Iranian Alert -- DAY 10 -- LIVE THREAD PING LIST

LIVE THREAD PING LIST | 6.19.2003 | DoctorZin

[DoctorZIn]

We are getting so many excellent stories coming in about the protests in Iran that it is time to create a live thread.

Please post all news stories in this thread and ping your lists to this thread so we can increase the overall awareness of what exactly is going on.

[aristeides]

Sickening story: Iranians arrested in Paris protest.

[JulieRNR21]

Hume on Fox News has been giving good coverage on the Iranian Protests. In fact the Panel has discussed it most nights.

I will email him & all the FOX Shows.....again!

Also suggest we ask them to
Contact by Email:

Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi

la_fleur_violette@yahoo.com

Whom you said is an intelligent spokeswoman for the protesters.
She is very connected, a filmmaker and her father (also a filmmaker) is in Evin prison right now. She lives in the NY area.

[DoctorZIn]

Thanks.

[DoctorZIn]

ISLAMIC BASIJ SAYS IT WOULD PUT DOWN STUDENTS PROTEST MOVEMENT

TEHRAN 19 June (IPS)

Iranian conservatives-controlled Basij volunteers vowed Thursday to crackdown the students protest movement, scoffing an earlier declaration by the lamed President Mohammad Khatami pledging that his government “would not tolerate” the vigilante groups assail the students and the people who, since more than a week, are demonstrating against the regime and all the clerical leaders.

But at the same time, he also defended police for confronting rioters. In a statement, the Basij militia of Tehran said the protests against clerical rule had been provoked by the "Great Satan", which was using what Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i had described and denounced as its "mercenaries", to challenge Iran's Islamic leaders, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"We pledge to defend the sacred Islamic regime, its achievements and our beloved leader as we would our own lives, and will never cease this sacred battle even for a moment", the statement said.

The Basij, fiercely loyal to Mr. Khameneh’i and trained and equipped by the Revolutionary Guards, were at the forefront of the brutal repression of the protest movement with the Ansar Hezbollah thugs.

Students, backed by thousands of residents of the Capital, continued with their demonstrations and slogans calling on the leaders to step down. “Este’fa (Resignation), Referendum”, demonstrators chanted in Tehran Pars, a working class suburb east of Tehran and in Karaj, a predominantly middle class town situated on the opposite side, with police trying to keep the vigilante attacking the protesters.

"It's like martial law. You're scared to go anywhere at night in case they stop you and search you", the British news agency Reuters quoted one man as he edged his car nervously through the traffic-clogged streets under the watchful gaze of the bearded militants.

An eyewitness told Iran Press Service that the Islamic Basij and thugs, wielding batons, knives and chains are now attacking cars that blare their horns and clog the streets in order to create a “car shield” to protect demonstrators.

Other major cities like Mash-had, Shiraz, Tabriz and Esfahan were reported “tense” on Thursday, after protesters clashed with the vigilante.

With the authorities keeping an uneasy silence, students sources said more than a thousands have been arrested and three hundreds wounded since the start of the movement last Tuesday.

Breaking his silence, President Khatami said he was proud those protesting against Islamic rule had only numbered a few hundred, while eyewitnesses confirms that crowd numbering at the thousands take every night to the streets near students dormitories, protecting them from assaults by the plainclothes thugs.

According to Mr. Khatami, who was elected twice as president thanks mostly to the votes of millions of young Iranians who now calls for his resignation also lashed out at American official’s support for the student-led protests, saying it “only serves to unite his country against the United States”.

"The incorrect position adopted by the Americans, irrespective of the fact that it was an act of interference in Iran's internal affairs, fortunately caused greater national solidarity", the powerless president told reporters after meeting with the Afghan and Tajik presidents, signing a trilateral agreement for the construction of a transit route connecting Tajikistan to the Persian Gulf, via the land locked, war ravaged Afghanistan.

US President George W. Bush on Wednesday paid tribute to "those courageous souls who speak out for freedom in Iran" and urged Tehran to treat protesters with "the utmost of respect".

"They need to know America stands squarely by their side", he said in Washington, “I’m confident that if I call upon my countrymen to protest against foreign interference, an overwhelming majority of Tehran residents will support my call", he said, oblivion of the demonstrators who call every night for his resignation and chanting death to Khameneh'i.

Last Thursday, Mr. Khameneh’i said that Washington was behind riots and wowed that the faithful would deal mercilessly with the students.

”Death to Khameneh’i“, the students responded. ENDS
STUDENTS UNRFEST 19603

http://www.iran-press-service.com/

"If you want on or off this Iran ping list, Freepmail me”

[DoctorZIn]

Banafsheh just sent me this… your emails and faxes to Tony Blair appear to be working.

The European Union must cut the Imperialist opportunism out and do the right thing for once....Iranians who have been TORTURED at the hands of the murderous regime of the Islamic Republic, have been begging the EU to cut all economic ties to Iran for the last 2 years but they have not complied. We hope that this time, they do not disappoint us.


Thursday, June 19, 2003

Blair Urges Iran Sanctions

June 19, 2003
This is London
Joe Murphy

Tony Blair flies out today on a new mission to persuade France and Germany to back George Bush - this time over Iran.

He will use a dinner tonight at the crucial EU summit in Greece to urge Europe to unite behind America's tough ultimatum over Iran's nuclear programme and links with terrorists.

Despite lingering resentments among some EU leaders over the war to topple Saddam Hussein, the Prime Minister will say President Bush is right to keep the pressure on rogue Middle East states.

And he will insist that the EU must be willing to impose punitive trade sanctions, including the cancellation of deals worth hundreds of millions of pounds, as a last resort to haul Iran's leadership into line.

"It is not yet at the point of sanctions but the Prime Minister believes Europe must send out a very strong political message to Iran," said a senior Downing Street aide.

"Iran must comply with demands that it cooperate." Mr Blair's intervention-risks a clash with EU leaders unnerved by hints from the Pentagon that the stand-off could lead to military action.

But he will warn that a united stance now is the best strategy to force Iran to toe the line and avert a bigger crisis in future.

His move comes a day after President Bush rode to his defence against claims that Downing Street exaggerated intelligence evidence that Saddam had chemical and biological warheads at 45-minute readiness.


"He [Blair] operated on very sound intelligence and those accusations are simply not true," President Bush declared. The Prime Minister believes there is enough alarm about Iran's behaviour within Europe that he can successfully ward off another damaging EU/US split despite the tensions left by the Iraq war. One aide described it as an example of Mr Blair acting as a "bridge" between the two continents.

The 15 EU leaders will meet for dinner in a hotel complex at Porto Carras, in northern Greece, for the first summit since the Iraq war ended.

Mr Blair will use the event to reestablish his pro-Europe credentials at the same time as backing President Bush. He will reassure leaders of his aim to join the single currency and, in a symbolic burying of the hatchet with Jacques Chirac of France, will jointly propose that Europe matches an American pledge to give $1 billion to the fight against Aids, malaria and TB in the Third World.

And he is expected to win endorsement for President Bush's road map to peace between Israel and the Palestinians. "They have all moved on since the difficulties over Iraq," said a Downing Street official.

At the heart of the summit is a ceremonial welcome for the draft EU constitution, to be presented by former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing. Although no decisions are being taken, it will open a year-long round of horse-trading over the details.

Mr Blair aims to block a power grab by European Commission president Romano Prodi, who is calling for the veto to be abolished in key areas including taxation - a no-go zone for Britain.

He also wants to water down a plan to appoint a European foreign " minister", seen as an attempt to take on the trappings of nationhood by the EU.

But he is supporting historic proposals for an EU president, elected by member states.

Iain Duncan Smith was due to beat the Prime Minister to the Halkidiki peninsula, to attend a rival summit of Right-wing European party leaders.

The Tory leader called for a referendum on the proposed constitution as he set off, saying: "The constitution will transform the EU from a partnership of nation states into something like a state.

There will be more institutions, more grand posts, more powers for Brussels and little more democratic accountability."

"If you want on or off this Iran ping list, Freepmail me”

[dixiechick2000]

Blair bump!

I hope France and Germany will cooperate...for once in their miserable existance.

[McGavin999]

The EU would be beyond stupid to ignore what is happening in Iran. They're already in trouble because they backed the wrong man in Iraq and the Iraqi people won't forget it. If they back the wrong people in Iran, the Iranian people won't forget it and the EU will be in BIG trouble.

For their own future, they had better make the right choice this time.

[Orion78]

"I will not wait on events, while dangers gather. I will not stand by, as peril draws closer and closer. The United States of America will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons."

China helps Iran to make nerve gas (5/24/98)
Iran has missile which can hit Isreal (9/26/98)
Iran to focus on longer-range Shihab-4 (7/19/00)
Iran 'building secret nuclear arms plants' (12/13/00)
CIA: China continues nuke cooperation with Iran (2/24/01)
Russia, N.Korea, China give Iran missile aid -CIA (9/8/01)
China and Iran threaten test ban treaty (3/26/02)
Iran's nuclear weapons program growing at secret sites, rebel group alleges (8/14/02)
China and Iran Test-Fire Missiles (9/6/02)
Iran's nuclear plant progress 'eye-opening' (3/10/03)
U.S. warns world that Iran has violated Non-Proliferation Treaty (4/30/03)
Iran denies nukes, refuses inspectors (5/7/03)
U.S. pushes for U.N. action against Iran (5/8/03)
Iran 'violating nuclear treaty' (5/8/03)
Iran Said to Be Producing Bioweapons (5/15/03)

---

"Any nation that harbors or supports terrorism will be regarded by the United States as 'hostile.'"

Iran Pledges Continued Support to PLO Radical Groups and Hizballah (5/15/99)
Iran ships long-range rockets to Hizbullah in Lebanon (2/28/00)
Iran steps up arms supply to Hezbollah (5/20/00)
US raps Iran over terror (12/21/01)
Israel Accuses Iran Plan to Destroy Jewish State with Nuclear Weapons (12/29/01)
U.S. spy satellites tracked weapons ship from Iran (1/7/02)
Official (Iran) calls for setting up Islamic fund for Palestinians (1/10/02)
Iran Arming Lebanese Terrorists With Anti-Aircraft Missiles (1/12/02)
Iran using PA as proxy against Israel - senior official (1/12/02)
Israel: Palestinians forming alliance with Iran (1/14/02)
Palestinian Arms List Matched Ship's Cargo: Shows Arafat's Plan, Israel Says (1/14/02)
Iran Sends Money, Arms to Palestinian Groups -Times (3/23/02)
Administration cites Iran, Iraq, Syria for fomenting terror against Israel (4/1/02)

---

"You are either with us, or against us."

Iran Won't Let U.S. Use Airspace (9/20/01)
Iran Won't Help U.S. (9/26/01)
Iran says U.S. attacks "unacceptable" (10/7/01)
Iran's Rafsanjani suggests nuclear attack on Israel (12/19/01)
Islamic Oil Could Be Effective Weapon, Iran Says (4/1/02)
"Iran must strike at at the heart of the United States"Rafsanjani (7/21/02)

---

"Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian people's hope for freedom."

[DoctorZIn]

US Wages War From Within Iran

Asia Times and AFI Specialist Intelligence ^ | June 20, 2003 | Richard M. Bennett

Posted on 06/19/2003 7:53 AM PDT by ewing

The Central Intelligence Agency has been in contact with Senior Iranian Military personnel for several years and are to have believed to have developed a number of highly valuable operations to undermine Iran's defenses.

Excerpted Article

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/931860/posts

"If you want on or off this Iran ping list, Freepmail me”

[DoctorZIn]

Iranian Accounts of riots of June 19, East Tehran

self | June 19, 2003 | RaceBannon
Posted on 06/19/2003 2:49 PM PDT by RaceBannon

I have an Iranian pen pal, and he just IM'd me about what has happened tonight. Here is what he told me of the riots of June 19th, 2003 in East Tehran.

Khashi: hi james there

bigjimusmc: hey

Khashi: how r u

Khashi: I escaped jim from hell tonight

bigjimusmc: just gopt home from doctor

Khashi: what is up with ur shoulder? bigjimusmc: what happened?

bigjimusmc: youu first!\

Khashi: East of Tehran was a hell

bigjimusmc: shooting?

Khashi: i escaped and now i m at uncles hom

Khashi: a few rounds of bullets

Khashi: I m in downtown

bigjimusmc: machine guns or single shots?

Khashi: Ak47

bigjimusmc: did you see anyone shooting?

Khashi: one block upper than my home

Khashi: in Tehranpars Area

Khashi: I saw many many guards

bigjimusmc: did you physically see the shooting or did you just hear it?

Khashi: i just heard it

bigjimusmc: was there any claims of peole getting shot or was it just shots in the air?

Khashi: I have no idea

bigjimusmc: any fires?

Khashi: yes

bigjimusmc: buildings? Tires? Cars?

Khashi: big fires on roads

Khashi: tires

Khashi: and one car blasted in front of IRIB ( TV and Radio )

bigjimusmc: was this bigger than any other night?

Khashi: at the same scale

bigjimusmc: did you see any tanks or armoured personnel carriers?

Khashi: i saw infantry guards

Khashi: anti-riots

bigjimusmc: the guys with the funny hats?

Khashi: Khashi: yeah

bigjimusmc: were you on the streets or were you just walkng around?

Khashi: i was about to meet some mates 500 meters down the same street

Khashi: as soon as i entered the street i saw the Police blocked it

Khashi: and ppl chanting death to ....... Khashi: yes

bigjimusmc: are the riots still going on?

Khashi: i dont know

Khashi: i ran away

Khashi: but it was at peak when i saw it

bigjimusmc: any sirens?

Khashi: yes

Khashi: police sirens

bigjimusmc: now I mean, any sirens now?

Khashi: i cant hear

Khashi: http://www.iran-press-service.com

bigjimusmc: is there light in the sky from the fires? Can yo see the sky lit up?

Khashi: i m in an Apartment

Khashi: but here is quiet

bigjimusmc: what is shiraz? (your picture)

Khashi: our tour to Shiraz in south

Khashi: they r my friends

bigjimusmc: oh

Khashi: tonight i went there to see these guys

Khashi: when it happened

bigjimusmc: were they safe?

Khashi: i couldnt meet them

bigjimusmc: could you call them?

Khashi: their house is in frontline

Khashi: Khashi: not now

bigjimusmc: can I post your comments on FreeRepublic.com?

Khashi: send them under ur name but plz mention my first name too

bigjimusmc: do you want your name or do you want me to change your name to keep you safe?

Khashi: just my first name

bigjimusmc: ok

Khashi: tell them caz I m scared

bigjimusmc: it will be exactly as you seeithere

Khashi: i sent it through ur help

Khashi: yes

Khashi: i know and i trust u

bigjimusmc: that is why i wanted to change yur name, to keep you anonymous

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/932091/posts

[DoctorZIn]

Iranian-Americans target Tehran's Regime
BBC ^ | 6/19/03 | BBC


Posted on 06/19/2003 4:52 PM PDT by freedom44


Iranian exiles in the United States have played an important role in supporting the recent protests in Tehran - but their role is coming under increasing scrutiny.

Arrests have not stopped the rallies in Iran A nondescript industrial estate in the San Fernando Valley on the outskirts of Los Angeles may be an unlikely place to start another Iranian revolution.

But Woodland Hills, California, is the headquarters of the satellite television station National Iranian TV (NITV) whose programmes are beamed into Tehran and other parts of Iran to illegal satellite dishes in private homes.

It is one of half a dozen satellite stations set up by Iranian exiles in the United States.

NITV is run by Zia Ataby, a former pop star who moved to Los Angeles in the 1980s.

It says it aims to promote "equality between men and women, separation of religion from government, human rights, freedom of speech and the media, and democracy" in Iran and is not affiliated with any political party.

Its combination of light entertainment, talk shows and politics has proved explosive in Iran.

NITV for the Iranian Government is more dangerous than America or other countries and that is why they have tried anything to cut our voice

Zia Ataby, founder, NITV

This week former Iranian President Ali Akbar Rafsanjani warned Iranians "not to be trapped by the evil television stations that America has established".

And some outside observers believe that the exile community and its stations are playing a key role in the student protests that are sweeping the country.

On Wednesday President George W Bush expressed his support for the protesters, calling them "courageous souls who speak out for freedom", adding: "America stands squarely by their side."

Stirring up trouble?

Al Santoli of the Washington-based American Foreign Policy Council says that the foreign broadcasts - and the internet - are playing a similar role to programmes beamed to Eastern Europe just before the end of the Cold War.

"The protests are being driven by young people who have enough exposure to the outside world to know there is something different" from the repressive Iranian regime, he told the BBC.

I am not surprised that students and others in Tehran responded to the call

Majid Mosleh, Iranian lecturer in US

"It is very important that people know that there are others who share their protests, especially when the official media are censored," he added.

Mr Ataby told Reuters news agency: "NITV for the Iranian Government is more dangerous than America or other countries and that is why they have tried anything to cut our voice."

He says his eight telephone lines and four fax lines are continually besieged by comments from viewers in Iran.

"I am not surprised that students and others in Tehran responded to the call," said Majid Mosleh, an Iranian who teaches political science at College of the Canyons in Los Angeles.

And reports from Iran suggest that the regime is moving to block access to Western internet sites for the estimated three million Iranians with access to the web.

Meanwhile, radio stations like KSRI, also Los Angeles-based, are circulating petitions calling for the Iranian regime to be replaced by a democratic and secular one.

Would US aid help?

US neo-conservatives would like to provide direct aid to the exile radio and TV stations, which are mainly funded by donations from wealthy exiles.

Republican Senator Sam Brownback - who was also a strong supporter of Iraqi exile leader Ahmed Chalabi - has proposed that the US Congress provide $50m to fund Iranian exile groups and stations.

To imply there is going to be a US intervention, or depict the regime as being weak, may give false hopes to these idealistic young students

Professor Richard Dekmejian

But others warn that too close an identification with the United States could be counter-productive for the Iranian opposition movement.

"It's very important at this critical juncture that the opposition should be seen as independent of the United States, especially after the Iraq war," said Mr Santoli.

Otherwise the hardliners would have the excuse they needed for a crackdown, he added.

And others warned of the talk shows fuelling unrealistic expectations among the protesters.

"To imply there is going to be a US intervention, or depict the regime as being weak, may give false hopes to these idealistic young students," said Richard Dekmejian, professor of political science at the University of Southern California.

But their influence may be growing within the US among right-wing policy-makers.

Political exiles have often played an important role in US politics - not just in Eastern Europe, but also in regard to Cuba where an active exile community in Miami has gained a dominant role in US foreign policy towards the island.

The Iranian exiles may be no more than enthusiastic cheerleaders for democracy, but one way or another they may yet end up playing a key role in the unfolding events in Tehran.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/932162/posts

[DoctorZIn]

Protests highlight mass disenchantment in Iran

Reuters ^ | 6/19/03 | Reuters
Posted on 06/19/2003 7:50 PM PDT by freedom44

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Pro-democracy protests in Iran have lost some of their early momentum, but deep-seated and widespread disenchantment with the country's Islamic clerical rulers has not been sated by the brief letting off of steam.

Demonstrations continued for a ninth night in Tehran on Wednesday night. But protesters numbered hundreds rather than the thousands who turned out last week. There were smaller protests in several other cities.

The dwindling intensity of the demonstrations -- which Washington hailed as a cry for freedom -- is of little comfort for the clerics against whom they were directed.

Even conservatives who have resisted the reform efforts of President Mohammad Khatami and his allies in parliament acknowledge Iran's "Islamic democracy" is facing a legitimacy crisis with parliamentary elections looming in February 2004.

"I'm worried about the next parliamentary election," influential former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said this week. "We should not distance people from the polling booths by our disagreements."

Local elections in February showed the depth of political disillusionment, with turnout dropping to just 12 percent in Tehran. Reformists crashed to their first electoral reverse since Khatami swept to power in a 1997 landslide.

Disenchantment with the status quo has if anything deepened since then and as the recent street protests showed, many Iranians are becoming bolder and more radical in their demands.

"The debate in Iran has accelerated considerably in the last year or so," said a local political analyst who declined to be named. "Previously taboo subjects are now being openly voiced. The call for reform has become a call for wholesale change."

VENOMOUS SLOGANS

Witnesses of the recent protests said slogans directed at members of the clerical elite were unprecedented in their venom.

Reformist legislators, dissidents and academics have also dared to pen open letters to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei challenging his right to remain above rebuke.

Public anger has also been directed at Khatami, whose 1997 election raised great expectations among many Iranians, most of whom were born after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Dismayed at Khatami's failure to break conservative resistance to his agenda of improved democracy, justice and social freedom, protesters have called on him to resign.

But, some analysts say, Khatami's hand may have been strengthened by the protests.

"Khatami and the reformists will be telling the conservatives who have blocked him: 'Look, this is what happens when you don't listen to the people'," political analyst Hossein Rassam said.

With Iran's clerical rulers also under intense pressure from Washington over its alleged nuclear weapons programme, speculation is growing in Tehran that two key reform bills which had seemed doomed to failure could become law.

The bills are aimed at curbing hardline influence over the judiciary and electoral processes. Khatami has said that without the bills he has as little authority as an ordinary citizen.

After flatly rejecting the bills as unconstitutional and un-Islamic, the conservative-controlled Guardian Council has recently met delegations from the reformist-held parliament to try to reach a compromise.

NEED FOR RECONCILIATION

"I advise parliament and the Guardian Council to reach a reconciliation. We should not go towards the elections while fighting," Rafsanjani said this week.

Meanwhile, the potential for unrest remains.

"The thing that's different about these protests has been the lack of a clear pretext. People came out purely and simply to whinge at the regime," said one European diplomat in Tehran.

"This means that whenever a pretext does comes up, people will be even more ready to come out and protest again."

That pretext may not be far off. On July 9 Iran will mark the fourth anniversary of a violent attack on the Tehran University dormitory which sparked five days of protests and riots.

Student leaders have said they plan to commemorate the anniversary with large gatherings.

But as the events of the last week have shown, any protests will meet a tough response. Analysts say one of the key factors holding back massive demonstrations in Iran is intimidation.

On Friday night and Saturday morning hardline Islamic vigilantes in Tehran attacked protesters at will.

Brandishing metal bars, chains and knives the vigilantes, who are fiercely loyal to conservative clerics, stormed several university dormitories and attacked protesters in their cars, leaving dozens injured.

"What happened on Friday night is an emphatic reminder of just how powerful these people are," said the European diplomat.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/932242/posts

[DoctorZIn]

Revolutionary word beamed into Iran from Los Angeles

Iranmania ^ | 6/19/03 | Iranmania
Posted on 06/19/2003 7:57 PM PDT by freedom44

Half a world from the protests rocking the Iranian regime, a new weapon is being aimed at the ruling ayatollahs from a warehouse in a run-down part of Hollywood.

As Teheran was gripped by an eighth straight night of tense anti-government protests and clashes late Wednesday, a team of Persian exiles toiled in a Los Angeles television studio to encourage revolution against Iran's leaders.

"I want to change things from the inside now (to avoid) Iran being attacked by another country," said former rock star Zia Atabay, who runs Iranian National Television (NITV), a California-based satellite broadcaster.

Since the protests first erupted at Teheran University and spread to other cities, NITV has devoted most of its 24-hour Farsi-language programming to beaming news and political talk shows into Iran's heartland.

Atabay, who has about 33 staff, said protesters were using NITV to help coordinate their efforts by exchanging information on his live phone-in shows that offer an alternative to Iran's strictly-controlled state media.

The station's 16 telephone lines are jammed with up to 60 calls an hour from viewers, mostly in Iran.

Atabay -- who launched NITV as a youth entertainment channel for the Farsi-speaking diaspora after a making a fortune from a plastic surgery business that still finances the operation -- is blunt about his views.

"I tell (the Iranian people) that the regime is over," he said, predicting that with international support for the demonstrators and a western economic blockade, the government could fall within months.

"I tell them that ... if they are sending people to beat you or kill you it's only because they are afraid," he said of the attacks on anti-government protesters by puritanical vigilantes and the arrests of hundreds of demonstrators.

Broadcasting from a former porn studio that now boasts simple hand-painted backdrops and three flimsy-looking sets, NITV has picked up a major following in Iran since it launched in March 2000.

According to Atabay, 61, who fled his homeland after the Shah of Iran was deposed in 1979, NITV reaches millions of Iranians who flout a ban on satellite dishes, although accurate viewership figures are not available.

"Maybe its 20 million, maybe its just one person, but I know that when I say something, there is an immediate effect in Iran," he said citing his call for protesters to spread their efforts from the capital to other cities.

And his programming, coupled with the US government's encouragement of the protests, apparently has Iran's leaders worried, prompting fresh attempts to jam NITV and other unauthorized broadcasters.

"They (Iran's government) think that everything happening there is my fault and that the protesters are just sissies who want to dance," Atabay said referring to the clerics' bans on dancing and pop music.

"They just need freedom, they need to have some fun," said the man who was once known as Iran's Tom Jones.

There are about 600,000 Iranian exiles in Los Angeles, who call the city "Teher-Angeles". NITV is one of about nine stations that beam into into Iran from the city and one of the most stridently anti-regime.

"But we are the most powerful because we bring Iranians truthful news they can trust," said television anchor Noureddine Sabetimani, 61, who is known as Iran's "Peter Jennings."

"People know they can trust me," said Sabetimani, who became Iran's first ever television newscaster in 1965 and fled the country with thousands of countrymen after the shah was toppled.

Now battling to find about 250,000 dollars in monthly costs, NITV started out as an entertainment channel until Teheran began jamming it and eventually forced it off a French satellite.

Furious, Atabay shifted to an intensely political tone, even allowing an actor to do a comic impersonation of Iran's hardline clerics in a recurring skit featuring a rather un-pious character dubbed Mullah Hajji.

"They really loved that," he said dryly of Tehran's furious reaction to the act which earned Atabay death threats. The skit is now off the air.

But while NITV peddles a political line that must delight the administration of President George W. Bush, Atabay insists he receives no funding from the US authorities.

"Sometimes I get a nice letter from the State Department saying, 'You are helping freedom', but that comes cheap -- it only costs them 35 cents," he quipped.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/932250/posts

[DoctorZIn]

Wide spread protests rock Iranian Capital for 10th consecutive night

SMCCDI (Information Service)
June 19, 2003

Wide spread protest actions and sporadic clashes are rocking the Iranian capital for the 10th consecutive night and the population is defying the regime in most areas.

Several have been injured again in the Narmak, Amir Abad and Javadieh district but the regime has a hard time to mantein control.

The spread of the popular actions, from south to north and west to east, is making hard for the militiamen to group and make a massive crackdown.

Same trend is happenening in most provincial cities.

Source: SMCCDI

http://www.iran-daneshjoo.org/cgi-bin/smccdinews/viewnews.cgi?category=5&id=1056065617

"If you want on or off this Iran ping list, Freepmail me”

[DoctorZIn]

Thursday, June 19, 2003

EU to Get Tough with Iran if Co-Operation Fails

June 19, 2003
The Financial Times
Judy Dempsey

European Union leaders are pulling out all stops to persuade Iran to accept enhanced nuclear inspections - otherwise they will halt trade talks as part of a more robust policy towards Tehran.

The EU's new security doctrine spells out that Brussels will pursue "effective multilateralism" and strengthen the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It also states that EU nations are prepared to use force as a last resort.

"If we want international organisations, regimes and treaties to be effective in confronting threats to international peace and security we should be ready to act when their rules are broken," it says.

It warns there is "a price to be paid" for lack of co-operation. That, said a senior EU diplomat, could also mean regime change.

The EU remains determined to pursue its policy of "constructive engagement" with Iran, based on negotiating a trade and co-operation agreement in parallel to programmes on human rights, terrorism, the Middle East peace process and weapons of mass destruction.

"We will take our lead from the IAEA," said George Papandreou, foreign minister of Greece, holder of the EU's rotating presidency. "At the same time we will keep talking to Iran, asking it to accept the additional IAEA protocol. There is a need for full transparency."

When EU foreign ministers met on Monday in Luxembourg they agreed a joint strategy for curbing WMD, and this tough stance - along with fresh unity among EU member states on the issue - has confronted Iran with a new reality.

The EU's WMD statement did not cite Iran by name but it caused the Tehran authorities enough concern that they sent Mohsen Mirdamadi, chairman of the national security and foreign policy committee of the Iranian parliament, to see Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief.

Mr Mirdamadi told Mr Solana that Iran would accept enhanced IAEA inspections on condition that imports of nuclear material would be allowed. Mr Solana rejected such a deal.

Later, President Mohammad Khatami spoke by telephone with Costas Simitis, Greek prime minister, and Kemal Kharazzi, the Iranian foreign minister, talked to Mr Papandreou to assess just how serious the Europeans were about Iran's nuclear programme.

"It's not only about the [Iranian] relationship with the EU," said Mr Solana. "It's about the long road towards bringing stability and security to the region."

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1054966263966&p=1012571727172

"If you want on or off this Iran ping list, Freepmail me”

[blam]

God be with the freedom seekers.

[DoctorZIn]

Iran: End Vigilante Attacks

June 20, 2003
Human Rights Watch
HRW

New York -- Iran should take measures to end violent attacks on students demonstrating against government policies and prosecute those responsible, Human Rights Watch said today.


In an open letter to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Human Rights Watch called for an independent commission of inquiry to determine who is responsible for the attacks. Vigilante assaults against protestors and dissidents have been a disturbing feature in Iran for many years, and leaders of these groups have frequently claimed to have the support of key conservative leaders.

Excerpted Article

http://www.hrw.org/press/2003/06/iran062003.htm

"If you want on or off this Iran ping list, Freepmail me”

[sorrisi]

Wide spread protests rock Iranian Capital for 10th consecutive night

SMCCDI (Information Service)
June 19, 2003

Wide spread protest actions and sporadic clashes are rocking the Iranian capital for the 10th consecutive night and the population is defying the regime in most areas.

Several have been injured again in the Narmak, Amir Abad and Javadieh district but the regime has a hard time to mantein control.

The spread of the popular actions, from south to north and west to east, is making hard for the militiamen to group and make a massive crackdown.

Same trend is happenening in most provincial cities.

Source: SMCCDI

[DoctorZIn]

This just in....

We are now working with the LA based Iranian TV broadcasters. It occurred to me that much of what is happening in Iran is not getting covered by the US media because of the regimes control over the foreign media there, coupled with the language gap between English speaking US media and Farsi speaking Iranians and their TV broadcasters.

So we have contacted most of the Iranian TV broadcasters and they have agreed to ask their English speaking listeners in Iran to email their stories in English to me so I can post them on FreeRepublic.

They have begun broadcasting this and giving out a special email address of mine: iranazda@cox.net (“iranazad” which means “Free Iran”).

Also it would help you you could write Azadi TV and ask them to regularly ask their listeners to send in their stories to iranazda@cox.net. Let them know if you are English speaking supporters of the protests in Iran and want to hear the reports in English. We just need to remind them to make a regular feature of their broadcasts. They are very busy and can easily forget to make the request. Write them at:

news@azaditv.com

We have already begun to receive emails and you will soon hear more first hand accounts from within Iran. But some of the stories still came in Farsi and it will take some time to translate.

If you speak or know Farsi speaking persons that would like to monitor the Iranian broadcasts and post regular reports to our thread please email me. I can help them get internet access to these broadcasts.

Thanks for all your help in advance.

DoctorZin

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Good info on a great effort!