Friday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 12.16.2005:

Ministers of Murder: Iran's New Security Cabinet

Human Rights Watch:

Iran’s new Minister of Interior is implicated in grave human rights violations over the past two decades, possibly including crimes against humanity in connection with the massacre of thousands of political prisoners, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper released today.

Human Rights Watch also said that the new Minister of Information should be investigated for his possible involvement in a dissident’s killing.

The briefing paper, Ministers of Murder: Iran’s New Security Cabinet, details credible allegations that Minister of Interior Mustafa Pour-Mohammadi and Minister of Information Gholamhussein Mohseni Ezhei were involved in extremely serious and systematic human rights violations over the past two decades. READ MORE

Here are a few other news items you may have missed.

• ABC News reported that European Union leaders will address the Iranian president's denial of the Holocaust as a "myth," at a EU summit beginning Thursday in Brussels.
  
• Paul Hughes, Reuters considered the question: Is there method behind Iran's anti-Israel remarks?
• Pepe Escobar, Asia Times reported that Vienna will feel like Alaska next Wednesday when Iran resumes negotiations on its turbulent nuclear dossier with the EU-3. It's all got to do with Israel.
• Louis Charbonneau, Reuters reported that German officials are weighing up imposing some form of travel restriction on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
• The Associated Press reported that Arab governments appeared reluctant to condemn Iran's president for calling the Holocaust a "myth."
• Reuters reported that a senior Vatican cardinal sharply criticised Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for claiming the Holocaust was a myth.
• Michael Ledeem, The National Review reminded us: The enemy is among Us.
• The Heritage Foundation published a backgrounder report: Countering Iran's Nuclear Challenge.
• UPI reported that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad`s recent anti-Semitic remarks may have dealt a fatal blow to the already fragile negotiation process due to restart next week over Iran`s nuclear program.
• The Guardian reported that European leaders warned that patience with Iran is running thin.
  
• Agencia Internacional de Noticias reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declined to rule out the possibility that Israel might launch a preemptive air strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.
  
• TurkishPress reported that Football's world governing body FIFA has no intention of banning Iran from the 2006 World Cup finals despite Germany politicians call for a ban on Iran.
• Agence France-Presse reported that Hamas will step up attacks against Israel if the Jewish state takes military action against Iran.
• The Jerusalem Post reported that the Swedish parliament ceased all bilateral contacts with the Iranian parliament.
• Shervin Omidvar, Rooz Online reported that Mesbah Yazdi said: Universities must become Islamic.
• Freedom for Eqyptians reported that an Iranian extremist group is producing a film on late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat assassination in 1981, entitled “34 Bullets for the Pharoah”.
• And finally, AsianNews.ir published a photo of Tehran smog.