The regime is working hard to keep the news about the protest movment in Iran from being reported.
From jamming satellite broadcasts, to prohibiting news reporters from covering any demonstrations to shutting down all cell phones and even hiring foreign security to control the population, the regime is doing everything in its power to keep the popular movement from expressing its demand for an end of the regime.
These efforts by the regime, while successful in the short term, do not resolve the fundamental reasons why this regime is crumbling from within.
Iran is a country ready for a regime change. 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.
Please continue to join us here, post your news stories and comments to this thread.
Thanks for all the help.
yes. Arab.
Reformists blast hardliners for killing of Kazemi
World News
Jul 20, 2003
TEHRAN - Iranian reformist MPs Sunday blasted the judiciary for allegedly killing a Canadian-Iranian photographer, saying heads should roll in the hardline bastion to restore the image of the Islamic republic.
In a parliamentary debate over the death of 54-year-old Zahra Kazemi carried live on state radio, one outspoken reformer also pointed the finger at Tehran's puritanical public prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi for failing to prevent her death.
"She was arrested and was hit and beaten. She had a brain haemorrhage because her skull was broken," said Mohsen Armin, a reformist deputy and senior member of the Majlis committee on foreign affairs and national security.
"Instead of respecting the dignity of journalists and the reputation of the Islamic republic by punishing those who beat her, Mortazavi ordered her to stay in detention" -- despite recommendations to the contrary from the intelligence service, he alleged.
Kazemi, 54, was arrested on June 23 for taking photographs of protestors outside Evin prison in northern Tehran, who were demanding the release of relatives locked up during last month's wave of anti-regime protests.
She was transferred three days later to Baghiatollah Azam hospital, which is run by the hardline Revolutionary Guards, where she died.
Armin said that Mortazavi accused her of being a spy and then tried to cover up the killing.
The judge at the heart of the allegations is a bete noire for reformers for closing down of scores of reformist newspapers and jailing journalists when he was head of Tehran's press court.
Mortazavi "ordered a story put out that she simply died of a brain haemorrhage, and ordered the family to urgently bury her," Armin told deputies in a barrage of criticism levelled against the judge over the Kazemi case and the recent jailing of a number of pro-reform journalists and pro-democracy students.
"The death of a foreign journalist is not a trivial matter. Mortazavi has to answer for his deeds. Mortazavi is not fit to be a judge," he said, telling embattled pro-reform President Mohammad Khatami that an investigation that merely states the cause of death "is not enough".
"If we stay silent and do nothing about this it will eventually lead to serial killings," he said, referring to the serial killings of dissidents in 1999 that were eventually blamed on "rogue" intelligence agents.
"This has taken the country to a new crisis and has irreversibly tarnished the country's image."
Elaheh Koulaiee, another reformist MP and national security committee member also condemned the "undignified attack on and beating up of Zahra Kazemi".
She said the killing was part of what has become "an atmosphere of censorship in the press and the halting of all criticism".
Majlis speaker Mehdi Karubi, a close ally of Khatami, voiced his "deep sorrow" over Kazemi's death, and announced that the head of the judiciary would appoint an "experienced judge" to follow up the case "and restore the reputation of the regime."
http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_1265.shtml
"...carried live on state radio" "She had a brain haemorrhage because her skull was broken," said Mohsen Armin,..."
Does he have political ambitions?
Just checking in briefly -- happened to see a news item a few minutes ago about the Cuban jamming. They made it sound like it just started. Fox news, I think??
OFFICIAL REPORT ON Ms. KAZEMI’S DEATH NOT CONVINCING
By Safa Haeri
PARIS 20 July (IPS) As a five-member investigation committee confirmed Sunday that the Iranian-born Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi died from physical attack, it was learnt that her mother has agreed that the body should be buried in Canada, as demanded by her grandson, Stephen Hachemi.
"In a document signed at the Canadian Embassy in Tehran with the presence of the Canadian ambassador, Mrs. Ezzat Kazemi, the mother of Zahra Kazemi has officially transferred all her rights to her grandson for transferring the body to Canada to rest near her son, thus removing all objections from the Iranian government for the action", Dr. Karim Lahiji, a lawyer for Stephen Hachemi told Iran Press Service.
So far, the Iranian authorities had rejected the demand on the basis that the slain photographer was an Iranian citizen in the one hand and that her mother wanted she be buried near her.
Meanwhile, in a report submitted to President Mohammad Khatami and released by the official news agency IRNA, ministers of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Information (Intelligence), Interior, Justice and Health concluded that the 54 years-old Kazemi died of brain haemorrhage caused by a break in her skull.
They confirmed that the public Prosecutor of Tehran and the Islamic Revolution tribunals (the notorious Judge Sa’id Mortazavi), believed to have hit Ms. Kazemi on her head, had been present "at times" at the interrogations, but failed to name any of the interrogators.
According to the report, the victim had been detained several days at the office of the Prosecutor, the Intelligence Unit of the Law Enforcement Forces and the Intelligence Ministry before being transferred to hospital, where she died on 10 July.
Thought the report says that the three organs which hold her have all confirmed that she behaved "aggressively and provocatively at all stages" of the interrogations, answering never "clearly" the questions, but it do not say why she "screamed" when, in Evin Prison, she heard the voice of one of the interrogator?
The report also make no mention of the reason for her arrest, made by agents of the public prosecutor near Evin Prison, but say that the area she was taking picture was clearly marked as prohibited for photography.
But according to various informed sources, Mr. Mortazavi had ordered the arrest, charging Ms. Kazemi with espionage.
Ms. Kazemi was arrested while taking photo from Evin prison compound where families of those arrested during the past month’s students-led popular anti-regime protests were staging demonstration on June 23.
Better known as "The Butcher of the press" for having placed behind bars more than 20 journalists and shut down hundred publications in the past two years, Judge Mortazavi had been promoted recently by the leader of the regime, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i to the post of public Prosecutor.
The report says that the fatal blow to the head of Ms. Kazemi took place three days after the arrest and probably 24 hours before, not making clear that on that time, she had been at the prosecutor’s office or at the hands of the LEF.
However, the report calls for the identification and interrogation of all those who, on that period, had been in contact with the photographer.
"All together, she spent 21 hours at the prosecutor’s office, 26 hours at the Intelligence Unit of the LEF and another 26 hours at the Intelligence Ministry", the report states, adding that once arrested and taken to Evin, she had "blackened" the films by taking them out of her camera.
Experts who read the report say it is "far from convincing" and added that the general undertone is to show that not only the photographer was guilty of misconduct, breach of the laws, but her provocative and aggressive attitude during interrogations might have led to some violence by the interrogators.
"The death of a foreign journalist is not a trivial matter. Mortazavi has to answer for his deeds. Mortazavi is not fit to be a judge", Mr. Mohsen Armin, an outspoken lawmaker told the Majles on Sunday.
"An investigation that merely states the cause of death is not enough", he told the embattled Khatami.
President Khatami had formed the four minister investigative committee, joined latter by the Health Minister, under mounting international and domestic pressures, vowing he would not compromise in confronting those responsible.
The death of Ms. Kazemi created an international outrage, with many international and Iranian human rights and press organization urging the Iranian authorities to promptly identify all those who ordered the arrest of Ms. Kazemi as well as all those who carried the interrogations and tortures.
"We know that Mortazavi is not a man to commit those illegalities if not having protection from more powerful men", Mr. Armin said in an indirect reference to Mr. Khameneh’i, as the direct responsible for the Islamic Judiciary.
Armin, who is both the Deputy Speaker and vice-Chairman of the Majles’ Security and Foreign Affairs Committee also blasted the Judiciary for allegedly killing the Canadian-Iranian photographer, saying heads should roll in the hard line bastion if the Islamic republic's reputation is to be restored.
Mr. Armin singled out Mr. Mortazavi as "the very man at the center of all recent crackdowns, illegal arrest of students, scholars, journalists and intellectuals, including the death of Ms. Kazemi".
"She was arrested and was hit and beaten. She had a brain hemorrhage because her skull was broken", Armin said, adding: "Instead of respecting the dignity of journalists and the reputation of the Islamic republic by punishing those who beat her, Mortazavi ordered her to stay in detention" -- despite recommendations to the contrary from the intelligence service, he alleged.
He said that Mortazavi had accused Ms. Kazemi of being a spy and then tried to cover up the killing, referring to the fact that the authorities had first said that the photographer died on brain stroke.
Informed sources revealed to Iran Press Service that Mortazavi had summoned the Guidance Ministry’s General Director in charge of the foreign press to state that Ms. Kazemi died of brain stroke and also told the official news agency IRNA to put out a similar statement.
Defending Judge Mortazavi, pro-conservative newspapers claimed Sunday that Ms. Kazemi had a precedence of brain stroke.
"Evidence shows the reformists' propaganda machine has begun its project aimed at removing Mortazavi" wrote Mr. Amir Mohebian, an editor of the pro-conservative daily "Resalat". "Mortazavi is the only Judge that stands to enemies of the regime", said a students group controlled by hard liners.
"Mortazavi ordered a story put out that she simply died of a brain stroke and ordered the family to urgently bury her", Armin told deputies in a barrage of criticism levelled against the judge over the Kazemi case and the recent jailing of a number of pro-reform journalists and pro-democracy students who were involved in a recent wave of anti-regime protests.
"If we stay silent and do nothing about this it will eventually lead to serial killings", Armin said, referring to a string of murders of prominent politicians and intellectuals at the end of November 1998.
Defying Ayatollah Khameneh’i, who had said at the time that the murders were to work of "foreign hands", President Khatami ordered the formation of an investigation committee that concluded that high-ranking agents of the Intelligence Ministry, then led by Hojjatoleslam Dorri Najafabadi, had carried out the assassinations.
Mrs. Elaheh Koula’i, another reformist MM and member of the National Security and Foreign Affairs Committee also condemned the "undignified attack on and beating up of Zahra Kazemi".
She said the killing was part of what has become "an atmosphere of censorship in the press and the halting of all criticism".
Majlis Speaker Mehdi Karroubi, a close ally of Khatami, Karroubi said the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) had decided in its Saturday meeting to forward the report on the Kazemi’s issue to Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, the man who is both the boss and protector of Judge Mortazavi.
"The Judiciary chief will accordingly appoint a competent judge to immediately study the case, and report the results as soon as possible", he told journalists.
But most Iranian observers doubt that the case of Ms. Kazemi would go any further than that of the Serial Murders.
http://www.iran-press-service.com/articles_2003/Jul-2003/journalist_dies_20703.htm * The officials declared the report a few hours ago and they admitted that the head of Ms.Kazemi was beaten.
More details in next posts.
...the Pasdaran Corp...
My understanding is this is an elite military body that works directly for the Supreme leader Khamenei.
The IRGC or Islamic Revolutionary corps was founded by Doctor Yazdi, The former Foreign Minister of interim government of Iran and "IRGC General Mohsen Rezaii " and other hard liners right after the 1979 revolution.
This Military Task force is to protect their so-called revolutionary values and to controll the Pro-Shah Army.
They are veterans of the Iraq-Iran war of the 80's.
They are loyal to the Supreme leader and more trusted than the regular Army.
