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Socialist International's XXII Congress:
Letter of PDKI Delegation at the 22nd Congress of the Socialist International (SI) Concerning Peace
Report of the Secretary-general to the XXII Congress of the Socialist International
The Kurdish Question
The Socialist International in the World: Resolution on Iran
Press Release:
The heavy armed presence of Iranian regime in Kurdistan took the lives of three more Kurdish youth
Justice:
Ayatollah Sadeq Khalkhali, Iranian cleric known as the 'hanging judge' of Iran
Reports:
U.N. Takes Issue with Iran's Human Rights
Iran’s Human Rights Activist, Shirin Ebadi Takes Home this Year’s Nobel Peace Prize
Iran's past 18 years of deceptions about its nuclear program
Solidarity:
We must support the Kurdish Struggle in Iran
Recommendations made by joint Swedish Political Parties to the Swedish Parliament
Press Review:
IRAN’S “CRISIS OF LEGITIMACY” COULD PROMPT AUTHORITARI-AN POLITICAL ALTERNATIVE
By Afshin Molavi - EUROASIANET.ORG
Tehran putting its spies in Iraq
By Philip Sherwell—LONDON SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
Tributes:
An Appeal to the Secretary General
Of the United Nations
His Excellency, Mr. Kofi Annan
Dear Sir,
Seven years ago, on October 20, 1996, six Iranian Kurdish political activists who were members of Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, and who used to live as refugees in Iraqi Kurdistan, were captured in the vicinity of Halabja, Slemani province, by a gang of armed men of the so-called Islamic Movement of Kurdistan and handed over to the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Our party has, on many occasions, made contact with a number of international bodies and prominent personalities, informing them of the evil action that has been, and out terrorist act and a blatant selling-out of human beings, calling on those bodies and figures to make use of their full stature so that they might save the lives of the men concerned from the danger of execution. Despite all the endeavors taken, though, not only has the Islamic Republic rebuffed such demands but also refused offering, or declaring, any information in connection with the political activists in question. Seven years has elapsed since these freedom activists were handed over to the Islamic Republic of Iran, with their families still unaware whether they are alive or executed; if they are alive, in which jail they have been held up and under what sort of conditions they have been kept? And why one of their closest kinsfolk has not been permitted to meet them ever once? And if they have been put to death, how have they been executed and in what manner? Besides, where have they been buried?
On the 7th anniversary of these political activists’ having been turned over to the Iranian authorities, we could not but have to–on behalf of the most anticipant, immediate family members and relatives - approach you in this manner earnestly asking you to make use of the influence and authority of the United Nations and that of yours so as to clarify the destiny of these six members of our party and to have the Islamic Republic to make clear the facts concerning the fate of the said prisoners and be answerable in this connection.
Dear Mr. Annan,
We, along with one and all of the kinship of the prisoners, solely rely on you and the United Nations Organizations to have their fate clarified.
The names of the prisoners are as follow:
1– Arshad Reza-ee, born in 1962, from Shoshmeh village, Paweh Township Kermanshahan province, with a wife, two daughters aged 17 and 7, and 15-year old son.
2– Muhammad Azeez-Ghadderi, born in 1959, from Narweh village, Paweh Township, with a wife and two daughters aged 17 and 11.
3– Youness Muhammad-poor, son of Kareem, date of birth: 1970, from Paweh Township, Kermanshahan Province.
4 – Mozaffar Kazemmi, son of Mowlood, date of birth: 1975, from Paweh Township, Kermanshahan Province.
5– Ma`roof Sohrabbi, born in 1976, from Paweh Towenship, Kemanshahan Province.
6– Adnan Isma-eeli, son Sabeer, born in 1975, from Dara-Hadjij village, Paweh Township, Kermanshahan Province.
Looking forward to having your prompt action, and Most Sincerely Yours,
Abdulla Hassanzadeh
Secretary-general
Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan
Socialist International's XXII Congress
The Socialist International's XXII Congress took place on 27, 28, 29 October in São Paulo, Brazil, under the heading 'The Return of Politics: For just and responsible global governance - For globalisation governed by the people'.
The debates of the three-day Congress focused on key issues engaging the International today, with panel discussions on nine themes including 'For a new multilateralism for sustainable development and security'; 'The role and reform of the United Nations'; 'The international financial system: a new Bretton Woods'; 'International trade: fairness, employment, and the environment'; 'Regional integration: the new architecture'; 'Working for peace: conflict prevention and resolution'; 'Poverty and pandemics: the intolerable wounds'; 'Promoting inclusion: gender equality and women in politics'; and 'Empowering people: strengthening democratic institutions and civil society'.
President Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva addressed the opening of the Congress on 27 October, the day of the first anniversary of his election, together with the Mayor of São Paulo, Marta Suplicy and Antonio Guterres, President of the Socialist International. Leaders and representatives from member parties and a number of guests participated in the event.
The Congress agreed the Declaration of São Paulo, a document which includes views and proposals of the International with regard to Globalisation and Global Governance, adopted a report titled 'Governance in a Global Society – The Social Democratic Approach' prepared by the SI Committee on the Economy, Social Cohesion and the Environment, adopted a resolution titled 'The Socialist International in the World' incorporating issues of concern and perspectives of social democracy from every region in the world, agreed on an Ethical Charter and on the establishment of a group to prepare a report on the reform of the United Nations. The Congress elected the authorities of the International and accepted new members and changes in the status of existing members.
Dear President!
Distinguished friends!
With this letter, we intend to assist the important issue of peace as a share of global responsibility. It is an honour to inform you of the policy of our Party, Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) as a political movement that represents the 10 million strong Kurds of Iran, that has been fighting for freedom and democracy for more than a half a century. Our Party has continuously endorsed peace and denounced violence. In another word, resolving conflicts through dialogue and promoting peace and harmony among nations have been part of fundamental principles of our Party, and we are quite honoured and pleased to reiterate our Party’s adherence to these principles. It is also unfortunate, as you are all aware, that in our region it is totalitarians that run the show, where calls for democracy and human rights are overtly silenced. We in Iran are confronted with such a regime. Under the reign of this regime, executions without trials, abductions and disappearances, murder, public hangings, unlawful detentions, amputations and systematic torture have become part of daily life of general public, particularly writers, journalists, academics, lawyers, students, women, ethnic and religious minorities, Kurds in particular, where they are deprived from all their rights and national oppression encompasses all aspects of Kurdish society.
Dear friends!
Within the last year, since the regime of
Islamic Republic of Iran was taken off the black list of United Nations
Commission for Human Rights only by one vote, cruelty has increased
dramatically, which has led to the further rapaciousness of the clerics.
The direct results of such actions have been the daunting rise of executions,
the number of death sentences and the detainment of thousands of people.
Here are some figures: the execution of more than 250 people – only
since the regime has escaped the scrutiny of the UN agency – and most have
been conducted publicly; the detainment of more than 4000 people in
June and July
of 2003 in the peaceful dissident movement of students, with most of them
still being in prison; the imprisonment of dozens of journalists, and the
brutal murder of Zahra Kazemi, a Canadian journalist of Iranian origin under
torture, and also the slaughter of 4 Kurdish youth in the 16 of October 2003
by the agents of the Islamic Republic.
Yet, we say nothing on the terrorist activities of the regime against it dissident regionally and internationally, you are well aware of it!
We will remind you of the words of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, Shirin Ebadi who said: “Peace in the world without respect for human rights is impossible, and to end conflicts and wars, human rights must be respected.” We also deeply believe in this that struggle for peace is inseparable of fight for democracy and human rights. Struggle for peace in Iran cannot be solely summarized in the formation of a clash-less atmosphere. Rather, we must resolutely confront the sources of such clashes. Some of our duties are as follow: struggle against the concentration of power, capital and market forces. Struggle against those regimes that hold power and rule with an iron fist; those systems who have taken away any possibilities of freedom of expression and choice from all segments of society. In fact these regimes have become the tumbling blocks against political, social, economic and cultural openness. In Iran, we are confronted with such a reality.
Dear friend!
In such difficult circumstances, it is expected from the SI to support the people of Iran’s call for human rights, freedom, peace and democracy. In this regard, a draft resolution on Iran has been forwarded to their honourable, Mr. Louis Ayala, the SI Secretary-general and Mr. Jagland, the head of SI Middle East Committee that we hope will result in some action.
PDKI Delegation in the SI 22nd Congress
REPORT OF THE
SECRETARY GENERAL TO THE
XXII CONGRESS OF THE SOCIALIST INTERNATIONAL
MOVING FORWARD IN A TROUBLED WORLD
I am pleased to make my report to our Congress in São Paulo, this vibrant city at the heart of Brazil, Latin America's largest country and one of the most dynamic in the developing world.
I would like to thank the Partido dos Trabalhadores, PT, and all its leadership and members, for hosting this Congress. The PT has been involved in the activities of our International for a number of years and they have made us feel very welcome. And I must underline that what really made possible our Congress here was the decision of the people of Brazil, exactly one year ago, to elect Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva as President, to embrace the new direction that he represents, not only for Brazil but for all Latin America and the developing world. Which makes it all the more appropriate, as Brazil today moves forward at home and its influence rises on the world stage, that our Congress opens on the first anniversary of that political milestone.
This is the first Socialist International Congress of the new millenium, in a world still coming to grips with the terrorist attacks on 11 September two years ago, unsettled after the conflict in Iraq last spring, and facing fundamental global problems exacerbated by unilateral actions and policies that have caused grave concerns and dismay throughout the world and made people feel even less secure.
Our International, a family of political parties and organisations that spans the globe and will continue to grow during this Congress, is a political movement well equipped to overcome obstacles and dangers and lead the effort to create a new architecture for global governance. As social democrats we are convinced that we can prevail over the narrow and heartless neoliberal emphasis on self-interest and short-term profit that worsens the divisions both between and within nations. For if we embrace a new internationalism based on multilateral efforts and human solidarity, we will be able to build the structures of true and effective international cooperation, bringing people together to find common solutions for a better future.
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY GENERAL
The work of the International on issues related to the Kurds continued during the period, and our efforts, engagement and commitment proved to be timely and valuable given the events this year in Iraq.
The SIMEC Working Group on the Kurdish Question gathered in Brussels on 16 March 2001, hosted by the Socialist Party, PS, of Belgium, to review the latest developments regarding the situation of the Kurdish people with representatives from the SI member Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, PDKI, the Kurdistan Democratic Party, KDP, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, PUK, of Iraq, and from the People’s Democracy Party, Hadep, from Turkey. It was agreed to send a mission to Northern Iraq, which the International organised on 17-23 June 2001. The members of the Mission were: Conny Fredriksson, Chair of the SIMEC Working Group on the Kurdish Question, and Morgan Johansson, from the Swedish Social Democratic Party, SAP; Karim Pakzad, from the Socialist Party of France, PS; and Karl Schramek, from the Social Democratic Party of Austria, SPÖ. The Mission met the leaders of the two Kurdish parties: Jalal Talabani of the PUK and Massoud Barzani of the KDP, and observed the level of political and social organisation of these parties in their areas of Iraq.
The Working Group met on 22 February 2002 in Brussels, again hosted by the Socialist Party, PS, of Belgium, to review a report from the delegation to Northern Iraq. It gathered again on 27 August of that year in the context of a seminar organised by the Olof Palme Foundation on 'National Minorities, Regional Self Government and Democracy in Iraq, Iran and Turkey' on 26-27 August 2002 in Sweden. The Committee underlined our support for the Iraqi people in their desire for change and presciently emphasised that building a future democratic Iraq must include the participation of all sectors of the population.
With regard to the situation in Iran, the International, at our Council in Rome on 20-21 January of this year, adopted a resolution on the Iranian Kurds in which we condemned the violations of human rights committed by the opponents of reform in Iran, including the death sentences and executions of Kurdish militants, denounced the repression against the Kurds in the country generally and reaffirmed our support for the legitimate rights of the Kurds in Iran and our solidarity with SI member Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, PDKI.
The Socialist International in the World
INTRODUCTION
The Socialist International has member parties and organisations as well as SI Committees working and cooperating on every continent and in practically every corner of the world. On a daily basis they are observing and analysing conditions, situations and trends within the framework of our social democratic values and goals. With the approach of the XXII Congress they have been carrying out activities and preparing assessments that enhance the efforts of the International in the world, and are reflected in the social democratic perspectives put forth in this Congress Resolution.
RESOLUTION ON IRAN
Encourage all forces in favour of democracy and human rights to continue efforts for change and reform in Iran.
Condemns the serious violations of human rights and democratic freedoms committed by the enemies of democracy and reform in Iran, including the closing of newspapers, the arrests of journalists, intellectuals and students in favour of change, and also the death sentences and executions of Kurdish activists.
Denounces the repression against Kurds in Iran and stress the need to find a peaceful solution to the Kurdish problem in Iran.
Calls for the release of all political prisoners of conscience, for stopping discrimination against women in Iran and for the respect for the equal rights between men and women in every domain.
The heavy armed presence of Iranian regime in Kurdistan took the lives of three more Kurdish youth
According to news obtained by the International
Relations Bureau of PDKI, Thursday 16 October 2003, a group of Kurdish youth,
from the city of Sardasht who had attended a wedding party at a nearby town,
was fired at in their way back to Sardasht by the agents of Islamic Republic
of Iran. This barbaric assault resulted in the death of three of the youth,
Azad Saeedi, Ahmad Zoodi, Mansoor Maroufi, and the critical injury of the
forth person, Othman Aali.
The people of Sardasht, today, Friday 17 October 2003, in protest to such a dreadful incident, along with the closure of stores and businesses, went on the streets to protest the killings along with the victims’ families. In this gathering that resulted in the clashes between the protesters and the security agents, many government offices were attacked.
According to the latest news,
-The city is still unstable and confrontations still continue
-A number of protesters have been detained by riot police
The Bureau of International Relations
Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan
17 October 2003
Ayatollah Sadeq Khalkhali, Iranian cleric known as the 'hanging judge' of Iran
Adel Darwish - 29 November 2003
The Independent
After the establishment in 1979 of a fundamentalist Islamic republic in Iran under the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Iranian army occupied three Kurdish-Iranian towns for supporting the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, condemned by Khomeini as "un- Islamic". The hardline cleric Ayatollah Sadeq Khalkhali set up his Islamic revolutionary court to weed out "counter-revolutionaries" in the town of Saghez.
Learning that a Kurdish defendant who was born in Orumiyeh had lost a hand to a grenade explosion during the Tehran uprising, Khalkhali asked what he was doing in Saghez. "I am a guest at a social get- together, your honour," replied the defendant. "That fits together very well," Khalkhali said candidly, "Born in Orumiyeh, participated in the Tehran uprising, executed in Saghez. Kill him! Next!"
The next defendant was charged with being the son of a usurer. "What does my father's crime have to do with me?" protested the defendant. "Usury is haram - sin," thundered Khalkhali, "and so is the seed of usury. Kill him! Next." Twenty-four other Kurds were tried that day by Khalkhali. All were executed.
The scene was typical of
Khalkhali's Islamic revolutionary court, where he acted as a prosecutor,
judge and jury. The trials went on for just under two years, earning him
titles like "the hanging judge" or the "butcher of the revolution". Two
thousand members of the Shah's regime were executed in 1979 alone, by
Khalkhali's own admission in his 1999 memoirs. Twenty years on, he remained
unrepentant. "I would do exactly the same again," he said, when reminded how
defendants had been given little chance to speak or get a lawyer to challenge
evidence, if any were presented. "If they were guilty, they will go to hell
and if they were innocent, they will go to heaven."
Hundreds of diplomats, academics and politicians were executed as "counter-revolutionaries" in his court. They included Abbas Hoveida, Iran's prime minister for 12 years under the Shah. When a reporter from Le Figaro told Khalkhali in 2000 that he could face the international courts of justice, he said: "No, it is not possible. If I did anything wrong, Ayatollah Khomeini would have told me. I only ever did what he asked."
Mohammed Sadeq was born in 1926 to Mohammed Sadeq Givi, a farmer, and Mashadi Khanum Um-Elbanin, in the village of Givi near Khalkhal in the north-western province of Azerbaijan. His education was exclusively religious as a seminarian in the holy city of Qom, where he added the provincial name Khalkhali according to clerical custom.
In the 1950s he joined an underground terrorist group Fedayeen Islam (Commandos of Islam). The group was responsible for killing numerous secular politicians in the 1960s and 1970s. Khalkhali was arrested by the Shah's security services on many occasions between 1963 and 1978, for his support of the fundamentalist Ayatollah Khomeini, who was living in exile until 1978.
In May 1950 the Shah's father, Reza Shah Pahlavi I, the founder of modern Iran, died and Khalkhali planned to set fire to the corpse when it was transferred from Egypt, but the train carrying it did not stop at Qom as planned, thus foiling the plot. Later, when the Shah was deposed by Khomeini in 1979, Khalkhali supervised the destruction by dynamite of the mausoleum of Reza Shah I.
Khalkhali became part of a cruel dictatorship hiding behind a population they imagined approved of their deeds. "I issued judgment and acted as the conscience of 35 million people," Khalkhali said. However, Iranian intellectuals saw him as more of a psychopath. Some reports suggested he spent time during his youth under strict observation in a lunatic asylum for his sadistic habit of strangling cats.
Television footage taken in 1980 showed Khalkhali prodding the burnt corpses of US soldiers killed in an unsuccessful mission to rescue American hostages held at the US embassy in Tehran. Khalkhali supported terrorism abroad and encouraged agents and volunteers to assassinate exiled "counter-revolutionaries" and former politicians he had condemned to death in absentia.
By 1981, Khomeini had forced Khalkhali to retreat into the background but he resumed his executions as a head of the Iranian anti-narcotic agency from 1982. He remained a member of parliament from 1980 until 1992. In 1992 he retired to Qom to teach in religious schools and write his memoirs, and would live interviews gloating over the fate of thousands of his victims.
Recommendations made by joint Swedish Political Parties to the Swedish Parliament
Some prominent Swedish political parties are asking the parliament to support the struggle of the Kurds in Iran
The Green Party, National Party and the Christian Democrats parties of Sweden discussed the issue of the Kurds of Iran in their latest meeting, where they proposed a resolution with background information on the issue to the Parliament of Sweden for approval.
Support the Kurds of Iran’s struggle for their fundamental rights
Introduction
We are living in an era where fundamental human rights have gained prominence as a universally recognized set of norms and standards that increasingly inform all aspects of our relations as individuals and as collective members of groups, within communities, among nations and across the globe.
From the early stages of the Kurdish freedom
movement in Iran led by Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, the aim of
this movement has been the attainment of Kurdish rights and freedoms in an
integral, free and democratic Iran. Within the last 60 years the Kurds of
Iran have fought for democracy and self-determination. The repressive
policies of subsequent governments in Iran have not been able to hinder their
course of struggle for fundamental human rights. Still, the international
community has ignored their plight and refused support for this noble cause.
Iran is a multi-ethnic country, where several nations live side by side with distinct language, and culture, also each possessing distinct religious beliefs. These people have lived side by side peacefully for centuries resulting in cultural, political and economic exchange and harmony. The nations of Iran consider themselves Iranian, and all together they make-up the people of Iran.
The general circumstances in Iranian Kurdistan
Nearly 400 years ago, when Kurdistan was for the first time partitioned between the Ottoman and Safawaid empires, it lost its independence. Since then, Kurds have faced many difficulties politically, culturally and etc…the centuries long repression and miss-treatment of occupiers have not been able to prevent the Kurdish people to develop its language and culture, and preserve it from extinction and annihilation.
The government of Islamic Republic of Iran attempts to present its medieval laws as the most democratic elements of its establishment. The regime’s only support for such claims is its interpretations of Quran and Sharia. This regime has been one of the most anti-democratic regimes of the world with repeated human rights violation and disregard for human rights values and norms. The regime executes its policy of mass punishment intimidation on a daily basis, and those families who have politically active family members face constant threat of torture and abuse by the regime’s security apparatus. The victims of regime’s repressive policies have no right to have their defense attorney, and they are held in prison for years without any trials.
The government of Iran carries out a policy of terror against its dissidents. This policy has not only been limited to domestic dissidents, rather it has reached the capitals of Europe, where the assassination of the two prominent Iranian Kurdish leaders, Dr A. R. Ghassemlou and Dr. M. S. Sharafkandi, (in Vienna 1989 and Berlin 1992 respectively) just to name a few, are genuine evidence of the existence of such policy.
Iranian society has faced unprecedented unemployment record. The unemployment record in Kurdish areas are stagnating, where the economic, political and social hardship widespread in other parts of Iran are much more severe in the Kurdish areas. Meanwhile, the income from the oil is spent on nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. Social issues are ignored by the government, and the regime has explicitly adopted a policy of spreading addictive drugs on the streets and among Kurdish youth, to the extent that pursuing post-secondary education seems a remote possibility.
The education system in Iran is ineffective,
and only people who support regime’s repressive policies can attend
university. Kurdish is prohibited in schools, and publications in Kurdish
are not promoted. The lack of qualified teachers in schools is also
extensive. Many villages do not have a school; even if there are schools, it
is so expensive to send a child to school that it is simply not feasible to
have a child educated. Moreover, there are policies in place by the
government that prevent Kurdish youth to attend educational facilities. The
education budget is so little, and regime has made increasing cuts into this
sector. Child labour is common because many families simply cannot bear the
economic hardship so they have to have multiple incomes to make it to the
next day.
Cultural activities must be filtered through the censorship agencies. Those journalists and intellectuals who speak their mind, and are adamant on criticizing the regime face imprisonment and torture. The recent murder of the Iranian-born Canadian photo-journalist in Iran is an apparent indication.
Sweden is a country that has proven it international participation, and its cooperation for global emergence of democracy is also perceptible. Sweden can play a much more active role in international arena to solve the Kurdish dilemma in Iran. The Kurdish issue in Iran - pushed to the sidelines due to regime’s repressive policies and the international community’s disregard - must come to the forefront of issues in the Middle East. Therefore, Sweden can play a prominent and active role within the United Nations and the European Union; furthermore, Sweden and its government first and foremost have a humanitarian obligation to bring the Kurdish issue in Iran to the forefront of political issues. Last but not least, Sweden and its government have a moral duty to support the struggle of the Kurds in Iran to attain their rights.
Resolution:
The Parliament informs the government of its decision on the contents of this proposal that the government of Sweden with the coordination of the United Nations and the European Union strive to:
Promote the fundamental rights of Kurds in Iran
Ensure that the full cultural rights of Kurds are respected without any fears of prosecution
Ensure that the Kurds have the rights to be educated in their mother tongue and Kurdish language is officially taught in schools.
Recognize Kurdish rights in Iran and ensure Kurds in Iran have the right to self-determination.
U.N. Takes Issue with Iran's Human Rights
UNITED NATIONS - A U.N. General Assembly committee approved a resolution Friday expressing serious concern at human rights violations in Iran. The Canadian-sponsored draft resolution was adopted by a vote of 73-49 with 50 abstentions. It now goes to the full General Assembly where a similar vote is expected. The United States and most European countries supported the resolution while Islamic nations opposed it.
Deputy Ambassador Gilbert Laurin presented the draft to the General Assembly's human rights committee. The resolution expresses serious concern at "the continued deterioration of the situation with regard to freedom of opinion and expression" and at the use of torture and other forms of cruel and inhuman punishment. Iranian Foreign ministry announced on Sunday that a resolution drafted by Canada in the United Nations on human rights violations in Iran was politically motivated
The draft itself made no
mention of Kazemi, a Canadian of Iranian origin, who died July 10 about three
weeks after being detained for taking photographs outside Tehran's Evin
prison during student-led protests against Islamic hardliners. Kazemi died in
hospital of injuries received during her prison interrogation. Laurin,
however, did refer to Kazemi in his address, saying she was a Canadian
citizen with dual citizenship who was killed while in Iranian custody. "What
the Kazemi case did was to highlight for the Canadian people the situation of
journalists in Iran and the absence of freedom of expression," he said. "It
is just a tragic example of what is wrong with the human rights situation in
Iran. There are too many others." Those others, he said, include 4,000
demonstrators arrested in Tehran last June. It is not known how many remain
in jail.
The draft calls on Iran to abide by the International Covenant on Human Rights and other treaties that uphold freedom of expression and ban torture, cruelty and inhumane punishment. It also urges Iran to expedite judicial reform to guarantee dignity of individuals and ensure due process of law through transparent procedures by an independent judiciary. Further, it calls for an impartial prosecutor and the elimination of discrimination based on religion or against persons belonging to the country's Bahai's, Christian, Jews and Sunni minorities.
Laurin said Ottawa has held intensive dialogue with Tehran in the past two years on various human rights issues, but noted results are "limited." "Dialogue is important but it is not an end in itself," Laurin explained. ". . . And that end is the improvement of the human rights situation in Iran as it affects the lives of ordinary Iranians." Laurin said the Canadian resolution would advance dialogue with Tehran.
Sources: Associated Press & Canadian Press
Iran’s Human Rights Activist, Shirin Ebadi Takes Home the Prize
Iranian activist Shirin Ebadi
won the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for her focus on human rights, especially on
the struggle to improve the status of women and children. A statement from
the Nobel Committee said, "As a lawyer, judge, lecturer, writer and activist,
she has spoken out clearly and strongly in her country, Iran, and far beyond
its borders." Ebadi is the first Iranian to receive the honor since it was
first awarded in 1901 and the 11th woman.
Ms Ebadi, who has always argued that Iran must solve its own problems, returned home this week from a visit to Paris to find hardline newspapers charging her, yet again, with supposed links with foreign powers. One paper surmised that devious America had influenced the Nobel committee's decision. Her celebrity will probably protect her from a repeat of the short prison term she served in 2000, but not from the restrictions and dangers that dog all Iranian women who struggle for their rights.
On the effects of the award on the democratic process in Iran Ebadi told Norway's NRK public television "I'm very glad and proud," by phone from Paris. "It's very good for me, very good for human rights in Iran, good for democracy in Iran and especially children's rights in Iran."
And that is the real fear: that Iran has not given up its nuclear ambitions, just decided to pursue them for the time being within the nuclear rules. For unless its “temporary” suspension of nuclear-fuel dabbling is made permanent, its nuclear option cannot be safely closed off.
Many Iranian welcomed the award. PDKI in a press release regarded the award ‘as a joyful and honourable moment for all the freedom and rights activists and all the members of PDKI.’
Iran's past 18 years of deceptions about its nuclear program
The International Atomic Energy Agency adopted a resolution Wednesday that censured Iran for running a secret atomic program for nearly two decades, but fell short of U.S. demands to threaten sanctions over the effort - which the U.S. said aimed to build a bomb.
Key European powers opposed a direct threat, worried that Tehran would stop cooperating. Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful. Enriched uranium can be used to make electric power and also is used in the manufacture of nuclear weapons.
Iran insisted
yesterday that suspending its uranium enrichment program was "voluntary and
temporary," and that it has the right to make its own fuel for nuclear power,
even though it can also be used for weapons.
Hasan Rowhani, head of the powerful Supreme
National Security Council, said Iran expected to eventually produce fuel for
one or two reactors despite agreeing with the UN nuclear agency to suspend
enrichment and open its atomic program to extensive inspections. He also
added that Iran will punish nations that backed U.S. efforts to bring it
before the UN Security Council.
Mr. Rohani's comments came just days after the International Atomic Energy Agency condemned Iran's past 18 years of deceptions about its nuclear program, but stopped short of taking the question to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.
Before Wednesday's vote, Iran's ambassador to the U.N. agency, Ali Akbar Salehi, reaffirmed Tehran's readiness to sign an additional protocol to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The protocol would give the IAEA the right to conduct more intrusive, unannounced inspections of Iran's nuclear sites.
IRAN’S “CRISIS OF LEGITIMACY” COULD PROMPT AUTHORITARIAN POLITICAL ALTERNATIVE
Afshin Molavi: 8/29/03
The political gridlock caused by infighting between conservative and reformist forces in Iran has fostered what analysts in Tehran characterize as a “crisis of legitimacy.” Growing popular apathy towards the political process is preparing the ground for a possible authoritarian alternative, some observers go on to warn.
Payman Morteza, a 26 year-old graphic designer, is one member of Iran’s legion of disillusioned. Morteza recalls how he was optimistic about Iran’s future after attending a 1997 campaign rally for the reform-minded cleric Mohammad Khatami, who went on to capture the presidency. “He spoke of freedom, of individual choice, of toleration,” Morteza said. “It was an entirely new language for the Islamic Republic. We were so accustomed to hearing talk of revolution and sacrifice and foreign enemies.”
Morteza, along with a group of friends, began campaigning for Khatami in his neighborhood. “We went into shops. We talked to people. We said: ‘this man is different.’ Please vote for Khatami.”
Today, six years later, Morteza – like many Iranians – has soured on Khatami and the reform movement, frustrated by the slow pace of change and the largely successful conservative resistance to reformist proposals. That frustration is now translating into apathy with politics.
“The reformists have been ineffective. ... I won’t bother
voting in the [2004] Parliamentary elections or the [2005] Presidential
elections. What’s the use? The conservatives have the real power anyway,”
Morteza said.
Conservatives – who still control the key levers of power, including the instruments of coercive force – recently mounted an aggressive assault on the tottering reform movement. They blocked reformist legislation that would liberalize Iranian elections, jailed or effectively silenced leading reformist figures, chilled pro-democracy students with violent crackdowns in recent demonstrations, and sent a clear message that they do not intend to give up power lightly. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
Developments in 2003 have stirred concern among political analysts about a brewing crisis. This “crisis of legitimacy” – the exact phrase used by several analysts in interviews with EurasiaNet -- threatens the country’s grass-roots democracy movement and could shift popular sentiment toward outside calls for regime change, or strongman alternatives, they said.
“The defeat of the reform movement has de-legitimized the government,” said Morad Saghafy, editor of the prestigious Goft-o-Gu intellectual quarterly. “Before Khatami’s election, many people felt distant from the government. The reform movement brought millions of Iranians back to the regime and gave them hope that the Islamic Republic could change. The reformist failures have made many people think that the system is un-reformable. It is a double loss for the Islamic Republic.”
On university campuses, in corner shops, in tree-filled parks, and wherever else Iranians gather, a blistering cynicism infects the air. “All those mullahs are the same,” huffed one elderly shopkeeper in a small supermarket on Tehran’s busy Shariati Street. “They are all corrupt thieves.” A shopper disagreed: “I don’t think the reformists are thieves. I think they tried, but clearly the conservatives have all the power and don’t want to give it up. So, why should we back the reformists?” Another shopper pipes in: “This system needs to be uprooted entirely. We need an entirely new regime.”
Such exchanges and talk of “regime change” have become common among a people who are also frustrated by a stagnant economy, double-digit inflation, and chronic unemployment. What worries many pro-democracy analysts is that, given the despair about the lack of change, Iranians may now seek what reformists describe as unpalatable options.
“These are precisely the kind of conditions that make Iranians long for a strongman, not a democrat,” explained one journalist, who asked not to be named. “That’s why there is Reza Shah nostalgia among middle-class Iranians,” he said, referring to Iran’s first Pahlavi king (1925-41), who is generally remembered as an iron-fisted modernizer. Books about the former king and the Pahlavi dynasty in general sell briskly, booksellers say.
Even a few intellectuals have succumbed to the “strongman” theory. At one reception, a well-regarded historian turned to a Tehran-based political analyst and said: “Why not have a strongman? This place is such a mess that we could use a modernizing autocrat.”
Ali Reza Alavitabar, a reformist publisher and academic who has been in and out of jail for his pro-democracy views, worries about such talk. “In the past six years, we have built a strong, grass-roots democracy movement,” he explains. “The democratic spirit that we have instilled over the past six years have fundamentally changed the contours of the political debate, and the mindset of the average Iranian. We must continue to move forward in this direction.”
Morad Saghafy agrees. “We have far more democratic-minded people in Iran today than we did six years ago and, of course, far more than we did before 1979. All of the newspapers articles, the speeches, the voting, have had an effect,” he said. “This is critical because you can’t impose a democracy; you need democratic cadres.”
Still, Alavitabar, Saghafy, and others admit that the conservatives have made it almost insurmountably difficult to proceed. “Politics has died,” Saghafy says. “We are now simply witnessing the exertion of power.”
Some Iranians have already begun looking for outside assistance. The leading pro-democracy student group, Daftar-e-Tahkim-e-Vahdat, wrote to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, seeking UN assistance in its struggle. The letter crossed an unwritten “red line,” prompting the detention at gunpoint of several leaders of the organization. (They have been freed recently, “admitting” the error if their ways). [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
Talk also swirls of an American “solution.” Vanna Vanucci, an Italian journalist and long-time Iran observer, was stunned when she repeatedly heard from Iranians during the US war with Iraq: “When will the Americans liberate us?”
Recently, Hossein Khomeini, a mid-ranking opposition cleric and grandson of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, spoke positively of what he called “the American liberation of Iraq” and suggested that many Iranians would welcome American involvement in “Iran’s liberation.”
When pressed, many Iranians admit to fearing the prospect of a US-engineered attempt to topple Iran’s existing political order. Concerns about Washington’s intentions and abilities are only growing as they witness the US troubles in reconstructing neighboring Iraq. The US woes are documented in exhaustive detail nightly on Iran’s state-run television news.
Mehrdad Serjooie, an Iranian journalist, puts it this way: “People want more political freedoms, more social freedoms, and a better economy. They just don’t know where – or how – they will get these things. People are searching, wondering, and many are simply retreating, leaving their destinies to the winds of fate.” The trouble is, say many analysts, the conservatives are effectively controlling the direction of those winds.
Editor’s Note: Afshin Molavi, a Washington-based journalist and frequent EurasiaNet contributor, recently returned from a three week reporting trip to Iran.
Tehran putting its spies in Iraq
LONDON SUNDAY TELEGRAPH -
Sun 28 Sep 2003
NAJAF, Iraq — Iran has dispatched hundreds of agents posing as pilgrims and traders to Iraq to foment unrest in the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, and the lawless frontier areas. Tehran's hard-line regime has also allowed extremist fighters from Ansar al-Islam, a terror faction with close links to al Qaeda, to cross back into Iraq from its territory to join the anti-American resistance.
The Pentagon believes that Iran is building a bridgehead of activists inside Iraq, ready to destabilize the country if that serves its future interests. "They are provoking sectarian divisions, inciting people against the Americans and trying to foment conflict and anarchy," said Abdulaziz al-Kubaisi, a former Iraqi major who was jailed by Saddam Hussein and is now a senior official in the Iraqi National Congress. "The last thing that certain elements in the regime want is to see a stable democratic and pluralistic Iraq next door, so they are trying to export trouble here," said a leading official in another Iraqi party.
Although Iran's president is a political moderate, true power remains in the hands of the fundamentalist clergy. At a time when Iran is facing domestic discontent over the slow progress of democratic reform and mounting international pressure over its nuclear program, hard-line elements believe that instability in Iraq will distract attention from the regime's problems. The National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI), an opposition group, claims that some translators working for the U.S. forces are reporting back to Tehran. It also says that its informants within the regime have supplied details of senior Iranian intelligence commanders who are operating inside Iraq.
"The Iranian agents have melted into the population and are just waiting until the moment is right," said one NCRI official. L. Paul Bremer, the American head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, has already accused Iran of "meddling" in Iraq's internal affairs and backing some attacks on American forces. On Friday, he confirmed that several hundred members of Ansar, which set up a Taliban-style ministate in Kurdish-controlled territory in 2001, had re-entered Iraq. "They are a very dangerous group," he said in Washington. "The flow of terrorists into Iraq is the biggest obstacle to the reconstruction of the country." Mr. Bremer said that U.S. forces are holding 248 non-Iraqi fighters captured in Iraq. Most came from Syria, but the second-largest group was Iranians.
At the start of the war to topple Saddam, Kurdish militia and U.S. Special Forces had crushed Ansar's 750-strong force of Arabs, Pakistanis, Chechens and Kurds. About 250 Ansar fighters were killed and another 100 captured, but Iran's military turned a blind eye as the rest escaped across the mountainous border. Most have returned to the violent flash points west and north of Baghdad, according to U.S. military officials, Kurdish political leaders and former mukhabarat officers. Ansar adheres to the same extremist Sunni Muslim interpretation of Islam as al Qaeda.
Although Iran follows the alternative Shi'ite version of Islam, its hard-line military rulers have allowed Ansar to regroup and return to Iraq because they share its anti-American cause. Iran has also taken advantage of its largely unpoliced border with Iraq — a 210-mile stretch of which was turned over Friday to an American-trained police force by the U.S. Army — to deploy agents who are building networks of spies and sympathizers.
One Iraqi of ethnic
Iranian origin, who returned to Najaf after 23 years in Iran and who has
contacts with Tehran's intelligence services, told the Sunday Telegraph that
he has seen many Iranian agents mingling with visitors to the city of
golden-domed mosques and shrines. Najaf, an ancient seat of Shi'ite
learning, is fertile ground for the Iranian agents. Last week, many of the
visiting pilgrims were speaking Farsi (Persian).
Long-banned pictures of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of the
Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979, are once again on sale in the markets of
the town where he spent part of his early exile before moving to Paris. The
returning Iraqi exile said that several agents from the political wing of the
Revolutionary Guards had been deployed to Najaf, some operating within the
Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), one of the five
political parties represented in the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council.
"They are gathering information on the Americans and establishing their
contacts with anti-U.S. groups," he said. Iran denies interference or sending
agents to Iraq, saying that it has already recognized the Governing Council.
The Iranian opposition, however, says that the Quds force of the regime's Revolutionary Guards, which specializes in foreign operations, commands the loyalty of key commanders within the Badr Brigade, the Iranian-trained militia army of the SCIRI.
Message of Solidarity to the Swedish Prime Minister and the People of Sweden
His Excellency, Mr. Göran Persson,
The honourable Prime Minister of Sweden
Dear Mr. Persson,
The brutal assassination of Ms. Anna
Lindh, the Swedish Foreign Minister and a sincere friend and
supporter of the Kurds, has prompted disgust of all peoples across the world,
in general, and our people, in particular. This crime clearly demonstrates
once again the binding necessity of international co-operation in the sacred
fight against the villainous phenomenon of terrorism in all its forms and
brands.
While strongly condemning this appalling, inhumane crime, I would like – on behalf of our party and the Kurdish people in Iranian Kurdistan – to convey my most sincere condolences to you, to the Social Democratic Party of Sweden, to the Swedish government and the Swedish people, as well as to the family of Ms. Lindh, wishing you, at the same time, ample success in identifying the perpetrator(s) of this evil act and bringing them to justice.
Most Respectfully Yours,
Abdulla Hassanzadeh,
Secretary-general
Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan
www.pdk-iran.org©PDKI All Rights Reserved.