Iranian Alert -- December 26, 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.

Top Official: Many Killed, Injured in Iran Quake

ABCNews
Dec. 26 — TEHRAN (Reuters)

An earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale struck southeastern Iran Friday, killing and injuring many people in the city of Bam, a senior Iranian official said.

"There is a lot of dead and injured in Bam city and all the cooperation has been done to take them out," Mohammad Ali Karimi, governor of Kerman province, told state media.

"There was a lot of damage in the city," he said.

State radio said a lot of people were "buried" under debris in Bam.

The official IRNA news agency said Red Crescent rescue teams had been dispatched to the quake-hit area in Kerman province.

Quakes are a regular occurrence in Iran, which is crossed by several major fault lines in the earth's structure.

In June last year, a tremor measuring 6.3 on the open-ended Richter scale hit northern Iran, killing at least 229 people and injuring more than 1,000.

Some 35,000 people were killed in 1990 when earthquakes of up to 7.7 on the Richter scale hit the northwest of Iran. Tehran was hit by a quake of about seven on the Richter scale in 1830.

The U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center said its measuring equipment indicated Friday's quake had a magnitude of 6.7.

It said the epicenter of the "strong earthquake" appeared to be about 610 miles southeast of Iran's capital Tehran.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters20031226_35.html

Iran's top female dancer detained with students on charges of dancing in public

Ali Akbar Dareini,
Associated Press
December 26, 2003

TEHRAN, IRAN -- Iran's best-known female dancer and 24 of her students have been detained for dancing in public -- for an all-female audience, her husband said Thursday.

Although there are no written laws against dancing, Iran's hard-line clerics have banned the activity, which they consider a promotion of moral corruption.

Farzaneh Kaboli and 24 of her students were detained Wednesday night as they were performing folk dances on the second night of a two-week program at Tehran's prestigious Vahdat Hall, said her husband, Hadi Marzban.

He said the students were freed Thursday after signing statements pledging not to perform again, but Kaboli was taken to prison.

"It was a program of rhythmical movements displaying folk dance of various provinces of Iran to an all-female audience. The program had been authorized by the Culture Ministry," Marzban said. Kaboli has not yet been charged.

Kaboli's dance programs, available on bootlegged video, are widely watched by Iranian women.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/4287458.html

Thousands Feared Dead in Iran Earthquake

Friday, December 26, 2003

TEHRAN, Iran — A devastating earthquake (search) rattled Bam, a historic city in southeast Iran (search) on Friday, and officials said the final death toll may top 10,000.

Hasan Khoshrou, a legislator for Kerman province where the quake occurred, said there was still no precise number of dead from the magnitude 6.7 quake, but officials working in Bam had given him that figure.

"The quake hit the city when most of the people were in bed, raising fears that the death toll may go higher," he said.

Reuters news service reported one official confirming that at least 2,000 had been killed.

Officials surveying the city of 80,000 people from helicopter said about 60 percent of the city's houses were destroyed, Khoshrou said. Water, power and phone lines were cut. The earthquake struck at about 5:30 a.m.

The U.S. Geological Survey (search) reported the quake's magnitude was 6.7, capable of causing severe damage. It reported an aftershock of magnitude 5.4 about two hours later.

Authorities in Bam, 630 miles southeast of the capital Tehran (search), put out a call for blood donations.

"Many people have died," Kerman province Gov. Mohammad Ali Karimi told state media. "Many people are buried under the rubble."

Relief teams set up their headquarters in a public square in Bam because their offices in the governor's building had been ruined, Karimi told state radio.

Karimi said worried relatives from surrounding areas were heading to Bam and causing massive traffic jams that were slowing rescue efforts. He urged them to stay home and wait until phone service was restored to try to find relatives.

Reports said the earthquake destroyed Bam's medieval fortress, a massive, 2,000-year-old structure that sits on a cliff near the city and attracts thousands of tourists each year. The fortress includes scores of ancient mud huts.

"The historic quarter of the city has been completely destroyed and caused great human loss," said Mehran Nourbakhsh, chief spokesman for Iran's Red Crescent, the Islamic equivalent of the Red Cross.

Authorities have sent numerous rescue workers with helicopters to the area, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

"We are doing everything we can to rescue the injured and unearth the dead," television quoted Karimi as saying.

The United Nations disaster management team in Tehran has asked the Iranian government if it needs help and was to meet later Friday to assess the situation, said Elizabeth Byrs, Geneva spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

She said there had been no request from Tehran so far.

Roy Probert, spokesman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said the umbrella group also has had no requests. Probert said the Iranian Red Crescent is well-prepared for earthquakes.

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences over the earthquake.

In a telegram to Iranian President Mohamed Khatami, Putin said he was "deeply shocked by an earthquake in Iran that brought numerous victims and destruction" and offered his "sincere condolences to the leadership and people of Iran."

Russian Emergency Situations Ministry spokeswoman Marina Ryklina said that two Il-76 transport aircraft with rescue workers and equipment were to leave for Iran later Friday.

Hardly any buildings in Iran are built to withstand earthquakes, although the country sits on several major faultlines and temblors are frequent. An earthquake of magnitude 7.3 to 7.7 killed 50,000 people on June 21, 1990, and most recently, a magnitude 6 quake in June, 2002 killed 500 people.

Also Friday, a magnitude 4 quake rocked the west Iranian town of Masjid Soleiman at 8:10 a.m., but no casualties were immediately reported, state television said. Masjid Soleiman is about 600 miles northwest of Bam.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,106708,00.html

Anger rises following deadly quake

SMCCDI (Information Service)
Dec 26, 2003

Anger is rising against the Islamic republic regime following the deadly quake which jolt the historic southeastern City of Bam. Many Iranians are already blaming the regime for the lack of appropriate help and as the cold wave is expected to take more lives in the region with the start of night fall.

The few choppers, planes and tractors sent to the area, cut from neighboring cities, are judged to be unsufficient for the heavy task of rescuing thousands of wounded and many missing residents which have been trapped under the ruins or to transfer those laying in the streets to medical facilities.

The anger has increased especially as the hospitals of neighboring cities are refusing more patients and as the regime's President has issued formal orders banning any aid coming from outside of governmental networks by requesting the transfer of any popular aid to these entities known as to be corrupt.

Many Iranians are remembering the fraud which followed the Roodbar earth quake of the last decade and how most foreign aids were stolen by officials in order to be sold on the black market. Indeed, many of the materials sent especially by the US, such as, medicines and tents were seen later as being sold in Tehran's streets while thousands died due to lack of the same necessary materials in the Roodbar region.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_4205.shtml

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