Posted on 12/06/2004 9:21:55 PM PST by DoctorZIn
Top News Story
Report: Iran Has Tried Arrested Al Qaeda Members
Mon Dec 6, 2004 05:45 PM ETTEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's judiciary has tried a number of arrested al Qaeda members and verdicts have been issued, a senior judiciary official was quoted as saying on Monday.
Tehran Justice Department head Abbasali Alizadeh told the semi-official Fars news agency Iran's "high-ranking officials are satisfied with the issued verdicts," but did not elaborate on what the verdicts had been.
News of the trials is likely to anger Washington which has repeatedly called on Iran to hand over all al Qaeda suspects it is holding. Guilty verdicts sentencing them to long jail terms would make that an even more distant prospect.
"If Iran does indeed have senior al Qaeda operatives, then we believe they should be handed over either to the United States or to a third country where they can be dealt with in a less opaque manner," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters in Washington.
Ereli said he had no confirmation al Qaeda members had been tried in Iran.
Western intelligence and Saudi sources believe Iran may have captured al Qaeda's security chief and a son of the group's leader Osama bin Laden.
Reuters could not immediately reach Iranian judiciary or government officials for comment.
Iran has extradited scores of suspected al Qaeda militants who fled Afghanistan and Pakistan in the last three years. But it has rebuffed U.S. calls to hand them all over and last year announced plans to put around a dozen on trial.
Hossein Mousavian, secretary of the foreign policy committee of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said in June that the suspects were middle-ranking al Qaeda members.
He said they had been: "plotting against the national security of Iran and they have planned for terrorist activities inside Iran."
The United States has long believed Iran was harboring al Qaeda militants who escaped Afghanistan after U.S. troops invaded in late 2001 after the September 11 attacks.
It has said Iran-based al Qaeda militants plotted suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia and that Tehran gave safe passage to several of the 19 hijackers who carried out the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.
Iran acknowledges that al Qaeda members have managed to cross into Iran over its long and difficult-to-police borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan.
But it denies providing safe-haven to al Qaeda members and says it deeply opposes the group's methods and philosophy.
The most important figure that Western intelligence agencies say may be there is Saif al-Adel, an Egyptian. He is widely believed to have taken charge of al Qaeda operations after Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks, was captured in Pakistan.
Saudi sources said last year that Iran had also detained Saad bin Laden, a son of Osama, as well as al Qaeda spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, who is a Kuwaiti.
Iran has refused to name the al Qaeda members it is holding.
Alizadeh said the trials had been conducted by a "special judge" after taking into account information presented by security and intelligence officials. (Additional reporting by Saul Hudson in Washington)
Suspense, intrigue as Iran's Rafsanjani mulls presidential comeback
12-07-2004, 12h37
Behrouz Mehri - (AFP/File)TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran's reformists look to be out of the running for next year's presidential election, but an element of suspense and political intrigue is still there thanks to the possibility of a comeback by former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
Seen as a pragmatic conservative, the charismatic top cleric has managed to inject some excitement into a race that would otherwise be written off as a shoo-in for hardliners in the process of tightening their grip on power.
Rafsanjani has yet to formally declare his candidacy in the polls -- expected to be held in May 2005 -- but he has been firing off clear signals that he wants his old job as regime number-two back.
"I would rather someone else enter the presidential race, but if society as well as prominent pundits conclude that I can fulfill this task better, I will announce my readiness," Rafsanjani said in September in what has been taken as a clear declaration of intent.
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami is now seen as a lame-duck leader -- his reformist allies having been weeded out by more powerful hardliners and his own powers increasingly limited.
Khatami is nearing the end of his second consecutive and therefore final term. The Iranian constitution only bars presidents from serving more than two consecutive four-year terms, meaning that Rafsanjani -- president for two terms from 1989-97 -- can in theory stand again.
The reformist camp's hoped-for candidate, former prime minister Mir Hossein Moussavi, has shunned calls to stand.
Another possible reformist candidate who has yet to declare, former parliament speaker Mehdi Karoubi, may also have a hard time convincing disappointed Khatami supporters that he can wield more clout.
This, analysts say, has created an ironic situation where Rafsanjani could become the focus of reformist efforts to stem a total hardline takeover, while at the same time holding the support of centrists and traditional conservatives.
A little over four years ago, the reformists -- then on an upward swing and oozing confidence -- launched their own bitter campaign against Rafsanjani that pushed him towards the conservative camp.
But Rafsanjani, 70, is seen as representing a power centre apart from the reformers and their hardline opponents. Recent informal opinion polls have shown him to be a leading contender should he chose to stand.
He is conservative yet progressive on some issues -- hostile to the rapid pace of social reform that Khatami had been pushing for, but a leading force behind economic liberalisation.
At the same time he can still assert his revolutionary credentials and rally the faithful with colourful tirades against arch-enemy the United States. Describing US President George W. Bush as a "bird-brained dinosaur" was particularly memorable.
But even his firebrand statements bely a record as a politician who has favoured rapprochement with the West on Iran's own terms. Such an image has seen him emerge as a favorite among many reformists and conservatives alike.
Presidential candidates are subject to appoval by the Guardians Council, an unelected body controlled by hardliners that vets all legislation and those seeking to be parliament deputies and president.
It was the council which blacklisted nearly all of the reformist's candidates ahead of the February parliamentary elections, leaving a coalition of conservatives and hardliners cruising to an easy win.
It is seen as impossible for the body to reject Rafsanjani -- given his heavyweight credentials and position as head of the Expediency Council, Iran's top political arbitration body -- although other tactics aimed at nudging him out cannot be ruled out.
Rafsanjani is the subject of plenty of gossip over his alleged wealth. He is rumoured to control assets ranging from hotels to automobile factories, grocery stores to pistachio plantations.
He recently denied this, but observers say this image could work for and against him -- being a successful businessman is a vote winner among voters eager to see a president with a bread-and-butter focus, but it could also draw a smear campaign centered on corruption allegations.
The suspense over Rafsanjani's intentions is likely to be maintained up until the very last minute, political analysts say, given that he may not wish to plunge himself into a lengthy campaign prematurely.
And much depends on who else is standing: someone of Rafsanjani's stature will certainly not wish to risk a defeat at the polls, and even if he chooses not to stand he will still be safe in the Expediency Council.
Possible contenders include the former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and already widely seen by the local press as the regime's choice.
Another possible regime choice is the former longtime boss of Iran's state broadcast media, Ali Larijani, who now represents Khamenei on Iran's top security body.
EU, Iran to launch nuclear talks next week07 Dec 2004 12:31:47 GMTSource: Reuters
By Parisa HafeziTEHRAN, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Iran's top nuclear negotiator said on Tuesday that he will meet French, British and German officials next week to launch talks aimed at permanently resolving the standoff over Tehran's nuclear plans.
"Next week there will be a meeting between Iranian and 'EU three' officials in one of the European capitals," Hassan Rohani, secretary of Iran's powerful Supreme National Security Council, was quoted as saying on Iranian state television.
"Possibly I will have a meeting with the 'EU three' foreign ministers and (Javier) Solana," he said, adding that head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, had asked to attend the meeting. Solana is the EU foreign policy chief.
Washington accuses Iran of developing nuclear weapons under cover of its atomic energy programme and has demanded that the U.N. consider imposing economic sanctions on Tehran as punishment. Iran denies the charge, insisting its plans are limited to the peaceful generation of electricity.
Western diplomats in Vienna, where the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is headquartered, said that the foreign ministers of the European Union's "big three" states were planning to meet Rohani briefly when the talks opened.
"The Iranians insisted on 'EU three' foreign ministers. They wanted a big show at the beginning of the talks," said a Western diplomat who follows negotiations between Tehran and the EU aimed at maintaining a freeze of Iran's sensitive atomic work.
PACKAGE OF INCENTIVES
He said the meeting of the ministers and Rohani would last around an hour and would be largely "symbolic". The date and location were still up in the air, though diplomats in Vienna said they assumed it would take place on Monday.
When the ministers finish, the talks will pass to less senior officials, who will work out details of a package of economic and political incentives aimed at persuading Iran to give up all work on uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing, activities that can produce atom-bomb material.
Washington is not doing anything to undermine the EU-Iran talks but is convinced they will fail, diplomats in Vienna say. They also said the Iranians' expectations for the talks were so high that it would be difficult not to disappoint them.
Western diplomats said the Iranians want the talks to conclude within months and the Europeans envisioned them taking years. Iran has threatened to resume enrichment activities if the talks with the EU do not start yielding quick results.
Rohani made it clear that Tehran was entering the negotiations determined to keep its nuclear programme, though he indicated that the Iranians might be open to persuasion.
"As we have openly told the Europeans, Tehran is determined to keep its nuclear technology and Iran will not give it up easily," Rohani said.
Last week, Iran froze key parts of its nuclear programme after a week of marathon negotiations between EU and Iranian negotiators. The board of governors of the IAEA passed a resolution calling on Iran to maintain the freeze but referred to the suspension as "non-binding" and "voluntary".
Iran says the freeze will be short-lived.
Egyptian Charged with Spying for Iran
"PA"Egypt’s general prosecutor said today an Egyptian was arrested and charged with spying for Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard and providing them with information to carry out terrorist attacks in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Mohammed Eid Dabous gave Iran’s Revolutionary Guards “the best locations to carry out assassinations and terrorist operations in Egypt,” said general prosecutor Mahir Abdel Wahid. He said Dabous gave the information to a former Iranian employee in Iran’s diplomatic office in Cairo who is now on the run from Egyptian authorities.
Dabous was also accused of providing the Revolutionary Guard with information about foreigners living in Saudi Arabia to help carry out terrorist attacks against them. Islamic militants have carried out several attacks against Westerners in Saudi Arabia, including yesterday’s attack on the US consulate in Jeddah.
Dabous, a former director of a religious school in Saudi Arabia, received £26,000 for his work and was promised over £500,000 in return for supervising terrorist attacks in Egypt, said Abdel Wahid.
The Iranian, Mahmoud Reda Hussain, invited Dabous to Iran at the end of 2001 where he introduced him to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, said Abdel Wahid
Relations between Iran and Egypt have improved recently, but talks have been strained for years. Egypt has accused Iran of supporting the militants who killed President Anwar Sadat and Iran was angered when Egypt took in its ousted shah.
Egyptian authorities arrested Dabous in Egypt but no date was given for his trial. He will be judged by a security court that could issue the death penalty if he is convicted.
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