[Al Arabiya Latest] The second hearing in the trial of about 100 protesters, including top reformists, has been postponed to give the defense more time, the official IRNA news agency said on Wednesday.
The session, scheduled for Thursday, will now take place on Saturday, the report said. "The session has been postponed because 10 lawyers defending some of the accused needed more time to study individual charges. So the court gave them two more days," IRNA quoted a court statement as saying.
A lawyer defending three accused reformists confirmed the defense team needed more time.
Last Saturday, about 100 people who disputed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election went on trial in a revolutionary court in Tehran on various charges, including rioting after the June 12 vote.
Several top reformists and aides of opposition leaders backed down in the first session from earlier allegations, saying that Ahmadinejad's victory was clean and there had been no fraud in the election.
Another 10 protesters were put in the dock in a separate trial on Sunday.
Iran's main opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi and former reformist president Mohammad Khatami have denounced the trials.
Mousavi said on Sunday that confessions made by protesters at a closed-door trial were made after they were put through "medieval-era torture." Khatami added that the court had relied on "confessions taken under certain circumstances which are not valid."
[Al Arabiya Latest] The female wing of Iran's paramilitary volunteer militia the Basij played a crucial role in suppressing the protests of women in the aftermath of the 2009 presidential elections, according to a prominent Iranian-American activist.
Janet Afary, Iranian American researcher and feminist activist, the Basij Sisters is a group of militia women founded by Marziyeh Dabbagh, the most prominent woman fighter in Iran.
Dabbagh was arrested and tortured in 1972 for associating with Khomeini and was later released after her health deteriorated. She went to Europe where she formed Iranian cells that she personally supervised.
"Dabbagh became Khomeini's confidant and became his guard in Paris in 1978," Afary told Al Arabiya. "She took part in the Iran-Iraq war where she was a military commander and joined the Revolutionary Guard where she was in charge of liquidating opposition groups."
In the late eighties, she was sent to Moscow to meet former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and throughout the past two decades has been the head of the government-affiliated Islamist Women's Society. She also became Majlis (Iranian Parliament) deputy in its first, second, and fifth sessions.
The ages of women who join the Basij, Afary added, range between 18 and 38, but the militia also includes older women who have been there since its establishment.
When war with Iraq started in 1980, Iran established special military training camps for women that included thousands of Basij volunteers, many of whom were related to male soldiers.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Lebanon's Hezbollah has stockpiled more than 40,000 rockets and has ground missiles capable of hitting Tel Aviv, The Times of London said.
A senior Israeli army officer of the Northern Command interviewed by the newspaper in Jerusalem described the current situation along the Israel-Lebanon border as a fragile calm. The calm that has reigned in the area in the past three years since the end of the Second Lebanon War could 'explode any minute,' Brig. Gen. Alon Friedman warned.
Danny Ayalon, Israel's deputy foreign minister told the British newspaper in the past three years Hezbollah has not only replaced munitions but has upgraded its missiles.
Details of The Times report were published in Israeli newspapers Wednesday.
Video obtained by the newspaper shows Hezbollah operatives scouring the site of last month's explosion in a south Lebanese village trying to salvage rockets and other munitions, The Times said. At the same time, other operatives placed obstructions along the route to prevent soldiers of the United Nations Interim Forces In Lebanon from reaching the site to investigate, the paper said.
The Times said Alain Le Roy the head of the U.N. peacekeeping operations, told the U.N. Security Council that all indications of the blast show the site was 'an actively maintained' Hezbollah depot and not an abandoned one.
Hezbollah operatives undergo basic military training which includes the handling of firearms at camps in the mountains flanking the Bekaa Valley, the report said.
Are none of these camps visible by satellite? Otherwise, Israeli missiles are no doubt already programmed.
Hundreds of operatives travel to Iran to participate in more specialized courses including bomb making, and the handling of anti-tank missiles and surface to surface rockets, the paper said.
No doubt the Iranian camps are equally invisible to satellites.
Based on western intelligence sources, The Times said Hezbollah hopes to receive an improved version of the Iranian-made Fateh 110 rocket which can carry a 1,100 pound warhead more than 125 miles.
They may have to wait a bit. It turns out certain fuzes are altitude-sensitive -- the transport plane blew up a few days ago.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Iran's Foreign Ministry has released an annual report on the challenges that Muslims face in Western countries because of human rights violations.
How droll -- Iran prating about human rights violations.
The report was released on August 5, a day which has been dubbed as "Islamic Human Rights Day" by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).
The report has focused on the problems that Muslim communities face in some Western countries, including the US, Canada, Britain, Germany and France.
So which are the good Western countries?
It also condemned "the promotion of Islamophobia" in the West after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US, noting that fighting terrorism has turned into a pretext for some Western states to launch a crackdown on mosques and other Islamic institutions.
Did some Iranian agents get caught, along with the Saudi and the Pakistani ones?
According to the report, some European governments are adopting policies that promote "Islamophobia among the public".
The document also cited discrimination against women who observe the Islamic dress code, insulting Muslims beliefs and sanctities, discrimination in employing Muslims and adopting strict immigration policies against Muslim applicants as examples of the violation of Muslims' rights. The report also expressed concern about the unexplainable rise in the number of Muslim prisoners in European countries and police prejudice against Muslims.
Truly, it is inexplicable that jihadi behaviour is considered unacceptable by Western police and security organizations when kufrs bow their heads in silence to such behaviour back home.
It also warned that some Western countries were following policies which contribute to inciting hatred against Muslim communities.
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Hezbollah responds to Tel Aviv's accusations that Lebanon had not complied with a UN resolution, describing them as 'lies to boost the morale among Israelis'.
"So's your mama!"
Hezbollah's Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem said on Wednesday that Israel has been routinely breaching the UN Resolution 1701 that ended the 33-day war in 2006.
"And twice on Sundays!"
Qassem believes that Israel's frequent border violations aim at improving the morale inside the Israeli army, which suffered a heavy defeat in Lebanon and Gaza.
For a certain definition of defeat, anyway.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak had earlier warned that Tel Aviv would not distinguish between the Lebanese government and Hezbollah in case of any security development on the Israeli-Lebanese border. "Hezbollah and the Lebanese cabinet will be equally responsible should any decline on the northern border take place, and we will not differentiate between them," Barak said during a meeting held by the Foreign Affairs and Defense committee on Tuesday.
The perils of joining the government, despite the advantages of direct access to political spoils.
He went on to say that Lebanon had failed to comply with the UN Resolution 1701.
Barak made the remarks after some Western media alleged that Hezbollah was stockpiling 40,000 rockets near the Israeli border and was training its forces to use ground-to-ground missiles capable of hitting Tel Aviv.
Tel Aviv's accusations against the Lebanese resistance movement come while the United Nations peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) have repeatedly warned about Israel's daily violation of Resolution 1701. "We have daily air violation of Lebanese territory (by Israeli planes), we have repeatedly asked the Israeli government to refrain from breaching the UN resolution", Andrea Teneti, UNIFIL Deputy Spokesman said.
Have you bothered to ask Hizb'allah to stop stockpiling weapons in contravention of Resolution 1701, Mr. Deputy Spokesman?
Amid ongoing opposition to Iran's disputed election, former presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi says the vote and its 'bitter aftermath' have led to a "treasured achievement" for the nation.
"There is a treasured achievement in the [post-vote] events," said Mousavi, who has emerged as the leader of the opposition after losing to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The former prime minister, speaking to a group of youth on Tuesday, said the election had brought to surface "grave and complicated crises" facing the establishment 30 years after the Islamic Revolution.
The re-election of President Ahmadinejad with almost two-thirds of the votes on June 12 generated great waves of discontent in Iran.
The result of the vote prompted a vast outpouring of anger by supporters of Mousavi and another presidential candidate, Mehdi Karroubi, who took to the streets to protest what they call a "rigged" election.
The opponents and critics of Ahmadinejad have harshly slammed the president, who enjoyed windfall oil revenues in his first term, over what they call mismanaging the economy, stoking inflation and damaging Iran's image in the international community.
"These problems would not have been unveiled, if it weren't for the election," said Mousavi, whose credentials are well-known since the 1979 revolution. "This is a great achievement."
The defeated candidate went on to say that the nation now fully feels the problems that were raised during the course of the election, Ghalam News reported.
On the issue of protesters who face trial on charges of plotting to topple the government, Mousavi said that arrests of opposition figures and activists would not stop the movement opposing Ahmadinejad's re-election.
Mousavi and his supporters claim that the election was stolen from him in a widespread "fraud" in favor of the incumbent. The charges have been disputed by Iran's electoral watchdog.
"I noticed the birth of a strong national feeling during the course of the election... which has united different groups in the society," he said. "Some thought that by arresting several people who they believe are protest leaders, the whole story will be finished."
"But the fact is that this movement has stayed alive, showing that the arrests will not be effective."
Iranian authorities arrested thousands of opposition figures, protesters and journalists in the aftermath of the election, many of whom have been released since.
Despite the defiant opposition, President Ahmadinejad, who was sworn in before Parliament on Wednesday, struck a tone of unity, calling on officials and the people to work with his government.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was sworn in for a second term on Wednesday, vowing more defiance of the West at a ceremony boycotted by his rivals, as police in riot gear broke up protests by opposition.
The 52-year-old took the oath of office for another four years at a ceremony in parliament after his landslide election victory in June that triggered the worst turmoil in the country's history.
Prominent opposition leaders were absent from the ceremony, and outside a force of about 1,000 riot police and Basij volunteer militiamen used pepper spray on demonstrators who claim his election was rigged.
In a speech outlining his plans for the future, Mr Ahmadinejad said he would continue to resist 'oppressive powers,' dismissing the US stance towards Iran and hailing his election as a sign of major change in Iran.
Prominent opposition leaders were absent from the ceremony, and outside a force of about 1,000 riot police and Basij volunteer militiamen used pepper spray on demonstrators who claim his election was rigged, witnesses said.
The ceremony was boycotted by powerful cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mr Ahmadinejad's main challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi. Some foreign diplomats were present, including envoys from Britain, France and Sweden, which currently holds the EU presidency.
President Ahmadinejad now has two weeks to form a government. 'We will resist oppressors and try to correct the global discriminatory mechanisms in order to benefit all the nations of the world,' he said. 'The June 12 epic is the start of major change in Iran and in the world.'
He said Iranians should play a 'more effective role' in global affairs, and pledged to fight for social justice.
Mr Ahmadinejad took aim at the United States after the White House acknowledged him as the 'elected' president of Iran but stopped short of declaring him the legitimate president and said it had no plans to congratulate him. 'This means they only want democracy which serves their interests and they don't respect people's votes and rights,' Mr Ahmadinejad retorted. 'Iranians will neither value your scowling and bullying nor your smiles and greetings.'
Continued on Page 47
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[Khaleej Times] TEHRAN, Iran - Iran says it will prosecute security forces and officials accused of abusing civilians in unrest following the disputed June 12 election.
State news agency IRNA says security personnel and judicial officials could be among those charged. Pro-reform leaders have called for trials against those accused of killing or torturing demonstrators. At least 30 people have been killed and hundreds detained in clashes sparked by claims of fraud in President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election.
More than 100 people, including prominent reformists, are facing a mass trial on accusations of seeking to undermine the state.
At least 30 people have died in the unrest that followed the vote, according to figures from a parliamentary investigation, and hundreds have been detained. Human rights groups believe the death toll is likely far higher.
Ahmadinejad also faces discontent from fellow conservatives in Iran's ruling hierarchy over the harsh crackdowns and accusations that some of those detained in the unrest have been mistreated.
Ahmadinejad last month also opened a brief -- but potentially disruptive -- confrontation with the supreme leader's ruling theocracy by refusing to drop his top deputy, Esfandiar Rahim Mashai. Mashai had angered conservatives last year when he made friendly comments toward Israelis. But the president eventually relented and dropped Mashai.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei formally endorsed Ahmadinejad for a second term as president on Monday. Though both men were smiling, it was a noticeably cooler reception than four years ago, when Khamenei allowed Ahmadinejad to kiss his hand and then drew him close and kissed him on both cheeks. Still, Khamenei has firmly backed Ahmadinejad as the election winner from the beginning of the dispute and continued to give him support.
Calls for more street protests present the government with a serious challenge. It is eager to choke off the protest movement, but a harsh response by security forces could ignite another sustained wave of unrest. Sporadic clashes broke out in north Tehran late Monday after security forces boosted patrols, witnesses said.
Many of Tuesday's protest appeals included instructions to shift the rallies to main squares if the security presence is too strong at the first sites. They called for key opposition figures -- including Mousavi and his pro-reform election rival, Mahdi Karroubi -- to join the marches. It was not immediately clear whether they would attend.
In a sign of Iran's seemingly unbridgeable rifts, both men were among the list of no-shows at Monday's ceremony with the supreme leader. Karroubi, in a newspaper interview published Tuesday, pledged that he and Mousavi would continue to lead the opposition to the president. "We are going to continue protesting," he said in the interview with the Spanish daily El Pais. "We are never going to cooperate with this government. We don't want to harm it but we are going to criticize its actions. We are not going to help it in any way."
On Monday, Khamenei bluntly told the opposition and others who have said the election was marred by abuses that they had simply failed. "This election was a test. People passed the test ... and some of the elites failed. This election made some (figures) the losers," state TV quoted Khamenei as saying.
The ruling establishment has sought to hobble the opposition by bringing many of its prominent figures before a court in a mass trial. More than 100 activists and reformist political figures are being tried for allegedly supporting the postelection unrest. The trial is scheduled to resume Thursday.
On Sunday, Ahmadinejad's main conservative election challenger, Mohsen Rezaei, demanded trials for those accused of killing protesters. Pro-reform groups, including clerics, have condemned the mass trial as a sham and said confessions from two prominent activists had been coerced.
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
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Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was sworn in for a second term on Wednesday, vowing more defiance of the West at a ceremony boycotted by his rivals, as police in riot gear broke up protests by opposition.
[Khaleej Times] TEHRAN, Iran - Iran says it will prosecute security forces and officials accused of abusing civilians in unrest following the disputed June 12 election.
