AP reports 140 people jugged in post-election demos have been released during the visit of a parliamentary committee investigating prisoner conditions. Fearless Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered the prison closed and the evidence destroyed after allegations of abuses. Black turbans appear to be nervous since the death in custody of the son of a prominent conservative.
Last official word was there were around 500 people in stir, with arrests still continuing. Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
07/28/2009 11:39 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11143 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Khamenei: "I won."
Posted by: ed ||
07/28/2009 14:50 Comments ||
Top||
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hassan Qashqavi has said that Iran's political relations with Egypt are not a secret.
"Tehran-Cairo ties are not undisclosed and the two countries' foreign ministers had warm and cordial contact in front of cameras," Qashqavi said at his weekly press conference on Monday.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki met with his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Aboul Gheit at the 15th ministerial meeting of the Non-aligned Movement (NAM) in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm al-Sheikh held from July 13-14.
"Iran and Egypt have different opinions in some fields, but we can have international cooperation as we have common interests in other fields," Qashqavi added.
The Iranian spokesman went on to describe the relations between Iran and Syria as mutual and brotherly. "Iranian and Syrian officials have had many meetings in the past few years."
"Nobody can disturb the ties between the two countries, which are based on mutual respect and brotherly relations," Qashqavi concluded.
The EU's External Relations Council will formulate the block's policy toward Iran based on the Iranian government's treatment of protesters.
Pointing to the treatment of those who protested against the official election results, Germany's Minister of State for Europe, Guenter Gloser, said before the monthly meeting Monday "we will now be talking about options for action if the situation does not improve."
"The current development fills us with great concern," said Gloser. "People who express their views are imprisoned, reporting is heavily restricted, and opposition [members], human rights activists as well as journalists are detained."
The EU's External Relations Council is usually made up of the Member States' foreign ministers. However, in this case, the German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier will be represented by Guenter Gloser.
The council will meet on Monday in Brussels, Belgium, and will be headed by Swedish Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Carl Bildt.
Also speaking ahead of the meeting, the French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner urged the release of a French citizen from an Iranian prison, reported EU Business.
Clotilde Reiss, a French teacher at the Isfahan University of Technology, has been detained for almost a month in Tehran's Evin prison, on suspicion of spying. The French government has flatly rejected the allegations.
"She must be freed in the next few days," Kouchner said.
Following the disputed June 12 presidential election, which returned incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to office with almost two-thirds of the votes, two of the three opposition candidates dismissed the official results as "fraudulent" and demanded a re-run, and many of their supporters took to the streets in support of their demands.
The violence in the Iranian capital resulted in a number of deaths and some of the detainees of the unrest also died in custody, drawing harsh criticism from Iranian officials and public.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/28/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11129 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
The fecklessness of the EUros in their relations with Iran never cease to amaze me. They've never gotten anything before, so what's their answer? Double secret probation!
Amid reports of the mistreatment of detainees who protested against the result of the presidential vote, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution orders officials to shut down a "non-standard" prison.
The head of Iran's National Security Council said Monday that Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei had demanded that the prison which did not measure up to the required standards to be shut down.
"In the course of recent events, the Leader has ordered officials (to take measures), so that no one, God forbid, suffers injustice," Saeed Jalili said in a statement.
The presidential election in June, which lead to the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president, was followed by massive protests by supporters of the defeated candidates.
Thousands were detained in the aftermath of the vote, many of whom have since been released. According to Judiciary spokesman Ali-Reza Jamshidi, at least 300 people remain behind bars.
Jalili, who is also the representative of the Leader in the powerful council, added that Ayatollah Khamenei had insisted that officials were obliged to "precisely" probe into incidents in which wrongdoings may have been committed against detainees.
The Leader has repeatedly advised officials to abide by the law and personally follows up on the fate of detainees, Jalili added.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
07/28/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11130 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Geez...
Don't use the term "Fearless Leader" I never know if you are referring to Kim Jung Il, Ahmadinejad, or Obamma it until I read the article and I must admit does raise a different level of fear.
I assume you are referring to Obama until I see otherwise.
Posted by: Kelly ||
07/28/2009 13:46 Comments ||
Top||
[Jerusalem Post Middle East] Lebanese defense officials believe there is a secret pact between Hizbullah and top officers in the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), the Kuwaiti paper Asiyassa reported on Monday.
According to the account, a LAF battalion will operate within the Hizbullah framework and have independence and access to the group's arsenal.
The paper said Israel gave the United States and European governments which have UNIFIL contingencies (France, Germany, Spain and Italy) information which proves Hizbullah was training dozens of LAF soldiers to prepare them to fight alongside Hizbullah guerrillas in case the IDF attacks Lebanon. Israel conveyed the information on July 1, according to the report.
The LAF battalion in Hizbullah, according to Asiyassa, will include 150 troops who will have access to areas south of the Litani River from where Hizbullah fighters are currently banned in the framework of UN Resolution 1701. Hizbullah reportedly trained the officers on the use of specific Iranian missiles with average- and long-distance ranges. The Jerusalem Post could not confirm the Kuwaiti report.
On Monday morning, Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah was quoted by two Lebanese newspapers as warning that the group would strike Tel Aviv with missiles from Lebanon if Israel attacked the guerrillas' south Beirut stronghold in a new war.
The papers - As-Safir and Al-Akhbar - both with close ties to Hizbullah - said Nasrallah made the threat during a weekend closed meeting with a group of Lebanese expatriates.
"The former equation has changed. Now it will be Dahiyeh against Tel Aviv, not Beirut against Tel Aviv," Nasrallah was quoted as saying.
The southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh houses Hizbullah's headquarters.
He warned that if the Israelis hits Beirut, "there will be a more painful equation for the Israelis." The papers did not elaborate.
A Hizbullah media official contacted by The Associated Press could not confirm the reports, which is not unusual for the group.
Over the weekend, Nasrallah said he believed Israel would initiate an attack against Lebanon by the summer of 2010.
[Haaretz Defense] Israel will attack Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon sometime before next spring, the Shi'ite guerilla group's leader is quoted as saying over the weekend.
Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah told Lebanese media his organization will launch missiles at Tel Aviv if Israel attacks the Shi'ite group's positions in Lebanon.
Monday editions of the Beirut-based newspapers Al-Akhbar and As-Safir said the Hezbollah chief made the statements during a meeting with a group of Lebanese exiles over the weekend.
During the meeting, Nasrallah predicted that Israel would initiate hostilities against Hezbollah "sometime between the end of this year and next spring."
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
07/28/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11130 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
#1
ION LITTLE GREEN FOOTBALLS > MEMRI TV Video = GADAFI [aka "Da Kolonel/Leader"] SAYS LIBYA WAS ON THE VERGE OF PRODUCING A NUCLEAR BOMB.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Iranian police forces have reportedly thwarted a bomb plot in the holy city of Mashhad in the northeastern province of Khorasan Razavi.
The bomb, planted in a drug store, was defused by local law enforcement officers on Sunday just before it was to go off, Mehr News Agency reported.
The drug store was located at a health clinic operated by the Iranian Basij -- a voluntary paramilitary force. At the time the bomb was set to explode a ceremony to hail exemplary war veterans was being held.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attempted bombing.
The latest incident is the second bomb attack countered in the country over the last two weeks.
On July 15, police defused another bomb planted at Babol University of Medical Sciences in the northern Iranian province of Mazandaran.
The bomb had been placed at a building where the administrative board of the university was scheduled to hold a meeting.
Two politically active students were arrested in connection with the plot.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Amid growing dissension among Iran's ruling elite over the president's conduct, former presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi says the post-vote crisis is the product of undervaluing the will of the people. That's characteristic of dictatorships. The people are there to do what they're told.
Mousavi, who is described by some as a symbol of opposition, said Monday that the only way to end the disquiet in Iran is to return to the values that the Islamic Republic was based upon some 30 years ago. That's either politeness on his part or he's smoking something stronger than Camels.
The crisis that Mousavi spoke of in a meeting with a group of intellectuals and activists was sparked after the presidential election in June in which the incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was re-elected with almost two-thirds of the votes. Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, another defeated candidate, claim that widespread ballot fraud in favor of Ahmadinejad had led to his victory. The fixers didn't even have the foresight to have it come out 51-49 or 51-40-9...
Their supporters, consequently, took to the streets, demanding the annulment of the election in support of reform within the establishment. Whereupon a benevolent government sent forth its agents to thump knobs on their heads...
Mousavi on Monday said the continuation of the current crisis would damage the political establishment as well as the revolution, the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) reported. "People made the (1979 Islamic) Revolution for freedom. Where is that freedom now? This situation will destroy everyone and will harm the system," he said. Perhaps people were in favor of freedom in 1979, but what they got wasn't it.
During the meeting, he also urged authorities to give the nod to his request to hold a mourning ceremony for those killed in the post-election protests. "The pro-reform path will continue," said Iran's last prime minister. "The establishment should respect the Constitution and let us gather to commemorate our killed loved ones on Thursday." That's another characteristic of dictatorships, isn't it? The law exists to keep the powers that be in power. It twists, it turns, it slips, it slides, it slithers on its belly like a snake, and somehow it always reaches the same conclusions: nobody can guide the ship of state like Fearless Leader, usually followed by his family.
Mousavi and Karroubi, in a letter to the Interior Ministry, assured that the ceremony, planned to be held on Thursday at central Tehran's Grand Mosalla -- a prayer location where tens of thousands can gather -- would be a silent one. Silent demonstrations are the worst kind, next to noisy ones. Best to turn out the basij and thump knobs on their heads if they show up. Better still to just forbid the whole thing, for the Greater Good®, of course.
The government has also come under fire over its detention of those who protested against the election results and over the death of two protesters while in custody. Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi on Monday called on pertinent officials to decide within a week the fate of those protesters who remain imprisoned.
On the issue, Mousavi said detentions would not be able to sap the people's will for freedom. "The killings and arrests are a catastrophe. The people will not forgive those behind such crimes," he said. "The more they arrest people, the bigger this movement becomes. The country of 70 million cannot become a prison for all of them."
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
07/28/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11134 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
No matter what, time is limited for the regime.
#2
I don't know why y'all think Mousavi would be disingenuous or reticent about his feelings on the subject of the revolution. He was as much a part of the "revolutionary generation" as Khamenei or Rafsanjani. He isn't even a Gorbachev or Khrushchev, he's more like a Bukharin.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/28/2009 16:50 Comments ||
Top||
Chairman of the Expediency Council Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has rejected a "power struggle" among top Iranian officials following the last month's presidential election. "I have hope in the Leader [of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei] to take an action to resolve the current problems based on his thoughts and experience," said the influential cleric on Sunday. "I have the same short-term solutions, which I offered in the Friday prayer sermons," he added.
Leading Tehran Friday prayers on July 17, Rafsanjani said that ambiguities surrounding the June 12 presidential vote had shaken the trust of a large portion of the Iranian society in the establishment. "Our key issue is to regain the trust, which the people had and now to some extent is shattered," Rafsanjani told thousands of people.
The official results of the vote, which saw millions casting their ballots after weeks of intense campaigning by four candidates, have been rejected by two of the hopefuls, Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, and their supporters as fraudulent.
In his Sunday remarks, Rafsanjani expressed regret about ground prepared for foreign enemies of the Islamic Revolution and their media to question achievements of the country and its management. "Mistakes by a party, a person, a group or a movement can be compensated but it is difficult to correct a mistake, if the Islamic Revolution and the Islamic establishment will be brought into question," he said.
The head of the Expediency Council pointed to 50 years of friendship between himself and Ayatollah Khamenei starting long before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, saying, "He is a progressive and forward-looking thinker in different issues. The propaganda by the foreign media who seek to portray that there is a power struggle in the top level of the country is indeed unfair injustice to the Islamic Revolution. The current differences are only related to the [June 12] election and its aftermaths. If these disputes are settled, the row will end."
Iran blamed foreign powers, namely Britain, for 'interference' in its internal affairs and for playing a significant role in fueling the post-vote unrest. The two-time former president suggested that paying attention to concerns and viewpoints of critics can be useful in "promoting the goals of the Islamic Revolution and settling the country's problems".
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
07/28/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11134 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has rejected the resignation of the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad-Hossein Saffar-Harandi, his office said on Monday.
"This resignation has not been accepted by the president," Mohammad Jafar Mohmmadzadeh, communications director at the president's office, told the ISNA news agency.
The minister submitted his resignation on Sunday over what he said was a weakened government following Ahmadinejad's decision to sack the intelligence minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie.
"Unfortunately due to the recent events which shows the esteemed government's weakness, I will no longer consider myself the minister of culture and will not show up at the ministry as of tomorrow," Saffar-Harandi said in his resignation letter.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Amid growing dissension among Iran's ruling elite over the president's conduct, former presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi says the post-vote crisis is the product of undervaluing the will of the people. 
Chairman of the Expediency Council Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has rejected a "power struggle" among top Iranian officials following the last month's presidential election. "I have hope in the Leader [of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei] to take an action to resolve the current problems based on his thoughts and experience," said the influential cleric on Sunday. "I have the same short-term solutions, which I offered in the Friday prayer sermons," he added. 
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has rejected the resignation of the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad-Hossein Saffar-Harandi, his office said on Monday.
