Iranian Alert -- December 5, 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.

YEARNING FOR FREEDOM

Iran forces quell massive uprising

Protesters gunned down as people resist Revolutionary Guard assault

Posted: December 5, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

Iranian Supreme Revolutionary Guard forces under the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reportedly killed a 10-year-old boy in the country's minority Baloch region yesterday, touching off a massive uprising against the Islamic regime countered by a deadly crackdown and imposition of martial law, according to sources on the scene.

Amid burning banks, stores and government offices, at least 30 Baloch protesters are dead and 80 injured in the southeastern city of Saravan near the Pakistani border, said Malek Meerdora, who immigrated to Canada from the city in 1993.

Meerdora told WorldNetDaily the Iranian government has attempted to shut off communication from the city, but he has been in contact with sources there via satellite telephone and the Internet.

He said soldiers approached the 10-year-old, Haroun Balochzahi, and grabbed his bike from him, insisting on a bribe. The boy did not speak Farsi, the majority language, and responded by biting a soldier and running. The youth was shelled with bullets in front of people on the streets and died on the spot, Meerdora said, prompting an immediate reaction.

In an unusual display of resistance to the hard-line, cleric-led regime, a crowd set a military jeep on fire and began beating the soldiers, Meerdora said.

Later, at about 1:30 p.m., thousands of Balochs, including many from surrounding cities, began to congregate on the streets in protest.

Revolutionary Guard soldiers opened fire on the crowd, hitting up to 80 people, witnesses claimed.

The entire city and surrounding area is raised up against the Tehran government, Meerdora said, burning down symbols of the regime and attacking Iranian officials.

Crowds reached the offices of the mayor, commissioners and chief of police and beat them, he said, and many soldiers have been beaten by unarmed citizens.

The director of the hospital has been warned by the government to not take in any wounded protesters, and some Balochs have been shot in front of the hospital, according to Meerdora's sources.

He said security forces went to the hospital and killed people in their rooms.

About 300 people have been jailed, and uncooperative prisoners have had their tongues cut out, he said.

"I mark this as a day of revolution," Meerdora said. "I think the Iranian government will face more problems."

He said throughout the evening, Revolutionary Guard forces watched over the people from roof tops, prepared to fire at anyone who moves from his home.

No one is allowed to enter or leave the city, he added.

Similar to the Kurds, the Balochs, who comprise 2 percent of Iran's population, regard themselves as a nation separated by borders – in their case the frontier between Iran and Pakistan, which also has a sizable Baloch minority.

Politically the Baloch identify as Muslims, but most do not practice Islam, Meerdora said.

Some analysts say Iran's theocratic regime is unraveling, as resistance movements, including one led by students, grow stronger.

"This theocratic regime is in shambles, coming to the end of its rope," according to Fereydoun Hoveyda, senior fellow at the National Committee on American Foreign Policy in New York City. "People are not afraid of it anymore."

Hoveyda contends, however, Western nations have adopted a flawed policy that focuses on support of President Mohammad Khatami's reform movement rather than on a secular, democratic movement led by students. He adds that while Arabs in many lands danced in the streets in praise of the Sept. 11 attackers, "ordinary Iranians were the only Muslims to openly condemn them and express sympathy to the American people."

"The American press, as well as the [U.S.] government, misreads the events in Iran," Hoveyda said in an interview with WorldNetDaily last fall. "They think that there is one reformist movement, represented by Khatami."

Khatami, he points out, is against dismissing the Islamic regime, which came into power after the ruling shah was forced into exile amid seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran by militant students. The U.S. no longer has diplomatic relations with Iran.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35967

Iran nuclear freeze should be permanent-France

By Carol Giacomo, Diplomatic Correspondent
04 Dec 2003 22:11:56 GMT

WASHINGTON, Dec 4 (Reuters) - France is determined to ensure that Iran permanently freezes experiments to make enriched uranium and plutonium, which could be used in nuclear weapons, its foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday.

The spokesman, Herve Ladsous, said he believes a permanent freeze is still possible, despite a senior Iranian official's recent assertion that "there has been and will be no question of a permanent suspension or halt at all."

Ladsous, in Washington to meet U.S. officials, discussed the situation in Iran and Iraq and other issues of concern to both nations at a breakfast with a small group of reporters.

The U.N.'s watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last week condemned Iran's 18-year cover-up of sensitive nuclear research, including uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing, and said any further serious breaches of non-proliferation obligations would not be tolerated.

The United States accuses Iran of using its nuclear power as a front to build a nuclear weapon, a charge Tehran denies.

Ladsous refused to take sides, saying "I don't think we pass judgment on what the intentions are. We stick to the facts."

The IAEA concluded in a recent report that it had seen "no evidence" Iran did have a covert weapons program but said the jury was still out as to whether one existed.

Faced with concerted international pressure, Iran agreed on Oct. 21 after talks with France, Britain and Germany to allow snap inspections of its nuclear sites and suspend uranium enrichment, which can be used to make fuel for bombs.

ROHANI COMMENTS

But U.S. officials said the deal was in doubt after the official who negotiated with the Europeans -- Hasan Rohani, head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council -- said the decision to suspend uranium enrichment was "voluntary and temporary" and Tehran wanted to "control the whole (nuclear) fuel cycle."

Asked if France intended that Iran's "freeze" in nuclear enrichment and reprocessing activities be permanent, Ladsous said: "That is what we have on our mind, definitely."

"We did not say it in so many words because we're dealing with a country which has its sensitivities, but yeah, the objective is to have an Iran with peaceful atomic energy (and) prevent proliferation of mass destruction weapons," he said.

As a signer of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, Iran is permitted to have a civilian nuclear energy program but is forbidden from developing or possessing nuclear weapons.

Hardliners control all security and foreign policy levers in the Islamic republic but the country is embroiled in a vigorous debate over its future.

Ladsous said while some Iranians oppose the Oct. 21 agreement with the Europeans, he believes Rohani worked hard to get the deal approved by his government.

The spokesman described a scene in which the three European foreign ministers watched on Oct. 21 as Rohani paused the talks so he could speak on three cell phones at once with other Iranian government officials.

"He really wanted to make a deal ... but then he wanted to secure support and agreement from everybody in the (Iranian) system," Ladsous said.

The spokesman expressed confidence that a "process" to rid Iran of unacceptable nuclear activities was underway.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N04305683.htm

ElBaradei rejects criticism of UN's Iran inspections

MSNBC
VIENNA, Dec. 4

The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Thursday rejected criticism of its failure to detect Iran's clandestine experiments to make enriched uranium and plutonium, saying they were practically undetectable.

Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), also said Iran had yet to sign a protocol accepting more intrusive snap inspections, though diplomats said it was too early to say whether Tehran was stalling.

Iran acknowledged to the IAEA in October that it hid a secret centrifuge uranium enrichment programme from U.N. inspectors for nearly two decades.

ElBaradei said Iran's laboratory-scale experiments, which Washington said were further proof that Tehran has been secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons, were on too small a scale to be easily detected by his inspectors.

''People have been saying Iran has been cheating the agency, if you like, for 18 years,'' ElBaradei told reporters. ''Yes, Iran has been successful in doing research and laboratory activities and this we were not able to detect, and I don't think we will be able to detect in the future.

''But...if a country moves from research...to an industrial scale to develop weapons, I think the system, with all the technology that we have, makes it highly unlikely that this kind of programme would go on undetected.''

The United States accuses Iran of using its nuclear power programme as a front to build an atom bomb. Tehran denies this.

While the IAEA concluded in a recent report that it had seen ''no evidence'' Iran did have a covert weapons programme, it said the jury was still out as to whether one existed.

ElBaradei said that no matter how thorough and intrusive inspections are, there are clear limits to what they can detect.

''There will always be easily concealable items -- one centrifuge or two centrifuges operating somewhere or a computer study,'' he said.

ELBARADEI CRITICISES WASHINGTON

In a separate interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro, ElBaradei said Washington was setting a bad example for would-be nuclear proliferators by research into so-called ''mini nukes.''

The United States, like Iran, is a signatory of the 1968 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). By signing the treaty as a nuclear power, Washington has pledged to gradually disarm.

''If you see Congress unblocking millions of dollars for research into mini nuclear bombs, one understands that far from aiming for nuclear disarmament, the United States seeks to improve its arsenal,'' he said in the interview to appear in the paper's Friday edition.

ElBaradei also said Iran had not yet told him when it would sign an NPT protocol permitting more intrusive, short-notice IAEA inspections but he expected it to sign soon, as promised.

Several non-U.S. diplomats told Reuters they did not consider the fact that Iran had not signed the NPT protocol as proof Tehran was stalling.

ElBaradei said the agency was in the process of contacting companies and individuals who had been involved with Iran's purchase of centrifuge components, which it said were contaminated with weapons-grade uranium.

Although he did not name names, diplomats and arms experts have said Pakistan was the likely origin of Iran's European-developed centrifuge designs and much of its hardware.

http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters12-04-035832.asp?reg=MIDEAST

Iran nuclear freeze should be permanent-France

Reuters
Carol Giacomo, Diplomatic Correspondent

WASHINGTON, Dec 4 (Reuters) - France is determined to ensure that Iran permanently freezes experiments to make enriched uranium and plutonium, which could be used in nuclear weapons, its foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday.

The spokesman, Herve Ladsous, said he believes a permanent freeze is still possible, despite a senior Iranian official's recent assertion that "there has been and will be no question of a permanent suspension or halt at all."

Ladsous, in Washington to meet U.S. officials, discussed the situation in Iran and Iraq and other issues of concern to both nations at a breakfast with a small group of reporters.

The U.N.'s watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last week condemned Iran's 18-year cover-up of sensitive nuclear research, including uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing, and said any further serious breaches of non-proliferation obligations would not be tolerated.

The United States accuses Iran of using its nuclear power as a front to build a nuclear weapon, a charge Tehran denies.

Ladsous refused to take sides, saying "I don't think we pass judgment on what the intentions are. We stick to the facts."

The IAEA concluded in a recent report that it had seen "no evidence" Iran did have a covert weapons program but said the jury was still out as to whether one existed.

Faced with concerted international pressure, Iran agreed on Oct. 21 after talks with France, Britain and Germany to allow snap inspections of its nuclear sites and suspend uranium enrichment, which can be used to make fuel for bombs.

ROHANI COMMENTS

But U.S. officials said the deal was in doubt after the official who negotiated with the Europeans -- Hasan Rohani, head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council -- said the decision to suspend uranium enrichment was "voluntary and temporary" and Tehran wanted to "control the whole (nuclear) fuel cycle."

Asked if France intended that Iran's "freeze" in nuclear enrichment and reprocessing activities be permanent, Ladsous said: "That is what we have on our mind, definitely."

"We did not say it in so many words because we're dealing with a country which has its sensitivities, but yeah, the objective is to have an Iran with peaceful atomic energy (and) prevent proliferation of mass destruction weapons," he said.

As a signer of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, Iran is permitted to have a civilian nuclear energy program but is forbidden from developing or possessing nuclear weapons.

Hardliners control all security and foreign policy levers in the Islamic republic but the country is embroiled in a vigorous debate over its future.

Ladsous said while some Iranians oppose the Oct. 21 agreement with the Europeans, he believes Rohani worked hard to get the deal approved by his government.

The spokesman described a scene in which the three European foreign ministers watched on Oct. 21 as Rohani paused the talks so he could speak on three cell phones at once with other Iranian government officials.

"He really wanted to make a deal ... but then he wanted to secure support and agreement from everybody in the (Iranian) system," Ladsous said.

The spokesman expressed confidence that a "process" to rid Iran of unacceptable nuclear activities was underway.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N04305683.htm

Iran official: 400 state-owned firms to be priced for sale
Director of Iran Privatization Organizations (IPO) said in Tehran on Thursday that by the end of the current Iranian year (March 20) over 400 state-owned companies will be priced for sale, IRNA reported from Tehran.

"Of the figure 60 belong to the energy ministry," Ahmad Mir-Motahari said.

Speaking at a seminar on Energy Ministry privatization policy, he said Increasing economic efficiency, promoting competition and raising revenues are all aims of the privatization drive in Iran.

The government, due to insufficient financial resources and capabilities cannot meet all the society's needs, hence propping-up the private sector is an added solution.

The performance of raising revenue by the state-owned companies are such that "pressure is exerted on government in various ways including through higher budget deficits."

Privatization does not entail "liberalization," and the government will still assume a role of supervision after ceding the entities to the private sector, the IPO director added.

If privatization leads to reduce services and production and lower invested capital in the firms, privatization has not achieved its objectives, Mir-Motahari stated.

"Hence prudent policies should be devised to prevent such outcomes from occurring," he added. "Privatization of banks and insurance companies is pivotal in boosting economic growth."

Iran privatization drive is modeled after Germany's experience following unification saying that reorganization of state-owend companies and setting up holding companies in the Third Five-Year development Plan (March 2000-2005) are an important task of the privatization policy.

"Over 2500 state-owned companies have been evaluated so far, Mir-Motahari underlined.

Minister of Economy and Finance Tahmasb Mazaheri said last month that privatization of economy in the fourth five-year development plan (March 2005-2010) remains the pillar of economic development. He said for many years state has dominated the economy in Iran, 'but the outcomes of such policies have been largely futile in economic growth'.

The state-ownership of industry, banks, and insurance companies and other government-affiliated organs were necessary in the past years, 'but now there is no reason for state domination of the economy'.

He referred to the peaks and troughs in the privatization drive in the country, adding privatization as a strategy could not have been thoroughly implemented in the past decade. "Now all organs including the Majlis sees privatization as the cure of the economy's ills." "Privatization has its own returns in different countries based their economic structures."

He also said that a Privatization Support Fund has been set up. The fund aims to promote workers employment and training and directives to that effect will soon be provided to the cabinet.

http://www.payvand.com/news/03/dec/1033.html

Iranian Opposition Supporters Voice Discontent with Regime
AEI hosts radio talk show connecting U.S. and Iran

By Afzal Khan
Washington File Special Correspondent

Washington -- The growing opposition to the Islamic regime in Iran found expression during an intercontinental radio talk show connecting Iranian opposition supporters with Iranian Americans December 3.

The event was organized by the American Enterprise Institute in Washington and was broadcast live by the Farsi-language radio station "Radio Sedaye Iran (KRSI)" that broadcasts daily into Iran from Los Angeles, California. A panel of Iranian-American activists invited by AEI joined in the discussions with opposition activists from within Iran participating by phone.

The callers from Iran, who used pseudonyms for security reasons, were united in their belief that the so-called reforms promised by the Islamic regime are a sham and that true freedom and democracy can only return to Iran with the removal of the "mullah-ridden" government there.

A caller identifying herself as a housewife said, "We gave President Khatami six and a half years to impose his reforms, but nothing has happened. We don't trust him," she said

The housewife, who claimed to be a member of the "activist" movement in Iran, said that democracy cannot "co-exist" with an Islamic regime, and that religion must be divorced from government.

Asked what the United States can do to help the democracy movement in Iran, she said the U.S. government must not "support" or encourage the Islamic regime. Instead, the Bush administration should "boycott" the regime, she said.

She said she was part of a large group of Iranians who on September 11, 2001 took part in a candlelight procession. "Many of us were arrested and taken to solitary cells," she said.

A student under the pseudonym of "Ms. Nargess" called on the United States to play "a bigger role" against the Islamic regime by providing support to the opposition media.

"Nargess" said that as a woman living in Iran, she wanted a secular government, not an Islamic one.

The third caller, identifying himself as a university professor, said that Iranians for the last 25 years have been denied freedom.

He said the 65 million people in Iran have "God-given rights" and that they should be allowed to hold a referendum to choose their government, "be it a monarchy or a Khomeini-like one."

The professor urged Iranians living abroad to help the opposition. He pointed out that radio programs beamed into Iran need to be more sophisticated and have "interesting programs" such as on human rights, instead of just rhetoric against the Islamic regime.

A fourth caller said that he is "a handicapped man" as a result of wounds suffered during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

He said he is a practicing Muslim who wanted the opposition to be more organized. "We want the United States to recognize us," he said.

The fifth caller, "Hassan," said he too was handicapped from wounds sustained in the Iran-Iraq war.

"Hassan" said the highly touted reforms are "done and finished" and the people in Iran are "fed-up and cannot take it anymore."

The sixth caller, describing himself as a poet, complained about the dire economic conditions facing many Iranians. He said he knew many jobless people who eat just one meal a day of "only potatoes and no meat or chicken."

In answer to a question from AEI moderator, Danielle Pletka, a caller identifying herself as "Miss Iran" said activists in the student movement were going to boycott the parliamentary elections planned by the regime in February.

Another caller, "Mohammad," said that "two months ago" posters to boycott the elections began appearing on walls.

http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2003&m=December&x=20031204185336retsurbmraw0.4855463&t=usinfo/wf-latest.html

Details of the attack on Shirin Ebadi’s speech

Thursday, December 04, 2003 - ©2003 IranMania.com

TEHRAN, Dec 4 (IRANMANIA) - The whole saga began when the Student Islamic Socitey of the Al-Zahra University in Tehran invited Shirin Ebadi, the Nobel laureate, to the university to give a lecture on the social situation of Iran, women and children rights, before leaving for Norway to collect her peace prize award.

Al-Zahra University is a womens only institution and the courses focus on law, politics, philosophy and religion.

Ebadi answered in the affirmative and accepted the invitation. The students publicized the event both inside and outside the university. The announcement led to a number of student protests.

One day prior to the event, a group of students gathered outside the office of Zahra Rahnavard, the university’s head and called for the cancellation of the event. But Ms. Rahnavard rejected the call and told the students to attend the gathering and to express their views during the question and answer period.

The head of the university said: “I have always desired a society where dialogue and understanding dominates. I believe that everyone has the right to express their point of view. I believe in freedom of thought and expression, but some hate criticism.”

Ebadi’s supporters encircled her and guided her to the floor below the amphitheatre. Immediately Ms. Rahnavard informed the police and the police personnel entered the campus and escorted Ms. Ebadi out of the university.

When Shirin Ebadi was awarded the Nobel peace prize, hardliners in Iran clearly made their views known. The conservative press tried to draw parallels between the Iranian laureate and Israeli figures such as Shimon Perez, Sadat and Begnin in a bid to discredit her.

At the end of the chaos in Al-Zahra University, a knife and two big padlocks were discovered! Moreover a number of rather middle-aged women were seen among the students who were neither students nor among the university staff.

During the protest, more non-students appeared totaling around 80 people while Ebadi’s supporters numbered around 250.

The head of the university, Ms. Rahnavard, sharply criticized the behavior of the protestors and threatened to resign if the violent protestors are not convicted.

“The ceremony was being held by the permission of the supervisory board of the university, so it was quite legal. Those who wish to conduct themselves with sticks and batons should know that a day will come when they themselves will be the victims. I will seriously follow the case. Either the violators are punished or I will resign as someone who has failed in creating a harmonious cultural atmosphere in the university.” she stated.
Sports.

Congress Readies Iran Freedom Funding
New York Sun - By Eli Lake
Dec 4, 2003

WASHINGTON -- Congress is preparing for the first time to authorize public funding for human rights and democracy activities inside the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Tucked inside the 2004 Omnibus Appropriations bill is language that instructs the State Department to spend $1.5 million “for making grants to educational, humanitarian and nongovernmental organizations and individuals inside Iran to support the advancement of democracy and human rights in Iran.”

While the amount is modest, it breaks a long-standing barrier against American spending inside Iran and could signal the Bush administration’s intention to no longer heed a 1981 agreement with Tehran that pledged that Washington would not interfere in the internal affairs of that country.

The expected passage of the spending measure next month would coincide with a campaign on the ground in Iran to urge citizens to boycott February’s elections to the Majlis, the Iranian parliament.

At the American Enterprise Institute yesterday, democracy activists in Iran speaking by teleconference said they had seen many buildings in their neighborhoods emblazoned with “Na,” Persian for no, the unofficial slogan of the upcoming boycott campaign.The push to keep Iranians away from the polls next year is in keeping with recent tactics of Iran’s democrats to avoid large demonstrations in favor of more diffuse actions.

Last March, municipal elections were boycotted and on July 9 many Iranians did not show up for work to commemorate the anniversary of violent crackdowns against students.

In the last three months, the Bush administration has signaled that it is not prepared to confront Iran’s government, a regime that the president nearly two years ago declared a member of the “axis of evil.”The Pentagon has chilled its ties in the last two months with anti-regime Iranian activists, while Secretary of State Powell last month praised a resolution from the International Atomic Energy Agency that found no evidence that the country intended to use uranium centrifuges it had kept hidden from the U.N. body for nuclear weapons.

At the same time, the American-appointed Iraqi Governing Council concluded a series of diplomatic and trade agreements with the Islamic Republic last month with the blessing of the Coalition Provisional Authority.

While the executive branch softens its stance against Iran, many in Congress have pushed a harder line.

Earlier this year, Senator Brownback, a Republican of Kansas, introduced legislation that would have set aside $50 million each year for broadcasts from exiles into Iran and stated that American policy was to end the rule of the clerics in charge there.The proposal was opposed by the State Department and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar, a Republican from Indiana.

But Mr. Brownback continued to push for some funding for those opposing Iran’s government, and he managed to get the rather modest $1.5 million into the appropriations legislation.

“This is an important precedent,” the president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, Clifford May, said. “For the first time we are seeing Washington give concrete support for the democratic forces in Iran.”

While the National Endowment for Democracy runs a handful of programs that aim to push democracy in Iran, all of them are grants to organizations in America that have supported reformists in Iran.The new instructions in the budget for next year would for the first time go toward programs on the ground in Iran.

The State Department in the past has been wary of American funding for programs inside Iran because of the 1981 Algiers Accord, which established a commission to settle outstanding property claims between Iran and America and pledged that future presidents would not interfere in the Islamic Republic’s internal affairs.

Rep. Brad Sherman, a Democrat of California, said he supported the money for Iranian democracy building.

“I hope that this is the start of a concerted effort by our government to assist the Iranian people in their struggle for a more representative government,” he said.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_3928.shtml

http://www.iranwpd.com/

Killer of Zahra Kazemi arrested – report
Dec. 4 – The alleged killer of Iranian-Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi has been arrested, the news website Ruydad reported Thursday.
Quoting informed sources as saying, Ruydad reported that the judiciary has issued an arrest warrant against a security member of the Evin prison in Tehran.
The report introduced the man as “Bakhshi” and said that after Kazemi was beat by her, she fell down with her head hitting the edge of a gutter which eventually led to a brain haemorrhage and later to her death.
The judiciary could not be reached on the weekend for commenting on the report.
Kazemi, 54, was arrested last June while taking pictures of the notorious Evin prison in northern Tehran where she was also detained. She died a few days later of a brain haemorrhage allegedly caused by a severe beating during interrogation.
A criminal court had accused a secret police agent of the murder but the intelligence service categorically denied the charges and instead pointed the finger at the Tehran prosecutor Saaid Mortazavi.
But also Mortazavi, a leading hardliner, has denied all charges and said that reformists have staged a political plot against him.
Iran’s Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi plans to take over the Kazemi case and represent her family in court./-

Rocket Man Rejects Iranian Offer to Develop his Pulsejet

December 05, 2003
New Zealand News
Scott MacLeod

An engineer who made global headlines while building a cruise missile in his garage has spurned an offer from an Iranian firm to develop his jet engines.

Tokoroa's Bruce Simpson said the firm was linked to the aerospace and missile industries. He also had nibbles from Lebanon, Pakistan and China.

"I contacted the SIS, who promptly arrived on my doorstep without even asking for directions," Mr Simpson said on his website. "They advised that it was most certainly not a sensible thing to do."

Mr Simpson instead signed a heads of agreement with a United States firm that would have set up a research and development plant in the Waikato.

But the deal was scuttled on Monday because Mr Simpson was bankrupted by the Inland Revenue Department over unpaid taxes.

A bitter Mr Simpson said the department was stupid to quash a deal that would have let the tax be paid.

The venture would have reaped cash "hundreds of times the value of the outstanding debt".

The department's Alison Welch rejected the claims, saying the Commissioner of Inland Revenue and members of Parliament had looked at the case.

Mr Simpson, 49, is an engineer, website developer and software technician who spent four years perfecting his "X-Jet", similar to the pulse-jets that powered Germany's V-1 missiles in World War II.

His GPS-guided missile has a normal pulse-jet and is meant to fly 160km with a 10kg warhead.

Six weeks ago, Mr Simpson advertised for volunteers to help with a test flight, but yesterday said the missile was no longer in his possession.

Its whereabouts would be "kept secret until an appropriate time".

The Defence Force refused to help with the test-flight, in which the 640km/h missile would have flown a square course with 10km legs.

Mr Simpson took just 10 hours to make a pulse-jet out of trash on the British television show Scrapheap Challenge.

The episode, seen by millions of viewers in England in October and the United States last month, showed Mr Simpson's team of Navy sailors fix the jet to a kart which hit 64km/h, beating a rival team.

Scrapheap co-host Lisa Rogers said it was "the most astounding bit of engineering I've ever seen on the show".

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3537971&thesection=news&thesubsection=general

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