Iranian Alert -- October 10, 2003 -- IRAN LIVE THREAD PING LIST

The US media almost entirely ignores news regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran. As Tony Snow of the Fox News Network has put it, “this is probably the most under-reported news story of the year.”

But most American’s are unaware that the Islamic Republic of Iran is NOT supported by the masses of Iranians today. Modern Iranians are among the most pro-American in the Middle East.

There is a popular revolt against the Iranian regime brewing in Iran today. Starting June 10th of this year, Iranians have begun taking to the streets to express their desire for a regime change. Most want to replace the regime with a secular democracy. Many even want the US to over throw their government.

The regime is working hard to keep the news about the protest movement in Iran from being reported. Unfortunately, the regime has successfully prohibited western news reporters from covering the demonstrations.

The voices of discontent within Iran are sometime murdered, more often imprisoned. Still the people continue to take to the streets to demonstrate against the regime.

In support of this revolt, Iranians in America have been broadcasting news stories by satellite into Iran. This 21st century news link has greatly encouraged these protests. The regime has been attempting to jam the signals, and locate the satellite dishes. Still the people violate the law and listen to these broadcasts.

Iranians also use the Internet and the regime attempts to block their access to news against the regime. In spite of this, many Iranians inside of Iran read these posts daily to keep informed of the events in their own country.

This daily thread contains nearly all of the English news reports on Iran. It is thorough.

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. The news stories and commentary will from time to time include material from the regime itself. But if you read the post you will discover for yourself, the real story of what is occurring in Iran and its effects on the war on terror.

I am not of Iranian heritage. I am an American committed to supporting the efforts of those in Iran seeking to replace their government with a secular democracy. I am in contact with leaders of the Iranian community here in the United States and in Iran itself.

If you read the daily posts you will gain a better understanding of the US war on terrorism, the Middle East and why we need to support a change of regime in Iran. Feel free to ask your questions and post news stories you discover in the weeks to come.

If all goes well Iran will be free soon and I am convinced become a major ally in the war on terrorism. The regime will fall. Iran will be free. It is just a matter of time.

PS I have a daily ping list and a breaking news ping list. If you would like to receive alerts to these stories please let me know which list you would like to join.

U.N. says still waiting for Iran nuclear data

Fri 10 October, 2003 04:00 BST

LONDON (Reuters) - Chief United Nations nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei says he is still waiting for Iran to provide satisfactory information to show its atomic programme is entirely non-military, the Financial Times has reported.

ElBaradei told the paper's Friday edition that teams of inspectors sent to Iran last week had been given access to sites they had requested and had received fresh information from Iranian authorities.

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has insisted that Tehran will provide whatever cooperation is needed by an October 31 deadline set by the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to prove its nuclear programme is solely geared for peaceful purposes.

But ElBaradei said the amount and flow of information remained inadequate.

"They've promised information will be forthcoming but it has not yet been provided," he told the paper in an interview.

"The central question is whether Iran has any (uranium) enrichment activities that we have not yet been informed about. On that question I haven't got satisfactory information."

U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton predicted on Thursday that Iran would show some cooperation to prevent a showdown over the deadline but not enough to dispel international suspicion of its nuclear ambitions.

"They will try and throw sand in our eyes and use a modest level of cooperation to hide some level of obfuscation and lack of cooperation, to conceal as much as they can, to delay, to fight for time, and to avoid having the issue referred to the (U.N.) Security Council," he told reporters in London.

ElBaradei has warned Tehran that if it fails to cooperate fully with his agency Iran's case may be sent to the Security Council for possible sanctions.

Iran insists its nuclear programme is solely geared to producing electricity and not for building an atomic arms capability, as Washington alleges.

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=386027&section=news

A Must Read Article By Amir Taheri -- DoctorZin

ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS RECANT

By AMIR TAHERI

October 10, 2003 -- ENOUGH is enough! This is the message of a new book selling like hotcakes in Egypt. The authors are eight senior sheiks (leaders) of Gamaa al-Islamiyah (Islamic Society), a terrorist organization that waged a bloody campaign against the Egyptian state for 20 years. The campaign claimed thousands of lives, including hundreds of Western tourists.
The book's purpose is better explained by its subtitle "Theological Revisions by the Islamic Society," rather than its almost romantic title, "River of Memories." It is a summary of discussions held by the movement's leaders and militants over a period of 10 months, while serving prison terms of between five and 22 years.

Egypt's government has released 1,000 of the group's members in recent days - in good part because of the sentiments expressed in the book.

The sheiks write: "Egyptians should not shed the blood of Egyptians . . . What happened was wrong and should not happen again." They add, "Women and children should not be killed, even in war."

They sheikcall for "a complete and unconditional end to any act of violence, including verbal violence, against the Egyptian authorities inside or outside the country."

The book contains a discussion about the attack organized by the terror movement against tourists in Luxour in 1997, in which almost 60 Westerners, mostly Germans, were blown to pieces.

"In Luxour we killed men, women and children, young and old - innocent travelers who had come to visit our land," the book says. "It was wrong, wrong, wrong. Islam does not permit the murder of innocent civilians for any reason."

The sheiks attribute the 9/11 attacks to the Israeli secret service Mossad, and claim that no Muslim would have planned and carried out an operation that claimed the lives of "thousands of innocent people." To back their claim, they recall the Islamic rule that identified suicide as a grave sin on par with the denial of the oneness of God. Thus Mohamed Atta and his gang could not have been Muslims.

The sheiks also condemn the recent terrorist attack in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, which killed almost 50 people - but, this time, do not blame it on Mossad.

The sheiks claim that they had misunderstood and misused the concept of jihad in Islam. They enumerate the classical rules concerning jihad, which has been wrongly interpreted by many commentators to mean "holy war." They admit that they had ignored those rules, but do not express regret. "What is past is past," they insist. They assert that the issue of jihad is "too delicate, too complex" to be handled by "unqualified individuals acting on the basis of raw emotions."

They add that jihad could be interpreted as an order to war only if it is based on theological consensus, something almost impossible to achieve, and even then only in self-defense.

The sheiks call for an end to armed struggle and a new strategy of "re-Islamicizing" Egyptian society through example and preaching.

Leading the discussions was Karam Muhammad Zohdi, who spent 22 years in prison after being found guilty of participation in the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in October 1980. The authorities released Zohdi from jail last month and allowed him to promote the new book.

The movement's most senior leader, Zohdi was joined by other sheiks, notably Najih Abdallah, the movement's ideologue, and Hamdi Abdel-Azim. Missing from the group is Ayman al-Zawahiri - now al Qaeda's No. 2, and hiding either in Iran or in Pakistan.

The sheiks describe the Taliban regime in Afghanistan as weird and its leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, as "a warlord," and not a theologian. They shed no tears for the deposed Iraqi tyrant Saddam Hussein and say that "not anyone who bears arms is a fighter for Islam."

What should one make of this strange turnabout? Here are eight men who have blood on their hands and whose organization is responsible for countless tragedies, and yet they seek reintegration into a society that they terrorized for a generation.

Some of them describe themselves as tawwabin - "the repenting ones" - and refer to classical Islamic rules that allow forgiveness for those who confess their sins and dedicate their lives to repairing the effects.

There are, nevertheless, several troubling points.

* The sheiks claim that Egyptian society needs to be "re-Islamicized." This presupposes the existence of an ideal Islamic model, known only to the ex-terrorist leadership.

* They call for a campaign of "persuasion and encouragement" aimed at promoting "Islamic values." This means intimidating women into wearing the type of hijab (headgear) that has become the symbol of Islamist terrorism since the mid '70s. It also means ostracizing men who do not grow their beards in the form mandated by the terrorist leaders.

Beyond these outwards symbols, it also means an atmosphere in which people who do not wish to live their lives the way the sheiks deem fit would constantly feel threatened.

* Finally, the sheiks are careful not to abandon such goals as making Islam the sole religion of all mankind, wiping Israel off the map and destroying "deviant" Muslims - such as Shiites, a majority in Iran, Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon - like "evil weeds."

In military terms, the Egyptian terrorist movement has lost the war it unleashed against the state. But it intends to pursue a political, social and cultural war in which psychological terror is the prime weapon.

The Gamaa's new strategy is, in a sense, not new at all. It has been practiced by the Ikhwan al-Moslemeen (The Muslim Brotherhood) in Egypt and half a dozen other Arab countries for years.

Allied to the despotic regimes in place, the Brotherhood promises not to challenge the political authority of the state. In exchange, it gets a free hand in "Islamicizing" society the way it likes.

In some countries, including Egypt, the strategy has worked. Today, many Egyptians feel less free than 25 years ago. Also compared to 25 years ago, Egypt is becoming a cultural desert upon which blows the murderous wind of bedouinisation.

Amir Taheri is an Iranian author of 10 books on the Middle East and Islam. He's reachable through www.benadorassociates.com.

http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/7721.htm

PM Visit To Iran To Deepen Bilateral Relations: FM

Updated on 2003-10-10 10:43:12
PakNews.Com

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Oct 10 (PNS) - Upcoming visit of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali to Iran will deepen the existing relations between Tehran and Islamabad, Pakistan’s top diplomat said here Wednesday.

In a meeting with Iran`s Ambassador Mohammad-Ebrahim Taherian at Foreign Office, Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri called for expansion of Iran-Pakistan cooperation and interaction vis-a-vis the regional and international developments.

According to a press release by Iran’s Embassy in Islamabad, the Iranian envoy expressed satisfaction over the opportunity for cementing the ties between the two brotherly neighboring countries of Pakistan and Iran.

"Stability and security in the region notably in Afghanistan is in the best interests of its neighboring countries as well as the whole region," Taherian was quoted as saying.

Both the minister and the visiting ambassador hailed the splendid history of friendly and deeply-rooted relations between their respective countries stressing for expansion of ties in all fields, the embassy reported.

Pakistan’s premier is expected to visit the Islamic Republic of Iran on Oct 22 heading a top-level delegation.

http://www.paknews.com/main.php?id=1&date1=2003-10-10

Shirin Ebadi wins Nobel Peace Prize

Iranian lawyer and human rights activist Shirin Ebadi has won the Nobel Peace Prize for 2003. Ebadi is Iran's first female judge and a leading figure in the struggle for women's and children's rights in Iran. She is known for representing the interests of persecuted individuals and has braved reprisals for her beliefs.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee was founded in compliance with Alfred Nobel's will, made public in January 1897, a month after his death. The Committee is composed of five members appointed by Norway's parliament, the Storting.

The current committee is led by Ole Danbolt Mjoes, and includes Berge Ragnar Furre, Sissel Marie Rønbeck, Inger-Marie Ytterhorn, and Kaci Kullmann Five. Geir Lundestad is secretary and director of the Nobel Institute.

The peace prize is worth SEK 10 million (USD 1.3 million).

At 11:00 am local time, the head of the Norwegian Nobel committee, Ole Danholt Mjoes, announced that the prize would be going to a Muslim woman for the first time.

"I am very happy, and hope that the prize can contribute to the struggle for human rights in Iran," Ebadi said in a telephone interview with Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) after the announcement.

Ebaid also said that she hoped the prize would encourage other Muslim woman around the world, and for their fight for equal rights.

In 2001 Ebadi won the Rafto Prize for her long battle for human rights and democracy in Iran. He has also been recognized by Human Rights Watch for her efforts.

In 1997 Ebadi told Norwegian news agency NTB that Iran's existing system had to change.

"After the revolution many things went wrong. For example, we received a series of discriminatory laws. Now an increasing number of people want changes, and this is seen in the election of Mohammad Khatami as president. The time has come for reforms," Ebadi said.

Today: October 10, 2003 at 3:24:14 PDT
Excerpts From Nobel Peace Prize Citation
By The Associated Press
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Excerpts from the citation of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize, awarded Friday to Shirin Ebadi of Iran for her human rights activism:
---

Ebadi is a conscious Muslim. She sees no conflict between Islam and fundamental human rights. It is important to her that the dialogue between the different cultures and religions of the world should take as its point of departure their shared values. It is a pleasure for the Norwegian Nobel Committee to award the Peace Prize to a woman who is part of the Muslim world, and of whom that world can be proud - along with all who fight for human rights wherever they live. During recent decades, democracy and human rights have advanced in various parts of the world. By its awards of the Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has attempted to speed up this process.
---

As a lawyer, judge, lecturer, writer and activist, she has spoken out clearly and strongly in her country, Iran, and far beyond its borders. She has stood up as a sound professional, a courageous person, and has never heeded the threats to her own safety. Her principal arena is the struggle for basic human rights, and no society deserves to be labeled civilized unless the rights of women and children are respected. In an era of violence, she has consistently supported nonviolence. It is fundamental to her view that the supreme political power in a community must be built on democratic elections. She favors enlightenment and dialogue as the best path to changing attitudes and resolving conflict.
---

We hope that the people of Iran will feel joyous that for the first time in history one of their citizens has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and we hope the Prize will be an inspiration for all those who struggle for human rights and democracy in her country, in the Muslim world, and in all countries where the fight for human rights needs inspiration and support.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-eur/2003/oct/10/101002177.html

Shirin Ebadi, human rights defender who enraged Iran's hardliners

TEHRAN (AFP) Oct 10, 2003
Shirin Ebadi, 56, is one of Iran's most prominent human rights defenders, whose campaigning on behalf of women, children and outspoken dissidents has earned her the wrath of the Islamic republic's religious hardliners.
Prior to the 1979 Islamic revolution, she made headlines when she became the country's first female judge. But she was stripped of her post when the new ruling clerics decided that women were unsuitable for such responsibilities.

Rather than retire to a life of obscurity, Ebadi continued to lecture in law at Tehran university and emerged as a vocal activist and lawyer dedicted to women's and children's rights.

She was a major driving force between the reform of Iran's family laws, notably on divorce and inheritance -- and also against a system where the "blood money" -- compensation for an injury -- for women is half that for a man.

Ebadi also emerged as something of an unofficial spokesperson for Iranian women, who demonstrated their political clout in 1997 by rallying around the mild-mannered reformist cleric Mohammad Khatami and electing him president.

But it was involvement in investigating one of Islamic Iran's most controversial cases -- the 1999 serial murders of writers, intellectuals and dissidents -- that put her on a collision course with Iran's hardliners.

She served as lawyer for Dariush and Parvaneh Foruhar, a couple who were among several dissidents who died in a spate of grisly murders that were eventually pinned on "rogue" agents from Iran's intelligence ministry.

In June 2000, she was arrested along with another reformist lawyer, for allegedly distributing a taped confession of a hardline vigilante militia member involved in anti-reformist violence. She was held in jail for three weeks, and then recieved a suspended prison sentence of five years and was barred from practising law in a closed-door trial.

Her work has won her accolades from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and in 2001 she was awarded the human rights Rafto prize. She is married and has two daughters, aged 20 and 23.

The profile released by the Nobel Committee following Friday's announcement said, "Both in her research and as an activist, she is known for promoting peaceful, democratic solutions to serious problems in society. She takes an active part in the public debate and is well-known and admired by the general public in her country for her defence in court of victims of the conservative faction's attack on freedom of speech and political freedom.

"Ebadi represents Reformed Islam, and argues for a new interpretation of Islamic law which is in harmony with vital human rights such as democracy, equality before the law, religious freedom and freedom of speech.

"As for religious freedom, it should be noted that Ebadi also includes the rights of members of the Bahai community, which has had problems in Iran ever since its foundation.

"Ebadi is an activist for refugee rights, as well as those of women and children. She is the founder and leader of the Association for Support of Children's Rights in Iran. Ebadi has written a number of academic books and articles focused on human rights."

"With Islam as her starting point, Ebadi campaigns for peaceful solutions to social problems, and promotes new thinking on Islamic terms. She has displayed great personal courage as a lawyer defending individuals and groups who have fallen victim to a powerful political and legal system that is legitimized through an inhumane interpretation of Islam.

"Ebadi has shown her willingness and ability to cooperate with representatives of secular as well as religious views."
http://www.spacewar.com/2003/031010092015.x896w7j9.html

Nobel prize winner calls for release of Iranian political prisoners

PARIS (AFP) Oct 10, 2003
Iranian lawyer and human rights activist Shirin Ebadi called Friday for the release of political prisoners in Iran, just hours after being awarded the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize.

"Today many people who fight for liberty and democracy (in Iran) are in prison. I hope for their release as soon as possible," she told a news conference in Paris.

"I call on the Iranian government to respect human rights and I hope in the future things will move positively ... What is most urgent is respect for freedom of expression and the release of prisoners of conscience," she said.

Ebadi, 56, is one of Iran's most prominent human rights defenders, and her campaigning on behalf of women, children and outspoken dissidents has earned her the wrath of the Islamic republic's religious hardliners.

She is the 11th woman to win the coveted Nobel peace prize and the first ever Muslim woman.

Ebadi also defended her religion -- Islam -- against charges that it is incompatible with the western concept of human rights, and came out against any foreign intervention in her country.

"Islam is not incompatible with human rights and all Muslims should be glad of this prize. If you read the Koran you will see there is nothing in it that is against human rights.

"For 20 years I have been putting out the message that it is possible to be Muslim and have laws that respect human rights," she said.

"The fight for human rights is conducted in Iran by the Iranian people and we are against any foreign intervention in Iran," she said.

"It is not easy to be a woman in Iran because of Iranian law. But the beauty of life in Iran is to fight in difficult circumstances as a woman and as a jurist. If I lived in another country I would not be as proud as I am today," she said.

"The prize gives me more energy to continue the fight for a better future .... This day does not belong to me, but to all militants for human rights in the world," she said.

http://www.spacewar.com/2003/031010130618.cg4lrh3t.html

Iran's Ebadi Thorn in Side of Clerics

October 10, 2003
Reuters
Paul Huges

Iran's first woman judge before the 1979 Islamic revolution, Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi's work as a human rights activist has landed her in jail and seen her branded a threat to the Islamic system.

A vocal campaigner for women's and children's rights, Ebadi, 56, has acted as defence lawyer for a wide range of political activists, earning a reputation for taking on cases others were too afraid to touch.

"Any person who pursues human rights in Iran must live with fear from birth to death," she told the Christian Science Monitor in a 1999 interview.

"But I have learned to overcome my fear," she said.

The country's first woman judge, Ebadi was prevented from continuing in that role after the Islamic revolution when Sharia law was enforced. Women were too emotional and irrational to pass judgment in the courtroom, Iran's new leaders said.

Now a lawyer, writer and part-time lecturer at Tehran University, Ebadi has spent much of her time since the revolution campaigning for better rights for women and children in her native country.

She argued passionately that Sharia law could be adapted to modern times without undermining religion in the officially Shi'ite Islamic Republic.

"The legal keys that Shia religion has given us enable us to transform and act according to the times," she wrote in a recent article.

Ebadi found herself on the wrong side of the law in 2000, when she was accused of disseminating a politically explosive videotape of a violent Islamic vigilante group member who confessed to links with conservative politicians in Iran.

That incident landed Ebadi in Tehran's notorious Evin prison where scores of political dissidents are held.

In solitary confinement there, she wrote: "Angrily I am trying to write on the cement wall with the bottom of my spoon that we are born to suffer because we are born in the Third World. Time and place are imposed upon us. So let's be patient as there is no other choice."

Reformist political analyst Saeed Leylaz said Ebadi had "provided a lot of legal help to political prisoners and those who had activities supporting reforms."

"I'm very excited as an Iranian and I congratulate her," Leylaz said. "I hope it helps to push reforms forward in Iran."

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/031010/325/earrl.html

Peace Award Divides Iran

October 10, 2003
BBC
Jim Muir

The news that the Iranian human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi has won the Nobel Peace Prize has met with mixed feelings in her own country.

While her supporters in the reform movement were clearly delighted, hardliners who don't share her liberal views were not pleased to see the outside world honouring someone they regard as a dissident.

Ebadi has fought in the corner of high-profile Iranian dissidents

Hours after the news was making headlines around the world, it still had not been reported by Iran's state-run TV, radio or news agency.

Most of the official media are regarded as strongholds of the conservative hardliners.

Shirin Ebadi made her mark in the field of women's rights here even before the 1979 Islamic revolution, being appointed Iran's first woman judge.

Pioneering role

That distinction was removed after the revolution, and she took to teaching law at university. But she soon went beyond that to become an activist pioneer of women's and children's rights, seeking changes particularly in the way the divorce and inheritance laws work in Iran.

She also took up the cases of liberal and dissident figures who fell foul of the judiciary, one of the bastions of hardline power here.

Two of her clients, liberal intellectuals Daryoush and Parvaneh Forouhar, were stabbed to death in a series of killings in 1998 which turned out to be the work of "rogue elements" in the Intelligence Ministry.

Shirin Ebadi found herself in the dock in 2000, accused of distributing the video-taped confession of a hardline hooligan who claimed that prominent conservative leaders were instigating physical attacks on pro-reform gatherings and figures.

That won her a suspended jail sentence and a professional ban, but it also brought increasing outside recognition from human rights groups abroad.

Since then, she has continued her pioneering role, setting up a new non-governmental organisation, the Centre for the Defence of Human Rights.

Award's message

Fellow human rights campaigners, and the reform movement in general, were clearly delighted by the prestigious award, seeing it as validation of their own cause.

"I hope the people who do not approve of her will now reconsider their position," Sharbanou Amani, one of 13 women MPs in the Iranian parliament, told the French news agency AFP. "It is a source of pride for Iran's intellectuals."

Elaheh Koulaie, another female reformist MP, said the prize "shows the world community that the democracy process in Iran is going forward."

Other reformists pointed to the huge discrepancy between the international recognition conferred on Ms Ebadi and the causes she is struggling for, and the dire situation she and her colleagues face at home.

In addition to feeling discomfited by the award, some conservatives saw it as a further attempt by outsiders to intervene in Iranian politics. The Nobel committee said it hoped the prize would encourage those inside Iran struggling for human rights and democracy.

"This prize carried the message that Europe intends to put further pressure on human rights issues in Iran as a political move to achieve its particular objectives," said Amir Mohebian, a commentator at the hardline newspaper Resalat.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3180758.stm

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