq coming under the control of pro-Iranian Shi'ite extremists and an Iran already armed with ballistic missiles obtaining nuclear weapons...Rather than using military force or relying only on diplomacy, providing political assistance to help the people of Iran establish constitutional democracy would be consistent with their wishes and would move the entire Middle East in a positive direction. There is a...

Brain Drain Ministry? Tehran Times - By Hamid Golpira Sep 30, 2003 Iran is currently looking for a new science, research and technology minister. This post cannot remain vacant for long. Iran has one of the worst brain drain problems in the world. Intellectuals, scientists, and young university graduates are leaving the country in droves. Something must be done about this soon or a national catastrophe will occur. The former minister of science, research and technology, Mostafa Moin, resigned, saying he could no longer tolerate the "poisonous political atmosphere" created by the conflict between rival factions

Iran's Underground Economy September 08, 2003 Middle East Economic Survey By Jahangir Amuzegar In the following article for MEES, Jahangir Amuzegar, a distinguished economist and former member of the IMF Executive Board, analyzes Iran's underground economy. A highly distinctive feature of Iran's Islamic Republic is the relatively large size of its underground economy. Alternately called informal, parallel, unofficial, unregistered, gray, and a host of other labels, the underground economy refers to activities - both lawful and unlawful - that elude taxation or escape registration in the country's gross domestic product (GDP). The size of any country's underground economy normally depends...

Funeral of some of the killed Semirom demonstrators lead to more unrest SMCCDI (Information Service) Aug 20, 2003 The funeral ceremonies of 4 of the killed Semirom demonstrators lead, today, to more unrest and clashes in this city. Thousands of residents came into the streets to pay a mass tribute to some of theirs who have been killed by the Islamic republic regime forces. Slogans shouted against the regime and its leaders lead again to sporadic clashes and chase and run which took place between young freedom fighters and the regime special forces and plainclothes men.

Unrest spread to Bandar Emam Khomeini SMCCDI (Information Service) Aug 18, 2003 Iran's new wave of unrests has spread to the southern cities and especially to the City-Port of Bandar Emam Khomeini (formerly known as Bandar Shahpoor). Residents of Shahid Sabaghian area came into the streets and clashed with the regime's forces sent to repress their peaceful protest action.

Iranian Officials Ignore Ecstacy Abuse August 18, 2003 Radio Free Europe Bill Samii It is difficult for some people to imagine the extent of drug abuse in Iran, an Islamic theocracy. Yet on 21 July an official in Iran's Drug Control Headquarters, Mohammad Hussein Khademi, said almost 3 million people out of a total population of about 67 million have addiction problems, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported on 27 July. And on 12 August Mohsen Vazirian, an official with the Ministry of Health, Treatment, and Medical Education, described the distribution of free syringes to Tehran drug addicts in...

EIGHT KILLED IN CENTRAL IRAN RIOTS. Weekend riots in central Iran left a number of dead and wounded. Usually such provincial displays of anger are connected with unhappiness over an absence of public services (such as water shortages) or redistricting plans and their associated economic costs. In this case it appears that local grievances are more deep-rooted and the central government already had military forces on the scene. Mehdi Taheri, the Isfahan governor-general office's director-general for political-security affairs, said that eight people, including two policemen, were killed and 150 were injured during the 16 August riots, the Iranian Students News...