Iranian Alert -- November 21, 2003 -- IRAN LIVE THREAD

The US media almost entirely ignores news regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran. As Tony Snow of the Fox News Network has put it, “this is probably the most under-reported news story of the year.” But most American’s are unaware that the Islamic Republic of Iran is NOT supported by the masses of Iranians today. Modern Iranians are among the most pro-American in the Middle East.

There is a popular revolt against the Iranian regime brewing in Iran today. Starting June 10th of this year, Iranians have begun taking to the streets to express their desire for a regime change. Most want to replace the regime with a secular democracy. Many even want the US to over throw their government.

The regime is working hard to keep the news about the protest movement in Iran from being reported. Unfortunately, the regime has successfully prohibited western news reporters from covering the demonstrations. The voices of discontent within Iran are sometime murdered, more often imprisoned. Still the people continue to take to the streets to demonstrate against the regime.

In support of this revolt, Iranians in America have been broadcasting news stories by satellite into Iran. This 21st century news link has greatly encouraged these protests. The regime has been attempting to jam the signals, and locate the satellite dishes. Still the people violate the law and listen to these broadcasts. Iranians also use the Internet and the regime attempts to block their access to news against the regime. In spite of this, many Iranians inside of Iran read these posts daily to keep informed of the events in their own country.

This daily thread contains nearly all of the English news reports on Iran. It is thorough. If you follow this thread you will witness, I believe, the transformation of a nation. This daily thread provides a central place where those interested in the events in Iran can find the best news and commentary. The news stories and commentary will from time to time include material from the regime itself. But if you read the post you will discover for yourself, the real story of what is occurring in Iran and its effects on the war on terror.

I am not of Iranian heritage. I am an American committed to supporting the efforts of those in Iran seeking to replace their government with a secular democracy. I am in contact with leaders of the Iranian community here in the United States and in Iran itself.

If you read the daily posts you will gain a better understanding of the US war on terrorism, the Middle East and why we need to support a change of regime in Iran. Feel free to ask your questions and post news stories you discover in the weeks to come.

If all goes well Iran will be free soon and I am convinced become a major ally in the war on terrorism. The regime will fall. Iran will be free. It is just a matter of time.

PS I have a daily ping list and a breaking news ping list. If you would like to receive alerts to these stories please let me know which list you would like to join.

Fire Bomb Thrown at UK Embassy in Iran

November 21, 2003
Reuters
Reuters.co.uk

TEHRAN -- A fire bomb has been hurled at the British Embassy compound in central Tehran, but no one was hurt and little damage was caused.

The attack, which followed suicide bomb attacks on British targets in Istanbul on Thursday that killed 27 people, was not preceded by any warnings and there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

"We're in touch with the Iranian authorities and we're reviewing our security arrangements," a British diplomat told Reuters.

Iranian officials were not immediately available to comment.

The incident occurred at 3:30 p.m. (12 p.m. British time) on Friday at the back gate of the embassy's large walled compound in central Tehran.

"The incendiary device was thrown by an individual who was in a Peykan," the diplomat said, referring to the car based on the Hillman Hunter that is by far the most common vehicle on Iran's roads.

"It struck the gate and caused a small fire on both sides of the gate," the diplomat said.

Iran is generally considered to be a low security risk in the Middle East and attacks against Western embassies, businesses or individuals are rare.

But the British embassy has been the target of a number of attacks this year, including four shootings against embassy buildings in August and September following the arrest by Britain of a former Iranian diplomat wanted by Argentine authorities. No one was injured in the shootings.

Britain sent non-essential staff and family members home and closed its visa section following those attacks and had been preparing to resume normal services prior to Friday's incident.

The British mission also bore the brunt of protests in the run-up to the war against Iraq. A truck laden with fuel smashed into the front gate of the embassy compound and a small homemade grenade was tossed over its walls. The truck driver was killed but no one else was hurt in those incidents.

The United States has not had an embassy in Tehran since shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=407426&section=news

Rights Monitors Concerned Over Fate Of Iranian Student Who Spoke With UN

November 21, 2003
Radio Free Europe
Azam Gorgin/Charles Recknagel

Prague -- When the UN's special rapporteur on freedom of expression, Ambeyi Ligabo, visited Tehran earlier this month, his purpose was to meet freely with Iranians and learn more about the human rights situation in the country.

But while he was an official guest of the government, the UN representative's welcome did not come without a price. The price -- which has only become apparent since his departure -- was a harsh crackdown by the hard-line-dominated judiciary on at least one of those who talked to him.

Within hours of meeting Ligabo, an Iranian student who presented the UN delegate with names of political prisoners mysteriously disappeared. The student, Ahmad Batebi, was himself a prisoner temporarily out of jail on a 15-day medical leave.

Batebi, who briefly became internationally famous when he was photographed holding up a bloody shirt during mass student protests in 1999, gave the UN official a list of some 50 names. He described the list in an interview with Radio Farda correspondent Farin Assemi immediately after meeting Ligabo at a gathering for the families of political detainees.

"I have compiled and submitted a list of about 50 political prisoners in various prisons in Iran, as well as their personal identification and the crimes they are accused of," Assemi said.

He continued, "I tried, as far as my memory served, to describe instances of violations of human rights, of illegal pressure during the prefabrication of cases, of interrogations of prisoners at the time of prosecution -- which is customary -- and to describe those whose cases could be helped from a legal aspect, as well as the prisoners' appalling physical conditions and endless problems with health."

Shortly after presenting his list, Batebi vanished and has not been heard from since. His family appealed for days at the Tehran prosecutor's office to learn his whereabouts and was finally told that he had been re-arrested.

The re-arrest is the latest chapter in an ordeal for Batebi and his family that already has seen him spend almost five years behind bars since he was arrested at age 21 after taking part in the July 1999 protests. Those protests began when vigilante groups attacked students demonstrating near the university over the closure of a reformist newspaper. The attack sparked a week of nationwide unrest that was the worst in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and ended only after a massive crackdown by security forces and vigilante groups.

The charges against Batebi -- like those against many other political prisoners in Iran -- have never been made public and remain vague. After his detention in 1999, he was tried behind closed doors and initially sentenced to death. The sentence was later reduced to eight years of imprisonment.

Batebi himself has said that his troubles stem solely from being depicted in a photograph that became an iconic image of Iran's student movement for the Western media. He told RFE/RL last year, during another temporary parole from prison, how the picture was taken.

"There was unrest outside the university, and we took the wounded [students] inside the campus. Bullets were shot, we ducked, one passed me and hit the person opposite me. I tried to cover his wound with a shirt, but it was not possible [to stop the bleeding]," Batebi said.

He continues: "When the students saw this scene, they got excited and wanted to go outside and start street demonstrations, so to stop them I held the shirt up. At that moment, Jamshid Bayrami, a journalist, took my picture and that was their excuse for arresting me. I wanted to warn the students that there was a massacre outside and this could cost us our lives."

As Batebi again disappears into prison, international human rights monitors are expressing concern over the treatment he may face.

Amnesty International in London said in a statement released this week that "judicial authorities in Iran must ensure that those who raise human rights concerns with either domestic or international bodies are not harassed or threatened with arrest."

A spokesperson for Amnesty International, Drewery Dyke, told RFE/RL that the organization has long watched Batebi's case because it points to a pattern in Iran of incarcerating people on vague charges that ignores normal legal practices and violates basic human rights.

"What is of concern in particular is the secret nature of that trial and the ongoing incarceration without a clear sense of what it is based on. [Amnesty International] has certainly raised concerns in the past about the use of very vague provisions in the law relating to national security that seem to compromise, that seem to encroach, on freedom of association," Dyke said.

Iran's judiciary has not responded to repeated expressions of international concern over Batebi and other political detainees in the country. But one hard-line newspaper -- voicing a view that may be shared by many in the judicial branch -- recently challenged the right of any Iranian to speak out about human rights abuses.

An article in the daily "Kayhan" last week questioned the patriotism of anyone who seeks help from international bodies. The paper wrote: "Suppose that someone at home feels something unfair has been done to him? Would it be reasonable to bring the complaint to the enemy?"

http://www.rferl.org/nca/features/2003/11/21112003172716.asp

Canadian-Drafted Iran Rights Rebuke Approved by UN Panel

November 21, 2003
Reuters
Evelyn Leopold

A key U.N. committee approved a Canadian-drafted resolution rebuking Iran for alleged human rights abuses, including torture, suppression of free speech and discrimination against women and minorities.

The vote in the General Assembly's human rights panel was 73 in favor, 49 against and 50 abstentions. Most European and Latin American nations as well as the United States supported Canada, while Islamic countries voted against the measure as did Russia, China and India.

Adoption by the panel, which includes all U.N. members, is a virtual guarantee of passage by the full General Assembly.

The Geneva-based U.N. Commission on Human Rights adopted annual resolutions on Iran's rights record from 1984 to 2001 and the assembly followed suit. But last year the draft was narrowly defeated in Geneva and not revived by the assembly.

Specifically, the Canadian resolution calls on Iran, dominated by Shi'ite Muslims, to eliminate religious discrimination against minorities, including Bahais, Christians, Jews and Sunni Muslims.

It expresses concern at continuing public executions, the use of torture and amputation, arbitrary sentencing of political dissidents, suppression of press freedom and systematic discrimination against women and girls "in law and in practice."

Photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, a Canadian citizen of Iranian descent, died in custody in Iran in June, from a blow to the head, seriously damaging relations between Ottawa and Tehran.

The Canadian draft did not refer to her but singled out crackdowns by the judiciary and security forces against journalists, parliamentarians, students, clerics and academics. It expressed "serious concern" at the "harsh reactions to student demonstrations" such as imprisonment and mistreatment.

But Canadian envoy Gilbert Laurin mentioned her in his address to the panel on Thursday, saying, "What the Kazemi case did was to highlight for the Canadian people the situation of journalists in Iran and the absence of freedom of expression."

Scores of student activists, estimated at 4,000, were jailed during the 10-day pro-democracy protests in June. Only a number of students were released after the supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on the judiciary to exercise leniency.

Iran's powerful Guardian Council, which reviews all legislation to see it accords with Islamic Sharia law, has countered many reforms attempted by President Mohammad Khatami.

Co-sponsors of the draft resolution with Canada were the United States, the Czech Republic, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Andorra and Micronesia.

http://www.reuters.com/locales/newsArticle.jsp?type=topNews&locale=en_CA&storyID=3873323

UN panel approves rebuke to Iran on human rights

By Evelyn Leopold
21 Nov 2003 19:30:46 GMT

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 21 (Reuters) - A key U.N. committee approved a Canadian-drafted resolution rebuking Iran for alleged human rights abuses, including torture, suppression of free speech and discrimination against women and minorities.

The vote in the General Assembly's human rights panel was 73 in favor, 49 against and 50 abstentions. Most European and Latin American nations as well as the United States supported Canada, while Islamic countries voted against the measure as did Russia, China and India.

Adoption by the panel, which includes all U.N. members, is a virtual guarantee of passage by the full General Assembly.

The Geneva-based U.N. Commission on Human Rights adopted annual resolutions on Iran's rights record from 1984 to 2001 and the assembly followed suit. But last year the draft was narrowly defeated in Geneva and not revived by the assembly.

Specifically, the Canadian resolution calls on Iran, dominated by Shi'ite Muslims, to eliminate religious discrimination against minorities, including Bahais, Christians, Jews and Sunni Muslims.

It expresses concern at continuing public executions, the use of torture and amputation, arbitrary sentencing of political dissidents, suppression of press freedom and systematic discrimination against women and girls "in law and in practice."

Photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, a Canadian citizen of Iranian descent, died in custody in Iran in June, from a blow to the head, seriously damaging relations between Ottawa and Tehran.

The Canadian draft did not refer to her but singled out crackdowns by the judiciary and security forces against journalists, parliamentarians, students, clerics and academics. It expressed "serious concern" at the "harsh reactions to student demonstrations" such as imprisonment and mistreatment.

But Canadian envoy Gilbert Laurin mentioned her in his address to the panel on Thursday, saying, "What the Kazemi case did was to highlight for the Canadian people the situation of journalists in Iran and the absence of freedom of expression."

Scores of student activists, estimated at 4,000, were jailed during the 10-day pro-democracy protests in June. Only a number of students were released after the supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on the judiciary to exercise leniency.

Iran's powerful Guardian Council, which reviews all legislation to see it accords with Islamic Sharia law, has countered many reforms attempted by President Mohammad Khatami.

Co-sponsors of the draft resolution with Canada were the United States, the Czech Republic, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Andorra and Micronesia.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N21246806.htm

THE GREAT DIVIDE

By AMIR TAHERI
NY Post
November 21, 2003

LONDON -- IT may be too early to know how President Bush's state visit to London, the first ever by a U.S. president, will play back in Peoria. But it seems that part of the American media, focusing on sporadic anti-American demonstrations in London, has decided to present it as a symbol of "global anger against the United States."
What has happened here in the past few days, however, is more complex. To be sure, London has witnessed a series of demonstrations in the past week or so. None, however, attracted more than a few hundred people, although the "final bouquet," fired at Trafalgar Square yesterday, brought together some 100,000 people according to the organizers.

Nevertheless, these demonstrations have been used as the basis for a variety of strange claims and arguments.

One claim is that the United States is now "extremely unpopular" even in Britain, its oldest and most steadfast ally. That, however, is not what the latest polls show.

One poll, conducted for the liberal-left daily The Guardian on the eve of Bush's visit, reveals a different picture. It shows that 62 percent of Brits regard the United States as "generally speaking a force for good, not evil, in the world." Only 15 percent agree with the suggestion that it is an "evil empire."

The same poll shows that opposition to the War on Terror has fallen by 12 percent since September. Today a majority of British voters, 51 percent, believe that the war is justified.

Even the claim that Bush is "hated by a majority of the Brits" is proved false. The American leader is welcomed by 43 percent of those polled, as opposed to 36 percent who say they'd rather he had stayed home.

The poll's results are backed by direct observation and anecdotal evidence. Anyone who toured the streets of London around Buckingham Palace, where the president and first lady were staying, could easily see that the anti-Americans were not the only ones in evidence.

As for the British media, the Bush visit reflected the traditional left-right divides. The centrist and right-leaning papers welcomed Bush and ran editorials and columns endorsing the aims of the war on terrorism. The left-leaning papers used the visit as a fresh occasion to denounce intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq.

But even then the left-leaning segments of the British media manifested some unease. There are two reasons for this.

First, the recent anti-American demonstrations represent a bizarre alliance between the remnants of Marxist-Leninist and militant Islamist groups. Many soft-left Brits are still uncomfortable with the idea of an alliance with reactionary Islamists who oppress women, massacre religious and other minorities and bring God into the people's bedrooms.

The second reason for unease on the part of the soft-left is that it is hard to build a case for the return of the Taliban and Saddam Hussein to power. The playwright Harold Pinter, still bitter about the demise of the Taliban and Saddam Hussein, has described Bush and Blair as " two war criminals" who "drink blood" at their tea party. But how many are likely to take him seriously? The placards claiming that Bush and Blair are "burning babies in Baghdad" are unlikely to do any better.

The demonstrations are thus unlikely to have a lasting impact on Anglo-American relations. Once the dust has settled, Bush's visit may well be remembered for two things only.

The first is Bush's speech at Whitehall, in which he repeated his earlier linkage between U.S. national security and the spread of democracy in the Middle East with greater clarity.

It is interesting that much of the British media decided to treat it as nothing more than a clever speech to impress an audience of foreign-policy buffs. And yet the idea that the democratic nations cannot be safe for as long as there are tyrannies that sponsor and shelter terrorism is beginning to attract the attention of the average British voter.

The slogan "war against terrorism" told only half the story. Bush's idea of putting the spread of democracy at the top of the agenda tells the other half. Now the average Briton knows that he is not asked to fight only against something, but also for something.

This is a position that the traditional anti-American forces of the totalitarian left, and their new Islamist allies, will find increasingly hard to challenge.

The second thing that the Bush visit is likely to be remembered for is that it helped draw a clear distinction between two visions of the world.

One vision belongs to those who blame the Western democracies for all the ills of mankind and hate the United States for a variety of reasons. These are people who never protested when Saddam was filling all those mass graves in Iraq or when the Taliban were massacring the Hazara in Bamiyan. You will never see them demanding the release of political prisoners in Cuba itself, but find them crying their hearts out for the al Qaeda operatives held in Guantanamo Bay.

Another vision is defended by those who believe that fighting against tyranny and terror is the fundamental political duty of all human beings, and that the most noble principles are ultimately meaningless unless defended by force if and when necessary.

The Marxist-Islamist alliance may well have done all of us a service this week in London. It has put the fight between open societies and their enemies into focus.

E-mail: amirtaheri@benadorassociates.com

http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/11381.htm

Report: Mullahs Hiding bin Laden

November 21, 2003
WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily.com

Citing an "unimpeachable source," Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri are in Iran, according to a Fox News analyst. Al-Zawahiri was seen within the last two weeks, and bin Laden was spotted in July, says the network's foreign affairs analyst Mansoor Ijaz.

The report dovetails with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's announcement last summer that he had sent his own army into the northern tribal areas near the border with Iran to ferret out bin Laden.

"That was an extraordinary admission at the time, one that I could not understand how he could make if bin Laden, in fact, was still in that area," Ijaz told Fox News host Brit Hume. "Well, it turns out that it was around that time that bin Laden moved from the Afghan-Pakistani border into Iran."

Al-Zawahiri has been seen recently in Iran planning and plotting various terrorist attacks against U.S. interests and other countries, he said.

Both al-Qaida leaders are disguised. Bin Laden, Ijaz has been told, shaved his head bald and is wearing a shorter beard that is dyed to make him look more like an Iranian cleric. He also has put on a considerable amount of weight.

Al-Zawahiri has done something similar, Ijaz said, and is now wearing a black turban and dyed beard instead of the traditional white turban he wore as an Egyptian cleric.

Bin Laden is being kept out of the public while al-Zawahiri is said to be moving around quite freely, Ijaz said.

The analyst said the Revolutionary Guard of Iran has arranged for at least three to four body doubles that are making their way around different parts of Afghanistan to fool bin Laden's pursuers.

"But I can tell you with unimpeachability tonight that he is on the western border of Iran, inside Iran, planning terrorist attacks against the United States' interests in that part of the world," Ijaz said.

He explained that Iran's provision of safe harbor, finances and logistical support for al-Qaida is a measure to counter the possibility that U.S. action in that region could result in democracies on both sides of the country, in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Ijaz said an Afghan warlord who controls Afghanistan's western provinces is working with al-Qaida on a plan to bring a large army of Iranian Revolutionary Guard troops into Afghanistan during the winter months to attack U.S. interests and to try to take control of the entire country.

"Iran does not want to see us succeed in building a democracy in Afghanistan under any circumstances," he said.

In short, according to Ijaz, Iranian technology is now being used to help the Afghan warlords to take over the country from Hamid Karzai," the Afghan president.

Ijaz said it is likely certain segments of the U.S. government have the information on bin Laden and are analyzing and processing it.

"But it was my judgment, he said, "that it was vitally important for the broader part of our government's decision-making apparatus to know exactly what it is that's going on there, because it's very clear that the Iranians are trying desperately to not only hang on to power, but to fuel the terrorist enterprise in that part of the world."

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35759

Iranian Vows To Find Those Who Ordered Her Parents Killed

November 21, 2003
The Associated Press
Dow Jones Newswires

TEHRAN --The daughter of a Tehran couple murdered by Iranian Intelligence Ministry agents has vowed not to abandon her quest to find who ordered the killing of her parents, the leaders of a minor opposition party.

"I won't give up until the whole truth is uncovered, and justice is done to the people who ordered that my parents be murdered," Parastou Forouhar told The Associated Press on Friday, the eve of the fifth anniversary of the murders.

Dariush and Parvaneh Forouhar were stabbed to death in their home in central Tehran on Nov. 22, 1998. In the following weeks, two writers opposed to the government were kidnapped and murdered.

In January 2001, a court convicted three former Intelligence Ministry agents of the murders and condemned them to death. Five other people were sentenced to life imprisonment for lesser roles in the murders.

The Intelligence Ministry admitted its officials were involved in the four murders, but claimed they were "rogue" agents. However, many Iranian intellectuals and reformist politicians believe the agents didn't act on their own initiatives, and accuse the government of failing to get to the bottom of the affair.

The murders remain a sensitive issue. The government refused to allow Forouhar to hold a memorial ceremony on Friday, saying she should hold it on Sunday.

At Ershad Mosque in north Tehran, where the ceremony had been scheduled, security agents patrolled outside Friday and quietly asked people to leave. A banner said the ceremony had been postponed to Sunday.

"The officials told me that police could not guarantee the security of the participants on Friday," Forouhar told the AP.

At last year's memorial service, hard-line vigilantes attacked the participants, wounding several of them.

A relative of Forouhar said the authorities wanted the memorial ceremony postponed to a working day because they feared a huge turnout. Friday is the sabbath in Islamic Iran.

The relative, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was one of 400 friends and supporters of Forouhar who attended a dinner to break the Ramadan fast on Friday night at the house where her parents were murdered. Candlelit photos of her parents decorated the house.

Forouhar said that in 2000 she filed a complaint to the parliamentary committee that is charged with looking into complaints from members of the public. She said the committee, which operates under Article 90 of the constitution, probed the killings but told her last week they had ceased their investigation because they had run into senior people whom they had no power to deal with.

The committee chairman, Hossein Ansari, confirmed this. He told the AP on Friday: "We reached the names of persons we had no power to prosecute. That's why the case remains unfinished."

Ansari refused to give any names, but the investigative journalist Akbar Ganji accused former Intelligence Minister Ali Fallahian of responsibility for the murders. Fallahian denied any involvement.

Ganji, an opposition supporter, made the allegation while testifying at his trial. He is now serving a prison sentence for undermining national security.

"I have no trust in the Iranian judiciary and I asked the U.N. human rights organization to probe the killings," Forouhar said.

She said the U.N. Human Rights Committee told her this year that it had written to the Iranian government asking for answers to various questions.

"The committee is waiting for the Iranian government's response," she said.

http://iranvajahan.net/cgi-bin/news.pl?l=en&y=2003&m=11&d=21&a=11

IRANIANS COMMEMORATED THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE SERIAL MURDERS

TEHRAN 21 Nov. (IPS)
Parastoo Foroohar, the daughter of Dariush and Parvaneh, slain leaders of the Iranian People Party confirmed that the case of the murder of her parents as well as several other intellectuals and human rights activists is still pending, with the authorities no willing to identify the real culprits.

High-ranking agents of the Intelligence Ministry had savagely assassinated the Foroohars at their modest residence in Tehran at the end of November 1998, followed by Mohammad Mokhtari, Mohammad Ja’far Pooyandeh, Majid Sharif and Pirooz Davani.

Though most Iranians are certain that the assassinations, better known as the "serial murders" were instructed by senior clerics, but so far, no one, except two junior employees at the Intelligence Ministry have been identified.

Mr. Sa’id Emami, a deputy Intelligence Minister designated by the authorities as the mastermind of the killings committed suicide in prison, but two of his close associates were freed latter on.

"Despite all out efforts to have the authorities follow the case, but so far, we have received no answer and the Article 90 Committee of the Majles that is following the case has said that it had reached the point that it could go no further", Ms Foroohar told reporters on the eve of the fifth commemoration of the murders.

Sources in Tehran said that despite strong recommendations by the Police to keep the ceremonies very low profile, yet hundreds of Iranians, most of them young ones, turned up at the mosque, chanting nationalist songs and carrying the traditional Iranian flag.

On the orders from the Police, the ceremonies had been differed to the afternoon in order to not coincide with the so-called "international Qods (Jerusalem)" rally, a manifestation the Islamic Republic organises at the last Friday of the fasting month of Ramazan to demonstrate solidarity with the Palestinian people.

In a statement made earlier, Hojjatoleslam Hoseyn Ansari Raad, the Chairman of the Article 90 that deal with legal, judiciary and human rights issues had confirmed that his inquiries concerning the serial murders have reached people "we have no power to deal with them", an indirect but blunt confirmation of the suspicions that the orders for the physical elimination of the dissidents were issued by some high-ranking clerics.

"This is exactly the point we also have reached: a wall it is difficult to cross", the 45 years-old Parastoo said, adding that the questions she and her lawyers have raised with the Judiciary concerning the assassination of her parents have not been heard by the authorities.

"After five years of the files going two and fro between the different justice departments, there is no chance of a satisfactory outcome. Now we are sure that Iranian justice refuses to investigate this case and refuses to punish the murderers and those behind the murder", Ms Foroohar told Radio Farda, the Persian service of Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty.

Mr. Ansari Raad warned on Thursday that if the thought that led to the serial murders in the one hand and the approach of the officials to the case are not uprooted, then one has unfortunately expect more killings of the same pattern.

"The authorities, instead of identifying and arresting the real culprits have unleashed against the dissidents", the IPP said in a statement issued on the fifth anniversary of the serial murders of journalists and intellectuals, adding that the Party would continue "its quest for justice".

For its part, the Paris-based international press watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders) called on the Iranian authorities to break "the impunity enjoyed by murderers and especially those who instigated killings".

"There is never any discussion about who were the masterminds behind the killings", the Reporters Sans Frontieres observed

All the families of victims have complained that the question of who instigated the killings has never been raised. Since November 2002, they have been making complaints to international justice organisations. Reporters Without Borders supports these families and hopes that the international bodies will do everything within their power to see that justice is done.

ENDS FOROOHARS COMMEMORATION 211103

http://www.iran-press-service.com/articles_2003/Nov-2003/foroohars_commemoration_211103.htm

Belarus sells weapons to Iran: Minsk officials

Friday, November 21, 2003
IranMania News

MINSK, Nov 20 (AFP) - The isolated former Soviet republic of Belarus said Thursday that its arms sales in recent years mainly went to four countries including Iran and Sudan.

Minsk has exported tanks, armoured personnel carriers and heavy artillery to Tehran, Khartoum, the Ivory Coast and Algeria, said Vasily Pavlov, top arms export control official at the foreign ministry.

However, he denied any Belarussian military exports to Iraq under ousted president Saddam Hussein.

Washington has accused the authoritarian regime of President Alexander Lukashenko of selling military communication equipment to Iraq in violation of the UN embargo before the US-led invasion in March.

Pavlov presented a report on Belarussian arms sales in 2002 and 2003 to reporters.

"Belarus is the first country of the CIS (grouping of former Soviet republics) to have published such a document, which shows our country's wish to increase transparency in military sales," he said.

http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=19892&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs

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