Iranian Alert -- DAY 45 -- LIVE THREAD PING LIST

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.

US mulls split among people, state

09:48:27 Þ.Ù
Tehran, July 24 - Commander of the ground force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said here Wednesday the United States is after containing Iran's Islamic Revolution in the region.

According to the IRGC public relations department, Brig. Mohammad Ali Jafari said the Muslim world has terrified the United States which is very likely to embark on dangerous acts.

Iran's Islamic Revolution has jeopardized the US interests, and the United States may commit hazardous actions to preserve its interests.

He commented on the high military capabilities of the troops under his command saying these troops stand ready to defend the nations in tough times.

The enemies, he said, are trying every possible means to separate the people from the Islamic system.

The IRGC would defend the nation in case it comes under attacks by Iran's arch-foes, he reiterated while terming the county's military capacity as "deterrent safeguards" for the nation.

The IRGC is in full readiness to counter any threat, said the commander, adding this would contribute to the consolidation of the Islamic Revolution and system.

He went on to say that the Revolution has left behind tough times and it will be faced with many challenges and dangers in the future too.

http://www.iribnews.com/Full_en.asp?news_id=184323&n=14

EU fires 'warning shot' over Iran's nuclear project

By Stephen Castle in Brussels
22 July 2003

The European Union yesterday sent its toughest warning to Iran about its nuclear programme and over breaches of human rights, setting a September deadline for signs of concessions from Tehran.

In a strongly worded statement, EU foreign ministers expressed "increasing concern" about Iran's nuclear programme and demanded an "urgent and unconditional" acceptance of an international agreement to allow more stringent nuclear inspections.

The statement marks a distinct hardening of tone from the EU which has held out for a more nuanced policy of engagement with Tehran as Washington increases the political pressure on Iran.

Last month, EU foreign ministers toughened their line, coming closer to the American position, but stopped short of setting a deadline. Yesterday the ministers tried to turn the screw by saying that co-operation, including negotiations on a trade and co-operation agreement, will be reviewed in September, a move one EU diplomat called a "warning shot".

But Franco Frattini, the Foreign Minister of Italy which holds the EU presidency, said although concerns had been expressed, "we want to keep the dialogue open" and that "our job is to encourage Iran to take a step forward". An EU official added: "We are not closing any doors."

The central issue is whether Iran will sign an additional protocol of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty to allow for more extensive inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency. So far Tehran has failed to do so, insisting it has no plan to build nuclear weapons and simply wants to use nuclear power to meet its electricity needs.

EU ministers also expressed their "deep concern" over human rights abuses in the country, and their "deep shock" at the violent death in custody of a Canadian photojournalist, Zahra Kazemi. Iran must prosecute those responsible, the statement said.

The Israeli Foreign Minister, Silvan Shalom, said Tehran had an illegal nuclear weapons programme: "Iran is trying to do everything to have a nuclear weapon ... threatening not only the Middle East, [but] threatening Europe [and] the southern part of Russia."

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=426519

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Economic sanctions against Iran a possibility

Canadian Press
Ottawa — Economic sanctions could be next after Canada recalled its ambassador to Iran over the burial of a Montreal photojournalist who died in police custody.

Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham said measures have been taken to try to have the body of Zahra Kazemi, which he said was buried Wednesday by religious authorities, exhumed and returned to Canada.

Canada has recalled Ambassador Philip MacKinnon for consultation, Mr. Graham said in an interview with The Canadian Press, and economic sanctions against Iran are a possibility.

"Everything will be a possibility," he said.

According to data from 2000, trade between Canada and Iran totals more than $700-million, making Iran one of Canada's largest export markets in the North Africa-Middle East region. Iran is also one of Canada's largest export markets for wheat, totalling about $500-million.

Mr. Graham said he would first consult with Mr. MacKinnon — who is expected back Friday — before deciding the most effective next move.

A spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry called Mr. Graham's comments "unacceptable," a report from the official Islamic Republic News Agency said Wednesday.

Hamid Reza Asefi said he hoped Canada would refrain from launching "hasty and irrational" remarks that could compound the issue, the report said.

Protests from Canada have succeeded in removing Tehran prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi, a hardliner who may have been one of Ms. Kazemi's interrogators, as the investigator in Ms. Kazemi's death, Mr. Graham said.

Instead, a military prosecutor will be in charge of the case.

"Clearly, we could well prefer someone more independent than a military, but I think it's a step in the right direction that it not be one of the persons who could be one of the accused responsible for her death," he said.

Prime Minister Jean Chrétien called Mr. MacKinnon's recall a "very noticeable" form of protest in diplomatic circles.

"I'm very unhappy that they would take a journalist and kill a journalist," Mr. Chrétien said Wednesday after a cabinet meeting.

Ms. Kazemi's only child, Stephan Hachemi, who lives in Montreal, had wanted her body sent to Canada for an independent autopsy and burial. Mr. Graham said the original wishes of Ms. Kazemi's mother, who lives in Iran, were the same.

But the IRNA reported Tuesday that it had received a request from Ms. Kazemi's mother to have her daughter buried in her home town of Shiraz.

Mr. Hachemi said his grandmother had told him earlier she was being pressured by Iranian officials.

Ms. Kazemi's family has hired a Canadian lawyer who has retained a separate lawyer in Tehran, Mr. Graham said.

"We'll supplement and help in every way possible the efforts of the family to have the body repatriated, including, of course, making representations directly to the government," he said.

Opposition critic Stockwell Day said because Canada failed to threaten consequences, the Iranian regime doesn't take Canada seriously.

Ottawa should have recalled its entire diplomatic staff in Iran and sent the Iranian ambassador to Canada home until demands were met, Mr. Day said from Toronto.

He said the government should also demand Canadian representation in any investigation into Ms.Kazemi's death.

Mr. Graham said he would continue to press the Iranian Foreign Minister, Kamal Kharrazi, for an "open and transparent" investigation. But he hasn't been able to reach Mr. Kharrazi, who is in South Africa on an official visit.

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has called for an open trial of those behind Ms. Kazemi's death.

Asked if the burial would harm Iran-Canada relations, Mr. Khatami said, "Why should it? Hopefully no problems will come up with the Canadian government."

Ms. Kazemi died July 10, nearly three weeks after she was detained for taking photographs outside a Tehran prison during last month's student-led protests.

After 77 hours of interrogation, Ms. Kazemi spent 14 days in hospital before she died, according to a report conducted by a presidential committee. The hospital is controlled by the Revolutionary Guards, a hardline security force.

The last time Canada cut normal diplomatic ties with Iran was between 1980 and 1988, although they were never officially severed.

Since 1996, Canadian political relations with Iran have been governed by the policy of controlled engagement, and are reviewed periodically. In 2001, then Foreign Affairs Minister John Manley was the first minister to visit the country in a decade.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030724.wkazemi0724/BNStory/National/

ISLAM'S FUTURE

By AMIR TAHERI
July 24, 2003 -- LAST week more than 900 or so Muslim scholars and theologians gathered in Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital, to ask a simple question: What is the role of Islam in the era of globalization?
This was a star-studded occasion with many prominent religious and political figures from more than 70 Muslim countries across the globe. The participants heard 22 learned papers and sat through some 36 hours of debate spread over three days.

One theme ran through most of the papers and much of the debate: The Muslim world, ridden with internecine feuds and conflicts with the West, is in deep crisis. It was clear that most participants regarded the Muslim world as a victim of injustice, misunderstanding and unfair propaganda. Many lashed out against "Islamophobia," which is supposedly growing in the West with tacit encouragement from powerful "lobbies" in Washington.

Each time it was necessary to take a clear position, for example on terrorism and suicide bombing, the conferees weaseled out with the help of demagogic pirouettes.

Despite some attempts, notably by Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahatir Mohamad, at focusing on concrete issues, the conference drifted into the uncertain seas of obfuscation, where conspiracy theories make waves and dead souls assume the captaincy of phantom vessels.

The central question posed by the conference is both valid and in need of urgent treatment. The so-called "global world" is a Western, mainly American construct, in the shaping of which Muslims have played no part.

The "global" idea could become an instrument for providing the economically and militarily weaker societies with the means not only to survive but also to strengthen their identity in a pluralist world. Islam should look into its historic, cultural and intellectual resources to find an alternative model or to become an active participant in developing the one proposed by the West. The choice is not between being an object of globalization or its enemy.

The mere verbal rejection of globalization, while accepting all its imperatives in practice, is a sign only of intellectual laziness. To try to challenge it by violent action, without competing with it in the field of ideas, amounts to decadent formalism, of which we saw an example in the attacks against the United States on 9/11.

There we had action presented as a substitute for thought in the manner of Voltaire's bug. (That bug, annoyed by the ticktock of the clock, committed suicide by jumping at it, stopping the "infernal machine" for a fraction of a second.)

Any serious debate on where Islam is today and where it needs to be tomorrow must start with an end to the demagogic blame game. Some speakers put the blame on the usual suspects of modern Islamic mythology: the Crusaders, the Orientalists, the Imperialists, the Zionists, the Communists, the liberals, the secularists and so on.

They did not realize that by identifying any of those usual suspects as author of the Islamic predicament they were absolving generations of Muslim intellectual and political leaders of their share of responsibility. They were not prepared even to discuss the tragic failure of such supposedly "Islamic" systems as in Iran, the Sudan and Afghanistan (under the Taliban) in the past three decades.

Others, including Prime Minister Mahatir, introduced a new whipping boy: the ulema (theologians). But they ignored the fact that the ulema have been as much the victims of despotism in Muslim countries as any other social stratum. A case could be argued that the tragedies that the Muslim world has suffered in the past 150 years were a result not of any action by the ulema but of despotism in which the military, the self-styled peddlers of Western ideologies and sections of the urban middle classes were in the driving seat.

Once we have set aside the blame game we should acknowledge the existence of politics, economics and ethics as domains distinct from that of theology. What this means is that political, economic and ethical issues cannot be defined, analysed, understood and answered in purely theological terms.

The denial of those distinct domains has enabled despots and demagogues of various ideological shades to invent a theopolitical discourse that prevents any rational discussion of the problems Muslims face today.

Once we have set aside the theopolitical discourse we could acknowledge the distinction between Islam as a faith and Islam as an existential reality. This would enable us to subject Islam to rational and systematic criticism aimed at discovering its weaknesses and suggesting ways to correct them. In that way any critique of the way we live as Muslims can no longer be condemned as a critique of Islam as a faith and thus presented as a religious dividing line.

The tragic irony is that classical Islam did recognize the existence of domains distinct from theology. It was that recognition that enabledseveral generations of Muslim scholars to dig into the Greek, Persian and Indian philosophical and cultural heritage in order to enrich Islamic thought.

The theopolitical discourse that is designed to limit freedom of thought and expression in the Muslim world is a new phenomenon developed by a small number of militant thinkers influenced by Western totalitarian ideologies, especially communism and fascism.

In that sense the challenge that most Muslim peoples face today is a political, rather than religious, one. It is perfectly possible for Muslims to develop a modern and democratic society in the era of globalization. But to do that they have to understand that religion is part of life, not the other way round as the theopolitical discourse suggests.

The conferees of Kuala Lumpur, probably afraid of incurring the wrath of demagogues, missed an opportunity to lead the debate in that direction.

E-mail: amirtaheri@ benadorassociates.com

http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/1365.htm

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Furious PM pulls envoy out of Iran
'They kill a journalist ... It's horrible what they've done,' Chrétien fumes

Norma Greenaway
The Ottawa Citizen

Thursday, July 24, 2003

A visibly angry Jean Chrétien lashed out at Iran yesterday over the death in custody and the burial of a photojournalist from Montreal, describing the behaviour of Iranian authorities as intolerable and recalling Canada's ambassador from Tehran in protest.

"I'm very unhappy that they take a journalist and kill a journalist," the prime minister said after a cabinet meeting. "It's unacceptable. I think it's horrible what they've done. We protested the strongest we could."

Mr. Chrétien's outburst was prompted by confirmation that Zahra Kazemi, 54, who died in detention from a fractured skull, had been buried in Iran, contrary to the expressed wishes of her son in Montreal and the Canadian government that her remains be returned to Canada. Mr. Chrétien said that although there is nothing he can do to bring Ms. Kazemi, 54, back to life, the government is committed to trying to get her body back.

Foreign Minister Bill Graham, emerging from the same cabinet meeting, reiterated the government's demands for an "open and transparent" inquiry to determine who was responsible for her death on July 10.

Mr. Graham said he took some comfort from the decision earlier yesterday to turn the freshly ordered inquiry into Ms. Kazemi's death over to the Tehran military court.

The move, which Mr. Graham termed a "positive" sign, takes the inquiry out of the hands of Saeed Mortazavi, a controversial, conservative hardline prosecutor whom some Iranians accuse of being responsible for Ms. Kazemi's death.

Mr. Graham also said Canada was considering sanctions against Iran that go beyond the indefinite recall of its ambassador "for consultations."

He said the federal government won't make a decision until it gets input on what would be most effective from Philip MacKinnon, Canada's ambassador to Iran. Mr. MacKinnon is expected back in Ottawa by the weekend.

"We have an array of measures which are open to us," Mr. Graham said without elaborating.

He argued, however, Mr. MacKinnon's recall sends a strong initial message.

"The Iranian government and all governments know that the recalling of an ambassador for consultations is a diplomatic form of indicating extreme disquiet and displeasure with actions of the government."

Other options include expelling one or more of the 16 Iranian diplomats in Canada and imposing trade sanctions.

Canada exported $430 million worth of goods in 2001. Wheat made up more than two-thirds of Canada's exports to the Middle Eastern country.

In Tehran, a government spokesman was quoted by Agence France-Presse as urging Canada not to overreact to Ms. Kazemi's case. "Canada's attitude over the regrettable death of an Iranian citizen is unjustified," spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi was quoted as saying. "We hope Canada will avoid premature and illogical actions that could further complicate the situation."

Ms. Kazemi's son, Stephan Hachemi, advised the government within hours of his mother's burial in the southern city of Shiraz, which was captured on Iran's state-run television, that he wants the body exhumed and brought to Canada. He says Iranian authorities pressured his grandmother to sign a letter saying she wanted her daughter buried in Iran.

The Chrétien government has asked a lawyer it has on retainer in Tehran to explore the civil and religious rules governing such matters in Iran and to report on what options might be available.

Foreign Affairs spokesman Reynald Doiron said the lawyer's findings are not expected before next week.

Canadian Alliance MP Stockwell Day blasted the government's response to Kazemi's death and burial as "too little, too late." He argued the Iranian government ignored Canada's demands to return the body because it had no fear of being punished.

Mr. Graham signalled the government is treading somewhat carefully in terms of punishing Iran, partly because it wants to encourage the "liberal" forces within the government of Mohammed Khatami.

The foreign minister said President Khatami appears to be serious when he says he wants an independent inquiry into the death. An initial report, prepared by four Iranian cabinet ministers, said Ms. Kazemi, who endured 77 hours of interrogation, died of a fractured skull after a blow to the head. It did not, however, say who was behind the death, thereby leaving a gaping hole in the account.

"We want to help the government of Iran, Mr. Khatami, who wants to get to the bottom of this, (to) deal with the conservatives in this country who are taking another attitude."

Ms. Kazemi was arrested while taking pictures outside a Tehran prison during last month's student-led protests.

http://canada.com/national/story.asp?id=DF6C8895-276C-4A8F-8E4F-3FE8345EE41D

Tehran condemns killing Iranian national by Canada police

Tehran, July 24, IRNA -- Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi
on Thursday condemned killing Iranian national Keyvan Tabesh and
injuring the other Amir Aqaei by the Canadian police and the news
blackout imposed on the "criminal act" there.
The Canadian police attacked three Iranian nationals in Vancouver
on Tuesday morning killing Keyvan Tabesh and injuring Amir Aqaie.
Canada imposed a news blackout on mass media during the past two
days.
Asefi raised the "ambiguity" of the "criminal act" committed by
the Canadian police.
"The crime perpetrated by Canadian police which is responsible for
the security of the society, has caused fear and horror among the
Iranian Community in Canada," he said.
The strict censorship imposed on the incident has added to the
ambiguity of the issue, Asefi added.
The Islamic Republic of Iran will urge the Canadian government,
through diplomatic channels, to deliver prompt, transparent and
satisfying explanation on the horrifying crime, he said.
The spokesman said that the Islamic Republic of Iran calls on the
Canadian government to bring to justice those responsible for the
crime.

http://www.irna.ir/en/tnews/030724160528.etn00.shtml

Canada accused of killing Iranian

Thursday, 24 July, 2003, 11:53 GMT 12:53 UK
BBC WORLD:

Iran has accused Canadian police of killing a young Iranian as tensions continue over the death of a Canadian journalist in Iranian custody earlier this month.
An Iranian foreign ministry spokesman has demanded that Canada "give an explicit, transparent and satisfactory explanation" of the alleged incident in Vancouver on Tuesday.

According to Iranian state media, police officers attacked three young Iranians - causing the death of a man named as Keyvan Tabesh and injuring the others.

There was no immediate response from Canada.

On Wednesday, Ottawa condemned the burial of Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi in Iran - which was apparently against her family's wishes - and said it was recalling its ambassador from Tehran and considering sanctions.

Ms Kazemi, 54, died on 10 July, more than two weeks after her arrest for taking pictures outside a prison.

An Iranian report said she died in custody from a severe blow to the head which fractured her skull and caused a brain haemorrhage.

The report failed to say how and why the injury was inflicted, but called for an independent investigation.

Turning the tables

Iran also defended the decision to bury the photojournalist in the city of Shiraz on Wednesday, saying they had the go-ahead from her mother.

But Ms Kazemi's son, Montreal-based Stephan Hachemi, has said his 75-year-old grandmother was "forced" to authorise the burial.

Canada backed Mr Hachemi's calls for her body to be returned to Canada for a post-mortem and burial.

It has criticised Tehran for not doing more to bring those responsible to justice.

The Iranian foreign minister spokesman, Hamid Reza Asefi, turned the tables on Canada by calling for a fully inquiry into the alleged death of the Iranian man.

"Why have Canadian police, who should safeguard the security of the people, committed this disgraceful crime which scared Iranian citizens living in Canada?" he was quoted as saying.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3092731.stm
*
Also here at:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030724/wl_canada_nm/canada_iran_canada_col_22

Yes to American statesmanship, no to showmanship

Daily Star Lebannon
23rd of July 2003

The renewed American warnings to Syria and Iran Monday by President George W. Bush followed Secretary of State Colin Powell’s own admonishments a few days earlier, on issues such as weapons of mass destruction, terror, support for Hizbullah and Arab-Israeli peacemaking. This American campaign against Damascus and Tehran is not to be taken lightly, however thin may be the evidence offered to support the American accusations. One pays attention when the total number of US military bases around the world hovers around the 150 mark and continues to rise, and Washington liberally engages in armed attacks and wars in its self-appointed role of global cop.
Yet the more we see of America as worldwide enforcer, the more clear become the fault lines that define America’s interaction with the world. Five separate issues should be disentangled from one another and addressed prudently.
1. The policies of the Syrian and Iranian governments. It is perfectly fair to ask that Damascus and Tehran abide by the reasonable international norms that have been agreed upon by the community of nations.
Should these or any other states pursue policies that really threaten others, they should be dealt with through the available legitimate mechanisms. Such a case has not been proven here, and so the unilateral, threatening American policy toward Damascus and Tehran has elicited little support. Instead, we see considerable worldwide disdain and even contempt for this American foreign policy approach defined by frustration, arrogance, threats, and a quick trigger finger.
2. The issue of legitimate enforcement of international norms. If Syria, Iran or Hizbullah are doing evil things and threatening others, that should be determined by one of many available international mechanisms, especially through the UN system, respected international non-governmental organizations, and even impartial, credible research and analysis institutions. The civilized world, as George Bush and Colin Powell call it, has developed means to identify, verify, contain, and end potential threats to peace; but the unilateral ideological and military exuberance of George Bush and Colin Powell are not among those means.
3. The issue of equal, consistent enforcement of international norms. The US again generates worldwide criticism because it is seen to be applying a transparent double standard in deciding that some countries can develop sophisticated weapons systems and others cannot. The message from Washington is titanic in its hypocrisy, and so it elicits proportionately strong resistance.
4. The nature of American interaction with the rest of the world. The US government’s post-Sept. 11 tendency to pursue a global policy comprising a combination of hypocrisy, militarism, unilateralism, selective lies, and cooking the books of intelligence data raises widespread fears. When experienced from beyond the shores of the United States, a unipolar world also looks like a lawless world. As the US expands its worldwide military bases and operations, and makes fighting terror rather than promoting human dignity and decency its main policy goal, it highlights a dilemma that has plagued the US since its inception: Do Americans interact with others in this world as equal human beings, with shared interests, or as superior beings with a divine mandate and a special calling? America’s self-perception as mighty and noble global enforcer of All Things Good and Decent elicits from the rest of the world only perplexed chuckles and, more recently, a readiness to dive for cover when the Marines appear. Yet, paradoxically, many people around the world also call for US troops and assistance (e.g., Liberia), suggesting that the US should devise policies that maximize its constructive interventions that win it friends and allies, and minimize destructive ones that earn it only scorn and fear.
5. The complex relationship between domestic and foreign policy in the US. One of the hard lessons we learn these days is about the distortions in an otherwise fine American democratic system of federal republicanism. The ability of special interest groups and narrow lobbies inside the US to steer American foreign policy onto its current course is a problem for Americans to resolve though the consequences of this problem touch the rest of the world. The fact that soldiers, rather than businesspeople, tourists or diplomats, are fast becoming the leading symbol of America’s interaction with the world should make ordinary Americans more worried, rather than more secure.
Iran and Syria are fascinating places, ancient cultures with thousands of years of human experience, rich moral and political legacies, great food, wonderful cities, some of the warmest, kindest people in the world, precarious economies, and stressed governance systems experiencing internal and regional pressures to evolve, open up, democratize, and modernize.
Bush and Powell would be well advised to drop the Lone Ranger behavior, and instead opt for a more legitimate and constructive approach to valid global issues that would benefit from greater American statesmanship, and less showmanship.

Rami G. Khouri is executive editor of The Daily Star

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/opinion/23_07_03_c.asp

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