Week in Review

DoctorZin provides a review of this past week's [6/04/06 - 6/10/06] major news events regarding Iran. (The reports are listed in chronological order, not by importance) READ MORE

Iran's Nuclear Program & The UN Security Council.

• Time reported that an IAEA report on Iran's activities is expected next week will include "potentially incriminating" details about traces of highly enriched uranium recently found by inspectors.
• The Chicago Tribune reported the debate inside of Iran over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his nuclear ambitions.
• The Jerusalem Post reported that Japan is considering imposing sanctions on Iran if it continues to reject international calls to scrap its nuclear program.
• Hindu Times reported that the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have backed global efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the standoff between Tehran and Western countries over its controversial nuclear program.
• The Washington Post reported that a senior Iranian official said: "What we need is an American president who will follow the example of Richard Nixon going to China."
• Reuters reported that the incentives to be offered on to Iran include a proposal to allow Tehran to purchase aircraft parts from Boeing Co. and Airbus.
• SFGate reported that the U.S. is counting on China as mediator with Iran.
• Yahoo News reported that EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana handed Iran an international proposal on the nuclear crisis and the two sides held "good" talks.
• Bloomberg reported that President George W. Bush said Iran's response to a U.S.-backed initiative aimed a resolving a standoff over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program is a "positive" first step.
• New York Post reported that while the Bush administration offered to join the negotiations with Iran, Ahmadinejad quickly rejected any cessation of enrichment. But the U.S. government is refusing to take no for an answer.
• Reuters reported that oil dipped, then steadied below 73 dollars a barrel after Iran said world powers had made positive proposals to end a crisis over its nuclear program.
• Yahoo News reported that a package of incentives presented Tuesday to Iran includes a provision for the United States to supply Tehran with some nuclear technology.
• Michael Ledeen, National Review Online pointed out that while some have suggested that we send Bill Clinton to negotiate with the mullahs on our behalf, it isn’t necessary; we’ve just adopted his methods.
• Khaleej Times Online reported that the United States and other world powers have offered possible guarantees for Iran’s ”terroritorial integrity” as part of its nuclear proposal.
• Times Online thinks that the world’s latest offer to Iran — a "clever one" — has prompted the most civil response from Tehran in a year. A UK perspective.
• VOA News reported that the exiled son of Iran's late shah sharply criticized diplomatic negotiations by the West to persuade Tehran to abandon its nuclear program saying the United States and Europeans will get nowhere in their efforts to coax Iran to abandon its nuclear program through dialogue.
• Monsters & Critics reported that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Iran has until the end of June to give a decisive response to new international proposals to defuse the crisis around its nuclear program.
• Vital Perspective reported that Hans Blix denied the existence of a 'Technological Point of No Return' in regards to Iran's nuclear program.
• The New York Post reported that Iranian researchers began a new round of nuclear enrichment on the same day that a European proposal for ending the crisis over Iran's nuclear program was presented in Tehran.
• The Guardian reported that diplomats believe that Iran will reject the Int'l. offer in the end.
• The Washington Post reported that Reza Pahlavi said if Iran accepts the nuclear proposal, Iran would have to backtrack on its propaganda, which he called the "glue" holding the regime together. Should it reject the offer, Tehran would face an "economic shock" from potential U.N. sanctions.
• Reuters reported that Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said: "The package they [the Perm-5] have brought is a package that is good for themselves and is not appropriate for the Iranian people."
• Fox News reported that President Bush warned Iran has "weeks, not months" to suspend its nuclear weapons research and accept a U.S.-backed package of incentives.
• Dow Jones Newswires reported that French President Jacques Chirac said "We cannot accept that it has launched and pursued a process that could, notably through enrichment, .... lead to the creation of a nuclear weapon."
• SFGate reported that Iran given June 29 deadline to respond to anti-nuke offer.
• The Financial Times reported that John Bolton said Washington has no intention of striking a comprehensive "grand bargain" with Tehran.
• Reuters reported that Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Iran may send its own nuclear package in response to proposed incentives agreed by six world powers that seek to persuade Tehran to stop its atomic fuel work.
• RIA Novosti reported that the Russian Foreign Ministry was shocked by comments from the US ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, who accused the Russian leadership of being split over the Iranian nuclear issue.
  

Iran and the World Cup.

• Times Online reported that President Ahmadinejad has jangled German nerves by announcing that he may cheer on his country’s team in person at the World Cup.
• The Simon Wiesenthal Center asked people to sign its petition urging German Chancellor Angela Merkel to keep the holocaust-denying president of Iran out of Germany.
• Bloomberg reported that Iranian Vice President Mohammad Aliabadi will travel to Germany for the soccer World Cup. Ahmadinejad may attend future matches.
• The Prospect reported that while Ahmadinejad, the Iran President, continues his “will he, won’t he” game with the West, the country’s footballers are adopting a different approach, a charm offensive.
• The Observer reported that Iran's Football team will be met with a series of protests across Germany during their World Cup campaign as anger mounts against the country's viciously anti-semitic President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
• Spiegel Online reported that in Bavaria, where Iran is set to play its first match in Nuremberg on Sunday, the state's interior minister has expressed concerns that Iranian intelligence agents may seek to stage what he described as a "provocative action" aimed at intimidating Iranian opposition members living in exile in Germany.
  

The Unrest in Iran.

• Rooz Online reported that a large number of writers and journalists were among those arrested during the recent popular protests in the province of Azarbaijan.
• Ali M. Koknar, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy reports on the tens of thousands of
• Iran Press News published a photo of Iranian women demanding equal rights in Iran. Plus an announcement for the June 12th Women's protest in Tehran.
• Rooz Online reported that five women Nobel Peace Prize winners came out in support of the rally in Tehran on June 12th, 2006 against legal discrimination of women.
• Iranian Azeris took to the streets for several days of demonstrations and the implications for U.S. and Western policy toward Tehran.
• SMCCDI reported that tens have been arrested, in the last days, in several Iranian cities with the approach of Iran-Mexico World Cup soccer game on Sunday June 11th in an effort to avoid any massive popular unrest to take place following the game.
  

Iran's leaders latest statements.

• The Herald reported that the Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said attempts to punish Tehran would jeopardize the world's oil supply.
• Yahoo News reported that Iran's top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned: "If you make any mistake (and invade Iran), definitely shipment of energy from this region will be seriously jeopardized."
• Yahoo News reported that Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has declared that the Islamic republic must not give up its "scientific goals" in the face of "threats and bribes".
• CNN News reported that oil prices have surged above $73 after Iran's supreme leader warned the United States that any "misbehavior" directed at his country could endanger oil movements in the Persian Gulf.
• Rooz Online reported that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s advisor Mohammad Ali Ramin said of the Jews: "they were the source for such deadly disease as the plague and typhus. This is because the Jews are very filthy people."
• Asia News reported that Dori Najafabadi, currently Iran’s Attorney General and a close ally to Supreme Leader Khamenei, warned Europe that if “Western states continue their pressures on Iran over its nuclear program, Iran can allow the transit of drugs and narcotics through its waters and other areas.”
• Mehran Riazaty reported that Iranian Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, said that the security of the world’s energy is depended on the security of Persian Gulf and Iran.
• Breitbart.com reported that Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, discussing the West's nuclear proposal, said that the "international monopolists have been defeated."
  

Iranian leaderships unity weakening?

• Rooz Online reported that Rafsanjani was subjected to so much criticism while speaking in Qom that he left the stage and has since canceled all public events.
• Rooz Online reported that the six individuals arrested on charges of disrupting Rafsanjani's speech in Qom were clerics and members associated with hardline Qom cleric Mesbah Yazdi and they were quickly released.
  

Iranian Dissidents.

• Moscow Times reported that Iranian dissident Akbar Ganji arrived in Moscow to receive this year's Golden Pen of Freedom award.
• Payvand published the full text of Akbar Ganji's 2006 Golden Pen of Freedom Acceptance Speech.
• Rooz Online reported on Iranian dissident Akbar Ganji's acceptance speech in Moscow where he received the prestigious Golden Pen of Freedom award.
• Radio Free Europe reported that Iranian dissident Akbar Ganji continued his current international tour and said that he is determined to keep up his struggle for "democracy and human rights."
• Adnkronos International reported that Iranian journalist Iraj Jamshidi, editor in chief of financial daily Asia, has been awarded the International Freedom Prize of the city of Milan.
• Nora Boustany, The Washington Post reported on the famous Iranian poet Simin Behbahani and her support for human rights in Iran describing her as a Poet Who 'Never Sold Her Pen or Soul.'
• Rooz Online reported on the absurd praise of Ahmadinejad by some in Iran.
  

Human Rights and Freedom of the Press in Iran.

• BBC News reported that the United States has added Iran to its list of countries that could face sanctions over their failure to tackle trafficking in people.
• Rooz Online reported that Iran's hardline ministry of culture recently announced that the private sector would be responsible for book reviews and censorship of books through controlling what is published.
  

Rumors of War.

• Ha'aretz reported the US is "cementing" the plans for an assault on Iran.
  

Support for Internal Regime Change in Iran?

• Chicago Tribune reported on recent US efforts to use radio and TV broadcasts to foment change in Iran.
  

Iranian Exiles to meet in Washington DC this month.

• Iranian Solidarity Congress announced its World’s Conference scheduled for June 19-20, 2006 in Washington D.C.
  

US/Iran talks?

• DEBKAfile reported that despite the tough talk between the US and Iran, a secret dialogue is afoot somewhere in the world.
• Rooz Online reported the first reactions in Iran to the US proposal for direct talks with the regime.
• Forward reported that the Bush administration's offer to open direct talks with Iran and reward Tehran if it stops enriching uranium is exposing a policy rift between neoconservatives on one hand, and the Israeli government and Jewish organizations on the other.
• The Financial Times reported that rival Iranian opposition groups in exile have condemned the Bush administration’s conditional offer to begin negotiations with the Islamic republic.
• Middle East Newsline reported that Reza Pahlavi said: "Mr. Ahmadinejad's harsh and venomous rhetoric brought the toughest U.S. president in the life of the Islamic republic to the [negotiations] table," and "The lesson is that harshness and radical talk pays."
  

Iran and the International community.

• Kuwait News Agencyreported that a prominent Austrian security official said Austrian custom authorities have busted highly sophisticated missile equipment stranded for Iran.
• Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister The Washington Post warned "it is necessary that Iraq's neighbors not interfere in its internal matters."
  

Zarqawi Dead!

• DoctorZin's sources informed us of the death of Zarqawi an hour before the Iraqi announcement. We were one of the very first to report it.
• Dan Darling, The Weekly Standard published an excellent report on the end of Abu Musab Zarqawi.
• Michael Ledeen, The National Review Online discussed the importance of the elimination of Zarqawi. The intelligence community was savaged after 9/11 for its failure to connect the dots, and it would be truly embarrassing and very dangerous, to leave the Iranian dot out there apart from the rest of the network we have uncovered and shattered.
• Richard Miniter & Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, The Weekly Standard discussed the often overlooked connection between Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his role model, Nur ad-Din Zanki (1118-1174) which should provide a note of instruction for the future in dealing with the Iraq insurgency.
  

The coming battle in the US Senate on Iran.

• The Hill reported that Senators Santorum and Lugar are headed for clash on Iran sanctions bill. A Must Read.
  

Must Read reports.

• Alan Peters, AntiMullah considered what group will fill the power vacuum left after the regime falls.
• Rooz Online reviewed the past year since Ahmadinejad came to power and the two-pillar approach taken by the Iranian hardliners.
• The Economist reported on Iran's uppity minorities.
• Reuters reported that U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman said the world economy could handle any theoretical cutoff of Iranian oil exports "for a while."
• The Washington Post reported on the legal case against Iran.
• Ian Bremmer, RealClearPolitics examined the question: Are there limits to the Iranian leadership's resolve?
• Vali Nasr, The New Republic examined Iranian Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi's troubled history.
• Simon Henderson, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy reports on the Iranian supreme leader's recent threat on the shipment of oil through the Persian Gulf and raises questions about the strength of the Iranian military and how the United States could counter it, using military power, alternative export routes, or a combination of both.
• Asia News reported on the significance of the November 17th election of 86 “Experts” will take place in Iran.
• The Guardian published a movie review of "Offside" a football comedy about Iranian female football fans.
  

The Experts.

• Ilan Berman, AFPC released an Iran Strategy Brief: Who is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?
• Amir Taheri, Gulf News examined why Condi Rice pushed for direct talks with Iran and considered the question: Will the Rice gambit work in Iran?
• Michael Ledeen, National Review Online pointed out that while some have suggested that we send Bill Clinton to negotiate with the mullahs on our behalf, it isn’t necessary; we’ve just adopted his methods.
• Ilan Berman, National Review Online explained why Iran's threat to use the "Oil Weapon" is a double-edged sword.
• Amir Taheri, Asharq Alawsat reviewed the book: Mirrors of the Unseen: Journeys in Iran.
• Victor Davis Hanson, RealClearPolitics answered the question: Why did the United States suddenly reverse course and agree to negotiate directly with the Iranians?
• Michael Rubin, Prospect reported that in response to the US offering Iran a deal: suspend nuclear enrichment in exchange for a package of incentives; Iran is becoming conditioned to associating concessions with non-compliance.
• Michael Ledeen, The National Review Online discussed the importance of the elimination of Zarqawi. The intelligence community was savaged after 9/11 for its failure to connect the dots, and it would be truly embarrassing and very dangerous, to leave the Iranian dot out there apart from the rest of the network we have uncovered and shattered.
• Richard Miniter & Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, The Weekly Standard discussed the often overlooked connection between Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his role model, Nur ad-Din Zanki (1118-1174) which should provide a note of instruction for the future in dealing with the Iraq insurgency.
• Ilan Berman, The Washington Times reported that the U.S. intelligence community has failed to accurately forecast every single major international WMD incident of the past decade.
• Kenneth R. Timmerman, News Max reported that a magistrate judge in the District Court of Washington, D.C. has dismissed a lawsuit by the survivors and families of victims of the June 25, 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, that sought millions of dollars in damages against the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
  

Photos, cartoons and videos.

• Aryamehr reported on a video clip of the recent massive anti-regime demonstrations in Tabriz.
• A Poster calling for Iranian women call to protest the misogynist rule of Mullahs, June 12th in Tehran.
• Cox & Forkum published a cartoon: Message From Above.
  

The Quote of the Week.

Breitbart.com reported that Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said of the West, the:

"international monopolists have been defeated."

Tags: iran, news, iraq, nuclear, military,

Sunday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 6.11.2006:

Major demonstrations on Iran expected in the next few days.

Protests expected Sunday in Germany against Ahmadinejad during World Cup Games.

• The Observer reported that Iran's Football team will be met with a series of protests across Germany during their World Cup campaign as anger mounts against the country's viciously anti-semitic President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
• Spiegel Online reported that in Bavaria, where Iran is set to play its first match in Nuremberg on Sunday, the state's interior minister has expressed concerns that Iranian intelligence agents may seek to stage what he described as a "provocative action" aimed at intimidating Iranian opposition members living in exile in Germany.

Iranian regime fears demonstrations Sunday.

• SMCCDI reported that tens have been arrested, in the last days, in several Iranian cities with the approach of Iran-Mexico World Cup soccer game on Sunday June 11th in an effort to avoid any massive popular unrest to take place following the game.

Iran: A major women's rights demonstration scheduled for Monday.

• Iran Press News published a photo of Iranian women demanding equal rights in Iran. Plus an announcement for the June 12th Women's protest in Tehran.
• Rooz Online reported that five women Nobel Peace Prize winners came out in support of the rally in Tehran on June 12th, 2006 against legal discrimination of women.

Iran has until June 29th to respond to Perm-5 proposal.

• SFGate reported that Iran given June 29 deadline to respond to anti-nuke offer.

Bolton: No "Grand Bargain" for Iran.

• The Financial Times reported that John Bolton said Washington has no intention of striking a comprehensive "grand bargain" with Tehran.

Iran hopes to change the debate on its nuclear program.

• Reuters reported that Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Iran may send its own nuclear package in response to proposed incentives agreed by six world powers that seek to persuade Tehran to stop its atomic fuel work.

Iranian opposition warns the West.

• Middle East Newsline reported that Reza Pahlavi said: "Mr. Ahmadinejad's harsh and venomous rhetoric brought the toughest U.S. president in the life of the Islamic republic to the [negotiations] table," and "The lesson is that harshness and radical talk pays."

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

• Rooz Online reported that the six individuals arrested on charges of disrupting Rafsanjani's speech in Qom were clerics and members associated with hardline Qom cleric Mesbah Yazdi and they were quickly released.
• Rooz Online reported that Iran's hardline ministry of culture recently announced that the private sector would be responsible for book reviews and censorship of books through controlling what is published.
• RIA Novosti reported that the Russian Foreign Ministry was shocked by comments from the US ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, who accused the Russian leadership of being split over the Iranian nuclear issue.
• Nora Boustany, The Washington Post reported on the famous Iranian poet Simin Behbahani and her support for human rights in Iran describing her as a Poet Who 'Never Sold Her Pen or Soul.'
• Kenneth R. Timmerman, News Max reported that a magistrate judge in the District Court of Washington, D.C. has dismissed a lawsuit by the survivors and families of victims of the June 25, 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, that sought millions of dollars in damages against the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
• Rooz Online reported on the absurd praise of Ahmadinejad by some in Iran.
• The Guardian published a movie review of "Offside" a football comedy about Iranian female football fans.
  

Tags: iran, news, nuclear

Judge Dismisses Khobar Towers Case Against Iran

Kenneth R. Timmerman, News Max:

A magistrate judge in the District Court of Washington, D.C. has dismissed a lawsuit by the survivors and families of victims of the June 25, 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, that sought millions of dollars in damages against the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In an opinion handed down June 6, 2006, Judge Deborah A. Robinson asserted that the plaintiffs "offered no evidence regarding the action of any official, employee or agent" or the Iranian regime, its intelligence ministry (MOIS), or the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, IRGC.

The opinion comes at a delicate time in U.S.-Iranian relations, just a European negotiator, Javier Solana, was in Tehran to present a joint U.S.-European offer to the Iranian regime, aimed at getting Iran to halt its nuclear weapons program.

An advocate for the victims, Michael Engelberg, told Newsmax he believes the State Department intervened to get the case dismissed as a sop to the Iranian regime.

"This is more than coincidental," he said. "The timing of this, just as Solana goes to Tehran, makes me feel uncomfortable." READ MORE

In her 45-page ruling, Judge Robinson rejected testimony presented by former FBI Director Louis Freeh and his deputy, Dale Watson, on grounds that they "confined their testimony regarding the involvement of the government of Iran in the bombing of Khobar Towers to their opinions - in the words of Mr. Watson - as private citizen[s].'"

However, trial transcript of the Dec. 18, 2003 hearing at which Freeh and Watson testified shows clearly that both sought to describe the FBI investigation into the bombing, but that Judge Robinson actively thwarted their testimony.

At one point, lawyers for the victims asked Freeh, "Did the FBI learn of the involvement of any foreign government in the attack?" Judge Robinson struck the question, and insisted on directing the questioning herself after that.

Freeh went on to testify that six suspects, arrested by the Saudi authorities and interviewed by the FBI - including by him personally - "admitted to us that they were members of Saudi Hezbzollah . . . They implicated several Iranian officials in funding and planning the attack."

Freeh named Iranian government officials who organized the attack, provided funds, and assisted in the logistics of preparing the bomb.

"My own conclusion was that the [Khobar Towers] attack was planned, funded and sponsored by the senior leadership of the Government of Iran," he said. "All the training and the funding was done by the IRGC with support from senior leaders of the Government of Iran."

But Judge Robinson found that evidence from the former FBI Director uncompelling.

At key points during the hearing, the Judge called the court into recess, disappeared into her chambers, then re-emerged to read out long lists of questions, apparently dictated to her by others, that sought to impeach the testimony of both Freeh and Watson.

A long-time observer of the DC District court who himself has tried terrorism cases repeatedly called Judge Robinson's courtroom behavior "disingenuous," "out of line," and "in violation of federal rules of evidence."

Michael Engelberg, whose American Center for Civil Justice sponsors lawsuits on behalf of victims of state-sponsored terrorist attacks, said he suspected the judge was having "ex-parte communications" during the recess, and was calling State Department lawyers for instructions.

Ex-parte communications by judges with the executive branch are normally barred under the Constitution.

However, State Department attorneys who submitted an amicus curiae brief to the court that supported the position of the Iranian Government, told a reporter they had only done so "because the Court explicitly asked us to intervene."

"It's outrageous for the United States government to make an appearance in court to defend the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Engelberg said.

Movie Review: Offside

Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian: Worldcup film-making ...

An Iranian comedy about female football fans? An Iranian Bend It Like Beckham? It sounds pretty unlikely. (I can't really imagine Iranian arthouse master Abbas Kiarostami directing Juliet Stevenson doing her "There's-a-reason-Sporty-Spice-doesn't-have-a-boyfriend" speech, unless perhaps she were to do it unsmilingly and at a fraction of the normal speed, with the camera trained enigmatically on her deadpan face while someone else replies.) A football comedy is none the less what Iranian director Jafar Panahi has created with this likeable, gentle and charming film about young women football fanatics, disguised as boys, doing their darnedest to defy the all-male rule and get in to see the Iran v Bahrain qualifying international for the 2006 World Cup. READ MORE

With audacity and flair, Panahi filmed it at the actual stadium, at the actual match, and appeared to have two improvised outcomes broadly in mind in case of victory or defeat - though Iran did in fact qualify and their first match, against Mexico, takes place this Sunday.

Comedian Omid Djalili had a routine about the reaction of the British Iranian community's reaction to Iran's sensational 2-1 victory over the United States in the 1998 World Cup final.

Well-heeled professionals and store-owners poured out on to the Edgware Road in west London, got in their cars and drove slightly faster and more happily than usual up and down, honking discreetly, waving flags modestly, smiling benignly: the best-behaved victory celebration in the history of football. The match ignited an enormous groundswell of interest in football in Iran, and played its part in a vibrant youth culture in which Iran's young women saw a chance to play their part. The match was also notable, as it happens, for the spirit of sportsmanship in which it was played, with an exchange of flowers and gifts with the American team before kick-off - although it has to be said the final result did not further football's global advance into the US, and the idea of a good-humoured sporting contest between these two countries now seems very remote.

At any rate, football in Iran is now very big and Offside genially taps into this mood. We see a girl wearing nondescript, floppy sports gear, with the national colours painted on her face, sitting on a coach with a rowdy bunch of lads, desperately hoping not to get caught. Her father, utterly distraught, is out looking for her. One boy spots her disguise and wishes her good luck - but she is in no mood to be patronised. Shrugging off his condescending good wishes, she joins the crowds outside the stadium, buys a ticket from a tout, only to be caught by the police and led away to a special holding pen of women football fans. They must then go through agonies of listening to the roar of the crowd and trying to work out what is happening from the uneducated commentaries of the national service boys in uniform who have them under lock and key.

Panahi gently establishes the keynote of knowing yet unworldly humour by having one of his resentful, miserable squaddies borrow the captured woman's mobile phone to call his wife - and then suffer torments when she calls him back on that number and demands to know why a woman's voice has answered the phone. His superior officer has the world on his shoulders in having to keep this bunch of uproarious women in line, whingeingly pointing out that he is at heart a country boy, who desires nothing more than to be relieved of his military duties and return to his farm to look after his cattle. But this looks almost impossible when one of his junior officers has to escort one of the women to use the men's lavatory and she escapes. With six captured women reported, and only five likely to be present and correct when he has to hand them over, it looks very much as if he will be punished by being kept in the army forever - and he can say farewell to his rural paradise.

This is one of those very rare films that, with no very obvious and coercive narrative structure, simply goes with its own self-created flow, and never looks pointless or directionless. In recent years, I have fallen out of love with the obscurantist, miserablist tendency in Iranian cinema: the low point coming with Babak Payami's ineffably gloomy Silence Between Two Thoughts (2004). Yet other movies have shown an energy and freshness. One such is Kamal Tabrizi's comedy The Lizard (2005), and this is another such: approachable, accessible, yet with the delicacy and subtlety that characterises the best of Iranian movie-making. I liked it a lot better than Panahi's crime drama Crimson Gold (2003) and rank it as equal, in its unassuming way, to his excoriating drama The Circle (2001). It is a quietly intelligent and humorous alternative look at football, pop culture and the position of women.

A Poet Who 'Never Sold Her Pen or Soul'

Nora Boustany, The Washington Post:

The voice of poet Simin Behbahani rises, soothing the wounds of Iranians betrayed by a revolution that has curtailed their rights and failed to deliver social justice.

To stay alive, you must slay silence . . .

to pay homage to being, you must sing .

At 79, the revered poet has only peripheral vision, but she still writes. To defy the ravages of macular degeneration, she records her verses vertically, down the edge of the paper.

She described an incident in March when riot police approached her during a gathering in Tehran to mark International Women's Day. "Hey, don't hurt this lady. She is Simin Behbahani," a student in the crowd protested. "If you touch her, I will set myself on fire." READ MORE

His outburst enraged the police. One of the officers lashed Behbahani's right arm and back with a whip and then beat her with a club that emitted electric shocks, she recalled. A passing policeman recognized her, intervened and bundled her into a taxi.

Sitting composedly in the solarium of her niece's home in McLean recently, Behbahani discussed her work and life through an interpreter. She was on her 15th tour of the United States, with speaking events in Washington, New York, Los Angeles and other cities, and will travel on to Canada.

"I have always been drawn to social issues. Even before the eruption of the revolution, while under the shah, I was also suffering," she said, referring to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was overthrown in the Islamic revolution of 1979. "There was no democracy in Iran. Even then, we had censorship."

Before the revolution, her poetry dealt with poverty, orphans and corruption, reflecting her concern for the outcast, the marginalized and the neglected. Her recent work has touched on the themes of freedom of expression and the rights of minorities and prisoners.

"I will identify her as the most iconic Iranian poet alive," said Farzaneh M. Milani , director of Studies in Women and Gender at the University of Virginia. "I can really say she has become a cultural hero, and she is treated as such outside and inside her country." Milani, an authority on Behbahani, teaches a course on Iranian female poets.

"She reminds me of T.S. Eliot," Milani said. "She dives deep into her culture and literature, and the product is a truly modern outlook on the role of the individual, concern for democracy and human rights. The form is traditional, but the perspective and poetic persona are quite progressive."

Behbahani is known for her ghazals , sonnet-like love poems distinguishable by their special rhyme scheme and lilting lyrics. Traditionally, the ghazal featured a male poet romancing a woman. Behbahani reversed the roles; in her poems, men are the objects of desire.

"It was not only sensuous but courageous," Milani said of her dedication to the form. "While most of her contemporaries from the '20s and '30s wrote free verse at the height of the modern movement, she stuck to ghazal . Some poets claimed the genre was dead, but she pursued it and took it to new heights."

Roya Hakakian , an Iranian American poet and author, said that when she was growing up in the 1970s, Behbahani was not at all fashionable, eclipsed by the late Forough Farrokhzad and Ahmad Shamlou, the literary giants of that time.

"When the revolution failed to deliver people to democracy and greater freedom, people turned away from modern poetry," Hakakian said. But Behbahani "has remained extremely loyal to the classical concept and has become a symbol of resistance, which is why, 30 years later, she looms so large," she said.

"She has been very fair to tradition and has never sold her pen or soul to any political group or political party. Yet, she is also very political because she has always spoken truth to power. Now some of her poems have become like aphorisms, sayings and proverbs," said Milani, who with Kaveh Safa translated some of Behbahani's poems into English in "A Cup of Sin: Selected Poems."

My country, I will build you again,

if need be, with bricks made from my life.

I will build columns to support your roof,

if need be, with my bones.

Unlike younger intellectuals swept up in the fervor of the early stages of the revolution, Behbahani was suspicious. "I realized changes were not going in the right direction," she said.

She was frightened by the wave of terror that followed, encompassing executions, kangaroo trials and mysterious disappearances of ordinary Iranians. "We had gone the wrong way from the very beginning," she said.

She took a public stand against the tyrannical rule of the ayatollahs and their infringements on freedom of expression. Her work was banned for 10 years after the revolution, and newspapers and magazines frequently published broadsides targeting her.

One night in 1996, while attending a gathering at a German diplomat's home, she was hauled off to jail. "I was slapped around, blindfolded and taken to prison," she recalled. "We were released the next morning. They led us out and dropped us in the middle of the street with our blindfolds still tied."

The Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi , who wrote about the incident in her recently released memoir, "Iran Awakening," described Behbahani as a "kindred spirit" and an inspiration for her own work on the suffering of women and the celebration of their rights.

Ebadi wrote that while she was in jail, she revisited her friend's ghazals, with their images of "monsters soaring the sky in trails of smoke, of plundered mermaids."

Behbahani smiles when asked whether she ever considered leaving Iran.

"I want to live there and die there," she said. "I feel for my people, the language, the ability to write about them through cultural bonds. The creativity in me comes from them, and I want to share it."

Ministry shocked by U.S. comments on Russia's position on Iran

RIA Novosti:

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Saturday it was shocked by comments from the United States ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, who accused the Russian leadership of being split over the Iranian nuclear issue. READ MORE

The ministry said Moscow is actively involved in international efforts to solve the problem through diplomatic channels, and holds a unified position that Iran must not obtain nuclear weapons, while supporting the right of the country to develop peaceful nuclear power.

The statement said Russia was pleased with the "balanced and responsible announcements in recent days from American representatives in support of restarting the talks on Iran's nuclear program in the new format, which the United States recently expressed its willingness to join."

"In this context, the 'revelation' made by Mr Bolton on the alleged lack of consensus within the Russian leadership on the issue of the Iranian nuclear program is very unexpected," the Foreign Ministry said.

"Those in Washington who support finding a political-diplomatic solution, which we would hope includes John Bolton, need international support, including from Russia" the statement said.

Iran given June 29 deadline to respond to anti-nuke offer

Nazila Fathi, Helene Cooper, SFGate:

Iran has less than three weeks to respond to the package of incentives offered by major powers in exchange for its suspending its enrichment of uranium, European diplomats and senior Bush administration officials said Friday.

The United States and Europe have set a deadline of June 29, when foreign ministers from the Group of 8 industrialized nations are scheduled to meet in Moscow. The deadline was not explicitly part of the package given to Iran earlier this week, but Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, conveyed it to Iranian officials in Tehran on Tuesday when he delivered the proposal, the diplomats said. READ MORE

The deadline reflects concern among the United States, Britain and France that Iran continues to enrich uranium and develop its nuclear capability even as its leadership considers the package of incentives. "We know that time is not on our side," one European diplomat said.

On July 15, President Bush and the leaders of Russia, Japan, Britain, France, Germany, Japan and Italy are to gather in St. Petersburg for the G-8 summit meeting, where Iran is expected to be high on the agenda. European diplomats said that back-and-forth between the major powers and Iran over the package could extend to the meeting, but that Iran is expected to make an initial response well before that.

Diplomats and Bush administration officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the terms of the offer had not been released officially.

"If we haven't heard anything from them" by June 29, "that would be a very bad sign, and we'd start looking at the sticks," said one European diplomat, referring to a list of penalties the major powers have agreed to consider if Iran refuses to suspend its uranium enrichment.

Iran has insisted that it will not accept limits on its right under existing treaties to enrich uranium for peaceful uses. On Friday, its chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, repeated that pledge but said Iran is ready to negotiate with the United States.

"Iran can announce today officially and explicitly that it has no problem to negotiate with America," Larijani told the student news agency ISNA.

Tens arrested with the approach of Iran-Mexico World Cup game

SMCCDI (Information Service):

Tens have been arrested, in the last days, in several Iranian cities with the approach of Iran-Mexico World Cup soccer game on Sunday June 11th (18:00 Germany's Local time).

Plainclothes agents and militiamen have arrested several of those qualified as potential "hooligans or trouble makers", in an effort to avoid any massive popular unrest to take place following the game.

Arrests have been made in cities, such as, Tehran, Mashad, Esfahan, Hamedan, Bookan, Rasht, Kermanshah, Shiraz, Marivan and Oroomiah (former Rezai-e).

Informants are targeting maverick underground groups which are getting ready for transforming the issue of the game in another opposition show. READ MORE

Iranians use the soccer events in order to demonstrate against the Islamist ideology and the theocratic regime.

More repressive measures are to take place with the start of the Sunday's game, and, Para-military forces are to be deployed massively in main cities and jamming of abroad based satellite waves and short wave radio frequencies are to be increased.

Hundreds of members of Iranian Diaspora are expected to seize the opportunity, offered by the game, in order to stage a protest rally against the Islamic regime, inside and outside the Nuremberg Stadium, by carrying the banned "Lion & Sun" Flag and shouting slogans.

The Islamic regime which is aware of this preparation will broadcast the game with a short delay, in order to allow the censors to cut off hostile footages.

Iranian Opposition Worries Over U.S. Offer

Middle East Newsline:

The Iranian opposition has expressed concern over a U.S. offer that would enable Iran to continue uranium enrichment. Iranian opposition figures said the U.S. offer would be seen by the Iranian mullah leadership as a capitulation to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The opposition said this could reinforce Teheran's policy of brinkmanship toward the West.

"Mr. Ahmadinejad's harsh and venomous rhetoric brought the toughest U.S. president in the life of the Islamic republic to the [negotiations] table," said Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late Shah of Iran and a leader in the pro-democracy opposition. "The lesson is that harshness and radical talk pays."

On June 7, Pahlavi met 39 French parliamentarians in Paris in a discussion of Teheran's nuclear threat. Later, he held a news conference in which he warned that Teheran has misunderstood the U.S. nuclear offer.

Iran Team Face Mass Potest

Luke Harding and Denis Campbell, The Observer:

Iran's Football team will be met with a series of protests across Germany during their World Cup campaign as anger mounts against the country's viciously anti-semitic President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Senior politicians, Jewish groups and a prominent German TV host will join a demonstration today in Nuremberg hours before Iran play their opening match of the tournament against Mexico in the city. They are furious that Ahmadinejad's deputy, Mohammad Aliabadi, has been allowed into the country after the Iranian President called the Holocaust 'a fairytale' and called for the destruction of Israel. READ MORE

'Aliabadi has not distanced himself in any way from the statements that his President has made,' said Sacha Stawski of pro-Israel group Honestly Concerned, who are helping to organise today's rally. 'It's highly unlikely he thinks any differently. Until he distances himself from the regime we will protest against him.'

Aliabadi went to Friday's opening ceremony and first game in Munich and is due to watch his countrymen in their opening fixture in Group D in Nuremberg at 5pm.

A cross-party group of German politicians is due to speak at the protest, including Gunter Beckstein, Bavaria's right-wing Interior Minister, and Claudia Roth, the co-leader of Germany's Green Party. The country's most famous Jewish TV personality, Michel Friedman, will also attend. He has threatened to take legal action against Ahmadinejad if he comes to Germany, where Holocaust denial is a criminal offence.

Hundreds of Jewish people are expected at today's event, with busloads arriving from Berlin, Munich and other cities. Jewish leaders are comparing the presence of the Iran team and Aliabadi at the World Cup with the Berlin Olympics before the Second World War, when Adolf Hitler sought to use the Games to promote Aryan supremacy and his own leadership.

'Aliabadi's presence means we could have a repeat of the 1936 Olympics, when they were hijacked by Hitler for his own political purposes and presentation,' said Rene Pollak, chairman of the Zionist Federation of Frankfurt. 'We should have denied him entry to the country. Western leaders should know by now that appeasing fascist regimes does not work.'

Opponents of the Tehran regime will also protest before Iran's matches in Frankfurt against Portugal on Saturday and Angola in Leipzig four days later.

The demonstrations were arranged after German neo-Nazis said they intended to stage pro-Ahmadinejad welcoming parties in the three cities to show solidarity with Tehran because of its outspoken attacks on Jews and Israel. However, many of the events have been banned by the police or the courts. In addition, the NPD, Germany's main far-right party, has also called off several rallies, after deciding not to risk tarnishing Germany's image during the World Cup.

On Friday police raided the NPD's Berlin offices and confiscated 3,000 'racist' World Cup guides, which target black players in Germany's squad and warn of 'foreign infiltration'.

Ahmadinejad, who is a keen football fan, may yet come to Germany if Iran confound predictions and reach the tournament's knockout stages. The team's coach, Branko Ivankovic, has invited further controversy by saying that his players would be 'honoured' to meet Ahmadinejad if he attends one of their games. 'This is nothing out of the ordinary. It would be like Jacques Chirac coming to watch France,' he said.

If Ahmadinejad does come, it will pose problems for German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her government. As Iran's head of state, he would have to be treated as a VIP, but his presence would spark protests on a scale far larger than those already planned.

Charlotte Knobloch, the new president of Germany's Central Jewish Council, said that, if Ahmadinejad came and repeated his remarks about the Holocaust, he should not be given any diplomatic immunity but instead be arrested.

A Neo-Nazi Magnet

Spiegel Online:

Germany's main Jewish group is calling on the government to take a stronger stance against Iranian politicians who want to attend Iran matches during the World Cup. The country's contents could become a magnet for German neo-Nazi.

Germany's neo-Nazis have a favorite soccer team: Iran. And with its despotic, anti-Semitic, Holocaust-denying president, many in Germany fear that Iran's World Cup games in Nuremberg and Leipzig will be magnets for right-wing activity.

The head of the German Jewish Council, the country's main Jewish organization, has warned of the threat posed by neo-Nazi activities surrounding upcoming matches by the Iranian national team.

"We have to prevent enemies of Germany's constitution from forging an explosive anti-Semitic alliance with the Iranian dictator," warned Charlotte Knobloch, who was appointed president of the Central Council of Jews earlier this week.

In a guest editorial in the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, Knobloch wrote that neo-Nazis have stated their intentions of "showing their solidarity with the tyrants of Tehran" at the upcoming match between Iran and Angola in the eastern German town of Leipzig. The city is located in the state of Saxony, where the far-right, neo-Nazi National Democratic Party (NPD) won 10 percent of the vote in the last state parliamentary elections. Pockets of the state are a hotbed of xenophobia and it has also recently been the site of racist and anti-Semitic incidents at football matches. If a neo-Nazi presence is felt, Knobloch said, Germany could not just stand aside passively.

The head of the national Jewish organization is also pleading with the German government in Berlin to do whatever it can to prohibit Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from visiting the country during the World Cup. Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map," and he has repeatedly made statements downplaying the crimes committed during the Holocaust and its scope - most recently in an interview with SPIEGEL. "Any country that can declare the president of Belarus as persona non-grata can also clearly show the oil despot (Ahmadinejad) that we don't want him here in Germany."

Conservatives for travel ban

A senior member of the governing conservative Christian Democratic Union, Wolfgang Bosbach, also called on the government to hinder a possible Ahmadinejad visit. "If it's clear that Ahmadinejad wants to come, then the government should tell him in no uncertain terms that he's not welcome here," Bosbach told the Rheinsiche Post newspaper. Anyone who denies the Holocaust and questions Israel's right to exist obviously shouldn't think that he's welcome in Germany, he said.

In a separate commentary for the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, Michael Friedman, a journalist and former vice president of the Central Council of Jews, urged the government to issue a travel ban on all members of the Iranian government. Friedman described the fact that Berlin hasn't taken any formal steps to ban travel by Iranian politicians as "scandalous."

Meanwhile, in Bavaria, where Iran is set to play its first match in Nuremberg on Sunday, the state's interior minister has expressed concerns that Iranian intelligence agents may seek to stage what he described as a "provocative action" aimed at intimidating Iranian opposition members living in exile in Germany. READ MORE

Earlier this year, Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi told his German counterpart, Wolfgang Schäuble, that he feared opposition members living in Europe might attempt to attack the Iranian national team. But opposition members in Germany have denied any such plans. In addition, the German government entered into a formal agreement with Tehran obliging Berlin to ensure it would prevent any public disturbances by exile members of the Iranian opposition. In return, Tehran agreed to prohibit any persons believed by Berlin to be a potential security threat in Germany from leaving the country during the World Cup. Iranian opposition leaders living in Germany also pledged not to stage any protests against Iran's national team.

Tehran is still reeling from its experience at the World Cup in France where during a match between the United States and Iran, thousands of members of the Iranian opposition smuggled in t-shirts and banners and loudly protested against the mullah regime in Tehran. And though opposition members have said they will remain quiet during the stadium games in Germany, there will be street protests. One protest against the Iranian government is scheduled for Sunday in Nuremberg, where Iranian Vice President Mohammed Aliabadi will be attending the match.

Iran Says May Deliver Own Atomic Incentives Package

Christian Oliver, Reuters:

Iran may send its own nuclear package in response to proposed incentives agreed by six world powers that seek to persuade Tehran to stop its atomic fuel work, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Saturday. Mottaki did not specify what changes to the package Iran might seek, but Tehran has repeatedly rejected the crux of the proposal -- that it should give up enriching uranium.

"We hope that shuttle diplomacy will lead to a genuine proposal from the Islamic Republic that could possibly be sent to European counterparts as an amendment or a counter-package and that will be assessed carefully by the Europeans," Mottaki was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency. READ MORE

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani has complained about the incentives' "ambiguities."

Iran has been referred to the UN Security Council where it could face sanctions, after failing to convince the international community that its atomic scientists are seeking to build power stations, not weapons.

The United States, France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China have agreed a set of incentives for Iran on the condition that it stops making nuclear fuel, something Tehran has said it will never do.

Among the incentives, which Western diplomats say include offers of a light-water reactor and a facility for storing atomic fuel, is a U.S. offer to join the European Union's direct talks with Iran.

Analysts see the proposals as a way of giving Iran a last chance before Western powers lobby for tough action against Iran at the UN Security Council.

President Bush on Friday said Iran had "weeks not months" to respond to the proposals and Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel has said Iran has until next month's Group of Eight (G8) summit to consider the offer.

But Mottaki told the Mehr news agency: "We have not defined a deadline for assessing the proposal."

Although Mottaki's remarks on a counter-offer are an indication of Iranian dissatisfaction with the deal, the last word on nuclear matters does not lie with the foreign ministry.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has entrusted nuclear matters to the Supreme National Security Council and appointed Larijani as chief negotiator.

Larijani arrived in Egypt on Saturday to hold atomic talks with Egypt's foreign minister and meet Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa. Iran has long been striving to try to persuade nervous Arab neighbors that its ambitions are peaceful.

Bolton Rejects 'Grand Bargain' with Iran

The Financial Times:

Time is running out for the diplomatic effort to resolve the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme and Washington has no intention of striking a comprehensive "grand bargain" with Tehran, the US's ambassador to the United Nations has warned.

Speaking to the Financial Times, John Bolton made clear many of his reservations about the current outreach to Iran, which Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, has persuaded President George W. Bush to endorse. Referring to a report by the United Nations nuclear watchdog that Iran has stepped up uranium enrichment - a process that can create both nuclear fueland weapons grade material - Mr Bolton said: "They've got both feet on the accelerator, which is why we have a sense of urgency that these diplomatic efforts can't continue indefinitely . . . Each day that goes by gives Iran more time to continue to perfect its efforts for mass production." READ MORE

While Iran insists its nuclear programme is a purely peaceful attempt to bolster the country's energy security, the US and the European Union suspect Tehran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

But Russia and China have repeatedly expressed doubts about sanctions against Tehran, pushing Washington instead to back a new package of incentives, which would give the Islamic republic help in areas including constructing nuclear reactors. The US has also agreed to join the negotiations with Iran, if Tehran suspends enrichment.

Mr Bolton, who describes himself as "not much a carrots man", was quick to play down expectations of a dramatic breakthrough and highlighted many of the problems facing the diplomatic process.

"It would be a mistake to think these negotiations are a first step towards some kind of grand bargain [involving US recognition]," he said. "We are only addressing the nuclear issue and stopping their pursuit of nuclear weapons."

He said US security guarantees for Iran were "not on the table", and argued instead that regime change could remove a nuclear threat: "Our experience has been that when there is a dramatic change in the life of a country, that's the most likely point at which they give up nuclear weapons."

He added: "I think there will certainly be discussion of the question at the G8 summit" on July 15-17, by which time he said Iran had to make its response to the offer known. "Some people thought for three years they [Iran] wanted to do a deal and there's no deal out there, at least no deal that they've adhered to," he said. "Maybe the deal that they want is the best of both worlds."

Mr Bolton also voiced doubts International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors would be able to prove Iran's programme was purely peaceful and said sanctions against Iran if it declined the offer were "a step in the process".

Absurd Praise of the President Continues

Hamid Ahadi, Rooz Online:

While disapproval of the exaggerated praise for Iranian hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s comments and actions continue in Iran’s political rhetoric, members of the conservative wing of Iran’s ruling circles pursue their ludicrous praise of the president.

The latest remarks were made by Mohammad Reza Rahimi, the head of the state Audit Organization (Divan-e Mohasebat-e Keshvar), which working under Majlis (Iran's Parliament) supervision oversees the financial health and conditions of government agencies. Attributing his remarks to a ‘foreigner’, Rahimi said that if a prophet was to follow Prophet Muhammad that would be president Ahmadinejad. READ MORE

In a public address at a seminar participated by managers of the Audit Organization, Rahimi blatantly declared that the harsh attitude of the organization was only directed at the performance of the previous administration (of president Mohammad Khatami), adding that the AU was at the service of president Ahmadinejad.

Rahimi said that he had announced and predicted last year, in the presence of the current Majlis (Iran's Parliament) leader Haddad Adel, that under the new administration that was taking over from Khatami there would be less corruption and violations. ‘I presented Haddad Adel with a report of the financial violations of the previous administration then. I will not present new statistics to you today because I am confident that your cabinet that comprises dedicated members has significantly less violations than in the past.

Rahimi gained national prominence when during the presidential elections of 1997 ballot boxes in Kurdistan province of which he was the governor-general were found to contain more votes than the actual population of the province. He claimed they all belonged to presidential candidate Nategh Nouri. Years later, he was appointed by ultra-conservative ayatollah Janati to head the elections commission at the Guardians Council. This office eventually employed some 200,000 individuals to oversee and supervise the subsequent national elections. Following his stint there, he was later appointed to the State Audit Organization. In that capacity, he charged many managers of government business entities who were active during former president Khatami’s presidency of embezzlement and other financial fraud, none of which were proved in legal and court proceedings. His charges went so far that he claimed to have prevented the embezzlement of some $200 billion, a claim that made headlines in the conservative Keyhan newspaper, among other right-wing media outlets. During the Majlis (Iran's Parliament) hearings on the oil ministry candidate, however, it came to light that the claims that Rahimi had made were completely baseless.

Four Nobel Winners Support Women’s Rally

Omid Memarian, Rooz Online:

Iranian men and women against legal discrimination of women plan to hold a rally in Tehran on June 12th, 2006 to demand banning polygamy, ending men’s uncontested right to divorce, equal child custody rights, equal rights in marriage, the increase in the legal age of children to 18, and the elimination of temporary work contracts, among others.

Five women Nobel Peace Prize winners Shirin Ebadi from Iran (2003) Judy Williams from the United States (1997), Betty Williams from Ireland (1976), Wangari Muta Maathai from Kenya (2004), and Rigoberta Menchu Tum from Guatemala (1992) have supported this rally by signing the public call. In their statement the women express their solidarity and support for Iranian women in their struggle to gain equal rights under the existing laws and regulations in Iran. READ MORE

Iranian women plan to sign a petition calling for equal rights in Iran and then through their connections and influence and civil institutions pursue the issue. Following the announcement of the rally, a number of Iranian women activists have been summoned to the offices of security and intelligence agencies in Iran. Similar summons preceded the March 8th international women’s day rally in Iran where officials requested the organizers to cancel their rally as it was legal because it did not have a permit from government authorities. But women have challenged the government’s position by arguing that article 27 of the current Iranian constitution negates the need of a permit for a peaceful demonstration. A similar meeting was held last year where a communiqué was issued at the conclusion of the rally. This year, the organizers plan to read out last year’s communiqué and talk of progress made on the demands. Last year’s demonstration was considered to the largest women’s rally since the hijab rallies in the early days of the Islamic republic after 1979. In the history of women’s movement in Iran, last year marked a turning point as the many organizations and groups active in women’s issues, formed a single platform and formed a coalition on at least a series of common goals. That has paved the way for stronger cooperation among them.

Individuals Arrested for Disrupting Rafsanjani’s Meeting Released

Hamid Ahadi, Rooz Online:

Six individuals arrested on charges of disrupting a meeting in the religious town of Qom where former president and current chairman of the powerful State Expediency Council that monitors and coordinates the work of the 3 branches of the Islamic government Hashemi Rafsanjani was delivering were released less than 24 hours after their detention.. These individuals had chanted harsh slogans against Rafsanjani while his talk was nationally televised.

Based on available information, two of the six arrested individuals were clerics and members of Imam Khomeini Research Centre chaired by hardline Qom cleric Mesbah Yazdi. Rafsanjani's office was informed on Tuesday morning that he could file charges against the individuals, which he has apparently decided not to carry out. The individuals were released on bail. READ MORE

Some observers have expressed their suspicion that the prosecutor of Qom, where ayatollah Yazdi is based, may have had something to do with such a rapid release of the detainees. He announced that the detainees could only be kept in prison if there was a private complaint against the individuals who disrupted the meeting. In the past, similar attacks would end up with the perpetrators being charged of spreading propaganda against the Islamic regime, acting against the national security of the country and offending political and religious figures.

It is worth mentioning that on many occasions such as arrests of journalists; the prosecutors have taken measures such as suspension of publications and imprisonment of the accused. In a similar incident, when Hashemi Rafsanjani was shot in Imam Khomeini's mausoleum on 1985, the accused were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. In that case Rafsanjani had not filed a private complaint.

Hussein Shariatmadari, the editor of hardline Keyhan daily wrote in its yesterday's editorial that the detained were foreign agents or reformists who opposed Hashemi Rafsanjani and aimed at bringing a confrontational response from the powerful politician.