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Arrest warrant issued for Iranian editor, monthly closed down

July 11 – The Iranian judiciary issued an arrest warrant for the chief-editor of the reformist daily Tosse’e and closed down a monthly, the news agency IRNA reported Sunday.

The arrest warrant for Tosse’e editor Gholi Sheikhi was issued after he refused to show up at a court for replying to charges on propagating against the Islamic system, IRNA said.

The judiciary also banned the reformist monthly Aftab which had allegedly published articles against the principles of Islamic rulership.

According to Iran's Association for Press Freedom, more than 90 publications have been closed by the judiciary, 21 journalists and publishers remain in jail and more than 65 reporters have been summoned to courts on charges the association said were baseless.

Iran's hardline judiciary, which accuses reformist press circles of trying to undermine the Islamic system and move the country toward secularism, views the press crackdown as defending Iran's Islamic Republic./-

National Republican Congressional Committee

Candidate Spotlights

Goli Ameri (OR-01)

Touted early on as a prodigious fundraiser, Goli Ameri has amassed a $1 million war chest since beginning her campaign to unseat Democrat Rep. David Wu in Oregon’s First Congressional District race. Her fundraising, coupled with her experience, grace and intelligence, give Republicans good reason to believe that the First Congressional seat could soon be in GOP hands.

Ameri’s impressive business credentials make her an ideal candidate but her personal history provides a vivid example of what it means to live the American dream. The Iranian-born Ameri left Iran in 1973 during the Islamic Revolution to come to the United States where she earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in communications from Stanford University. After graduating, Ameri pursued a business career and later became a Director in U.S. Leasing, a former division of Ford Motor Company and Fleet Bank. Eventually, Ameri founded eTinium, a consulting and market research firm specializing in the telecommunications industry, of which she is now president.

Ameri’s personal drive and well-roundedness earned her the primary election endorsement of The Oregonian, the largest newspaper in Oregon as well as scores of local community and business leaders.

In their endorsement of Ameri, The Oregonian writes, “This year the GOP has an opportunity to send a candidate with broad appeal into the fall election in the 1st District. That candidate is Goli Ameri.”

If elected, Ameri would be the first Iranian-American elected to the House of Representatives. Her priorities include building a stronger economy, creating more and better-paying jobs and preserving the unique way of life Oregonians enjoy. She believes that lower taxes on families and business result in greater economic growth, more jobs and higher salaries with more benefits. Ameri’s campaign was instrumental in gathering the signatures necessary to qualify a referendum against a $1.1 billion tax increase passed earlier this year by Oregon's legislature.

Ameri is a member of the National Education for Women’s (NEW) Leadership Oregon at the Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University and is a past member of the Oregon Republican Party and an Oregon delegate to the National Republican Women's Conference. She also has been a long-time supporter of the Providence Child Center, the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Women's Health Center, Oregon Alzheimer's Association, Portland Firefighters Association and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

In addition to receiving her master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Stanford, Ameri studied at the Sorbonne in Paris, France and is fluent in French and Persian and also has a working knowledge of Spanish. Ameri has been married for 24 years to Jim Ameri, and has two sons, Darius, 19, and Sherwin, 14. She is an avid runner, skier, traveler and reader of politics and policy-related non-fiction as well as modern fiction.

To learn more about the candidate you can visit her Web site at www.ameriforcongress.com.

Former Reformist MP Declares the End of “Reforms from Within”

In an interview with Italian news agency Kronos International, former reformist MP and student activist Fatemeh Haqiqatju said “reforms from within no longer works.”

Radio Farda Newsroom

July 13, 2004 - “The reform movement has had great accomplishments, but these accomplishments were dwarfed by the enormity of people’s expectations, whic caused people great despair and frustration” Former Tehran MP Fatemeh Haqiqatju, who is banned from leaving for criticizing the judiciary in Majles speeches, told the Italian news agency Kronos.
“Reform from within the present political structure will no longer get anywhere,” Haqiqatju, a member of the pro-reform party Islamic Iran Participation Front, added. “This does not mean that the reform movement has reached the end of the line, but the reformist politicians have concluded that they must pursue more fundamental reforms,” she said.

“The people have concluded that the present political authority is not flexible,” she said. “Most people, especially young people, seek fundamental change, but this movement has no leader and organization,” she said.

She accused the conservative faction of the Islamic government of trying to establish a Taliban-like totalitarian regime in Iran, but she added, a theocratic dictatorship will no longer be accepted by the Iranian people.” She said “The present form of government does not represent the people’s demands.”

http://www.radiofarda.com/en_article/2004/7/912f6bd3-60c1-4e72-85f0-bc1b93c23e7a.html