Iranian Alert - July 20, 2005 - Family visits jailed Iranian Ganji in hospital

Family visits jailed Iranian Ganji in hospital

IranMania

A member of the committee following up the condition of Akbar Ganji said Ganji’s family visited him at Milad Hospital.

Issa Saharkhiz also told IRNA: “After the original ban was lifted, Ganji’s family managed to visit him at the hospital at 22:30 on Monday.“ ...

Saharkhiz noted that on Sunday night Ganji was in critical condition and he was transferred to Milad Hospital from Evin Prison. “When Ganji’s family visited him, he was being fed intravenously,“ he said. READ MORE

Plus two other important updates:

Releaseganji.net published an interview with Masoumeh Shafiei, Akbar Ganji's wife.

Eli Lake, The NY Sun quoted former Soviet political prisoner, Natan Sharansky, as saying that the American government should make the fate of the hunger striking dissident journalist Akbar Ganji "a test case" in its relationship with the Iranian regime.

A Daily Briefing of Major News Stories on Iran:

Iran Focus reported Rafsanjani renews firestorm over election fraud, seen as an escalation in the power struggle within Iran.

Iran Focus reported that more than 50,000 workers took to the streets of cities across Iran.

Dan Darling, The Weekly Standard exposed how one of Saddam's closest Baath party aides came to be an ally of militant Islamists.

Iran Press News reported on Syrian leader's surprise visit to Tehran described as vital, to meet with Iran's leaders.

Roozonline took a look at another prison in Iran and the political prisoners forgotten there.

Roozonline quoted outgoing President Mohammad Khatami as saying; It is no honor after twenty five years to pretend that we are like the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

The Moscow Times reported that investigators will probe former Nuclear Power Minister Yevgeny Adamov for his possible role in delays at the controversial nuclear power plant that Russia is building in Iran.

Michael Ledeen, National Review speaking about the London bombings he said, The evil can't be explained by economic misery, or social alienation, or even by the doctrines adopted by the terrorists. The problem lies within us.

And finally, Photos and a cartoon:

They need a lot of foreign direct investment, but who will invest?

http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=33518&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs
Empty Forex Fund for Iran's Ahmadinejad

Thursday, July 21, 2005 IranMania.com

LONDON, July 21 (IranMania) - The Khatami administration is likely to hand over an 'empty' Foreign Exchange Reserve Fund to the incoming government, said a university professor, saying the pro-reform government failed to make use of hard currency deposits to improve the domestic production sector.

Sadeq Khalilian told Fars news agency that Iran could turn into a developed country with high living standards, if its God-given resources and potentials are utilized properly.

"In spite of all the natural resources and the $400 bln spent on three development plans, the country's economic indices still remain poor," he said, adding that widespread mismanagement has caused high unemployment rate and unfair distribution of wealth.

He said that more than $30 bln has been deposited in the Foreign Exchange Reserve Fund over the past four years, adding that the government has withdrawn some 75 % of the total reserves for its current expenses.

Khalilian, an instructor at the Instructor Training University, said the incoming government of president-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected to face a $10-bln budget deficit in the year to March 2006.

As part of its economic reform plans, the Khatami administration created the Foreign Exchange Reserve Fund to garner surplus oil revenues and channel them into development projects undertaken by private companies.

Central Bank of Iran announced earlier that Iran's foreign exchange revenues will top $46 bln by March and that oil exports revenues will reach some $36 bln in the period. The remaining $10 bln will come from non-oil export earnings.

The CBI said the total amount of foreign exchange brought into the country by March 2006 might reach $50 bln given the fresh investments in the energy and industrial sectors.

The government last year withdrew the equivalent of 54 trln rials in hard currency from the Foreign Exchange Reserve Fund, showing a 28% rise against the figure for the previous year.

Higher foreign exchange revenues would lead to greater withdrawals and a subsequent rise in inflation.

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Family visits jailed Iranian Ganji in hospital

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