The life and [troubled] times of the Islamic Republic...
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Maurice Copithorne, the special representative for Iran of the United Nations Subcommission on Human Rights, has issued a new report which concludes that "in Iran human rights....require urgent and sustained attention." The report, Copithorne's third, presented last Tuesday to the 53-member commission in Geneva but dated February 11, will form the basis for the commission's actions on Iran over the next few months. Written in a diplomatic tone, Copithorne expresses a desire to engage Iran's Islamic leaders in a dialogue and, therefore, deliberately shies away from harsh criticism of the regime for its unfulfilled promises to protect basic human rights of its citizens.
The report cites the rising number of executions, the use of torture and discrimination against religious minorities as the most flagrant human rights violations current in today's Iran. It also notes the disappearance of several Iranian writers, the detention of dissident clerics, and the repression against women for "improper veiling." In general, however, Copithorne was upbeat about the status of women in Iran, saying that "progress is being made" and that there were signs that "further and substantive improvements may be on the way." Ten women were recently elected to parliament, a woman now serves as a district mayor in Tehran, and the legal status of women is under review. "In Iran today, public debate on the status of women seems to be growing more vigorous, particularly as more women speak out," the report states.
The one area where no progress was noted was in political freedoms, expecially, freedom of expression."The concept of a loyal opposition... has yet to be embraced to a meaningful degree."[UN Report - Click here for the full text of the Copithorne report.].
The report was immediately attacked by Islamic Republic Foreign ministry spokesman, Mahmoud Mohammadi who called it an example of "the West's critical conception of Islamic values."
"The special U.N. human rights investigator should not exploit the good will of Iran as an opportunity to contrast the outlooks of western societies with Islamic values," Mohammadi said .
He said the human rights issue was being used as a political tool by certain big powers against other countries, and added that Tehran's cooperation with the human rights commission was indicative of the Islamic Republic's focus on improvement of the human rights situation in the world. [IRNA, April 4]
A 20-25% hike in the price of vehicle fuels (benzine and gasoline) has got Tehran residents angry, according to reports appearing in the government controlled press. The price rises went into effect on April 5, and also included heating oil and gas.
The price rise was set to rise 20% in accordance with the second Five Year plan, as part in a reduction of massive government subsidies, but for unknown reasons the government increased that to 22%. One houswife told a reporter from Iran daily in Tehran that "the rise in the price of fuels has increased taxi costs and consequently shopkeepers will increase the price of daily needs of the people." [Iran, 4/8]
The ripple effect of the price rise was confirmed by Keyhan, which reported that prices of foodstuffs had also increased. For instance, one kg of beef rose following the increases by 300 rials. [Kayhan 4/7]
Meanwhile, the Iran Nation's Party reported in its weekly bulletin that as of Friday, April 4, the security forces have taken up positions in front of gas stations in anticipation of spontaneous protests by the public. [INP weekly statement, 4/6] The unusual move shows that the price rise has generated real concern within the regime.
A 38-year old woman refugee, who is now seeking political asylum in Germany, has provided details of the recent crackdown on internal dissent by the Islamic Republic authorities. Dissidents "are summoned, questioned, forced to spy on others," the woman, whose name is given as Eljana, said. "Those who do not agree to do so disappear."
Eljana told the correspondent of the Frankfurter Rundschau that she had been in prison for 10 years, was released in 1993, fled to Germany in a few weeks ago, and was surprised to see that Germany is almost totally ignoring the upsurge in human rights abuses in Iran. She says that in February, 12 persons were executed, without a public protest in the West. Six of them were political prisoners, who were arrested and sentenced to death for having participated in demonstrations. Also in February seven girls, aged between 6 and 12, were sentenced to 10 lashes with a whip for having violated the Islamic dress code, Eljana explained. One woman was stoned.
The 38-year-old woman said she was astonished that everyone in Germany was worried about the fate of imprisoned writer Faraj Sarkuhi but that no one knew anything about the fate of Hashem Kameli and Golam Barzegar. The two workers were arrested during a strike of oil workers in February and died under torture. Said Eljana: "Here they seem to believe that the situation in Iran is okay if they just manage to get Sarkuhi released. However, Sarkuhi is only one of thousands of political prisoners." She said she found it difficult to understand why Germany maintained its so-called "critical dialogue" with the government in Tehran, which she called "just a different term for extremely lucrative trade" with the ruling clerics in Tehran.
She also complained of the increasing difficulties for opponents of the regime to obtain asylum in Germany. Eljana said she was outraged when she was told by the German authorities that the neglect of elementary women's rights is "not relevant for asylum" but was instead just an "internal" Iranian affair.
During her 10 years in prison, Eljana says she was hit with cables on the soles of her feet until she fainted, "again and again, for days." Pregnant women were kicked, executions -- sometimes faked ones -- were everyday occurrences. Eljana now fears that the Germans will reject her asylum request. [Frankfurt/Main Frankfurter Rundschau 4/1]
According to reports from the opposition Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), some 60 Iranian Kurdish refugees in the Bazian camp in Iraq's Suleymania province, which is run and operated by the KDPI, have been poisoned with rat poison. The victims were rushed to local hospitals and some were transferred to Baghdad because of a lack of medecine. Several are said to remain in critical condition more than one week after the attack It was the second attack against KDPI sympathizers using thallium in the past few months.
Although thallium poisoning has normally been a method of the Iraqi intelligence services, the KDPI accused agents of the Islamic Republic, and called the attack a retaliation for the KDPI's firm stand in the Mykonos trial in Germany. Several thousand Iranian Kurdish refugees live throughout Iraqi Kurdistan. Over the past two years, there have been hundreds of terrorist attacks against them which have claimed the lives of "hundreds" of innocent persons, the KDPI claims. [KDPI statement, 4/6]
President Hashemi Rafsanjani's Freudian slip in his interview with CBS's Mike Wallace in which he implied that the Islamic Republic was responsible for some of the assassinations of dissidents abroad has been rectified by Iran's U.N. mission.
Hussein Nosrat, the Islamic Republic's press officer at the U.N. accused CBS of distorting President Rafsanjani's remarks on American television. When Wallace presented Rafsanjani with a list of 300 people who had been wounded or murdered by Islamic Republic hitmen, Rafsanjani retorted that "many of them are not true," leaving the impression that some of those listed had indeed been murdered by Iranian goverment hit squads. Now we are told by Nosrat that Rafsanjani meant to say that "many names on the list are not real names and are made up." He blamed the misunderstanding on the translator. [IRNA, April 4]
During the Mike Wallace interview, President Hashemi-Rafsanjani protested claims that ordinary people needed to have two or more jobs to cover their expenses. On April 6, Salam daily published the comment of "an Iranian citizen."
"Our respected President stated on the contrary that... people are able to pay their bills by having only one job. May I say that presently the average salary of the people is 350,000 rials per month and the average expenses for a family is 850,000 rials. How is it possible for people to live with such an income?" the reader wondered. [Radio Israel, 4/6, quoting Salam]
The Voice of America's weekly television broadcasts in Farsi have been winning praise from ordinary Iranians. One traveller who had just arrived in Holland from Tehran told an FDI correspondent in Europe that the programs have been arousing "growing interest among middle and upper class Iranians, especially in cities like Tehran."
The government crackdown on satellite dishes has deterred some viewers, but not all, he said. In recent weeks, "there has been an explosion of video tapes of VOA television programs, distributed on the black market."
People were watching the VOA programs primarily because of their entertainment value, the traveller said, especially because of the presence of Iranian singers and dancers who have not been seen in Iran for years.
But statements by Iranian exiles portending their "imminent return" to Iran, and with them, a solution to all of Iran's problems, made people nervous, the traveller said. 'People are tired of messages like this from exiled Iranians who send cries of hope, without anything real to back them up."
The traveller also said that the lack of entertainment has pushed many ordinary Iranians to gambling," which has become increasingly common at family gatherings, especially among the middle class. It is now very common for middle class people to smoke opium and then play card games for money at family dinners. Rich and upper middle class people gamble huge amounts when compared to their monthly incomes," the traveller said.
Salam newspaper in Tehran recently published this comment from one of its readers, who complained that rising prices and stagnant wages was causing "waves of pain" among ordinary Iranians. "In the rich northern districts of Tehran, billions are being spent to build skyscrapers, and rich people can marry more than one wife. But poor Iranians are not able to marry at all because of inflation and economic misery. In Iran, capitalism has got a dirty face. We ask [presidential candidate] Hojj. Khatami to declare what kind of programs he has to establish a better system for distributing wealth among the people." [Salam 4/5]
Farideh Sarkuhi, wife of the dissident writer, Faraj Sarkui, made an emotional plea for her husband's release while attending a meeting of the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (IFHRL) in Paris.
At a press conference held a the IFHRL offices, she said she last spoke with her husband March 19, when he was allowed to telephone from prison. She said: "I ask you to raise public opinion by any means possible so that pressure can be applied on governments that have contact with Iran to gain the release of Faraj so he can travel overseas."
A glitch that temporarily blocked a crude oil swap between Iran and Kazakhstan has now apparently been resolved, with the first Khazakh oil expected to arrive in Iran by April 15. Under the 1996 deal signed by between Almaty and Tehran, Kazakhstan will ship between 2 million and 6 million tons of oil per year over a period of 10 years to northern Iran in return for an identical quantity of Iranian crude in the Persian Gulf. This would allow land-locked Kazakhstan, whose Tenghiz oil fields are being developed by Chevron, to get "early oil" to market without waiting for Russian approval to build an expensive and lengthy pipeline. The U.S. government has approved the deal as an exception to the Iran Libya Sanctions Act.
The shipments of oil -- 70,000 tons of crude -- were stopped after it became clear that the Tabriz and Tehran refineries were not able to handle Kazakh oil due to its high level of salt and nickel. Anatoly Lobayev, Kazakhi Deputy Oil Minister, blamed the lack of up-to-date technology in the two refineries for the disruption [Moscow Interfax, April 3].
As part of the campaign to present Majlis speaker Nateq-Nouri as an "international statesman," he is being sent to Russia this week for four days of highly visible talks with Russian leaders.
During the visit, Nateq Nouri is expected to meet President Yeltsin, Prime Minister Chernomyrdin, and Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov, and will deliver a speech to the Russian parliament. Speaking in advance of the visit, Alexei Mitrofanev, head of the Geopolitical Affairs Committee of the Duma, told an iranian daily that "the current situationin the world made imperative an improvement in the relations between Iran and Russia. Inattention to this necessity will be dangerous to both countries." [Etelaat, 4/7]
On Wednesday, Tehran radio reported that the trip was intended "to improve bilateral ties between the two countries." [4/9]
In a commentary aired on Tehran Voice of the Islamic Republic, Hillary Rodham Clinton is accused of doing the bidding of corporate American for encouraging cultural and political openness during her two-week tour of African countries. The real aim, according to the commentary, is for the United States to dominate the African markets. "Unlike in the past that political influence was the major concern of American officials, now Washington pursues to disregard the former guideline and concentrates its activities in Africa on economic and investing schemes. This time too, Ms. Hillary Clinton's African tour, apparently bears cultural goals, but in fact behind the deceiving mask of the visit, political intentions are visible," concludes the commentary [Tehran Voice of the Islamic Republic, March 30].
As a security court in Bahrain sentenced 36 Shi'ite militants to prison terms ranging from three to 15 years for conspiring with Iran in installing a fundamentalist form of government in Bahrain, an exiled leader of Bahrain's Shiite community has proposed to end more than two years of political unrest involving the Shiites in the small gulf country
Shaykh 'Isa Ahmad Qasim, now residing in the holy city of Qom and described by the opposition as the highest ranking Shiite dignitary in exile, said that to "achieve genuine national security," the government should "free all (political) prisoners" and "reinstate" parliament dissolved in 1975. "There is no way the opposition campaign will end while a single prisoner of conscience remains in prison," Shaykh Qasim said in a statement faxed from Qom in Iran and received by the French Press Agency.
The Bahraini opposition leader said the appeal was "an initiative aimed at establishing national security". Shaykh Qasim said recent trials of Bahraini Shiites accused of being members of Hizballah-Bahrain were "too unfair". Shaykh Qasim had threatened to call a "holy war" if the court sentenced the defendants to death. [AFP, April 2]
Iraq said last week that Saddam Hussain's eldest son Uday, hospitalized since a December assassination attempt, received a visit from the leader of an Iraqi-backed Iranian opposition group. The Iraqi daily Babil, run by Uday, published a photo showing him seated in a wheelchair and clad in a long traditional robe while Massoud Rajavi, leader of the People's Mujahedin, sat next to him.
Udayy, 33, was struck by 14 bullets during a December 12 assassination attempt in Baghdad which partially paralyzed him. He has been hospitalized since then. French doctors recently arrived in Baghdad to operate on Uday. Iraq has accused Iran of involvement in the attempt on Uday's life. [AFP, April 1].
Head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Peter Frisch, has told a German daily newspaper that Germans should prepare for the worst if a Berlin court finds an Iranian and his four Lebanese accomplices guilty of murdering Kurdish dissidents in a Berlin restaurants in 1992. "We must prepare ourselves for demonstrations, riots in Iran and considerable disturbance in foreign relations," Frisch said.
Meanwhile, in Strasbourg attending the International Writers' Parliament, Salman Rushdie cautioned the German government against interfering with the verdict at the trial. Calling for an end to "critical dialogue," Rushdie said: "I think it's not just a question of the Khomeini Fatva against me, it's a question about the existence inside Europe of the terrorist forces of another power...Nothing else will do...(but to) impose sanctions against Iran.
Presidential candidate Mohammad Khatami has now published his campaign platform. The following principles would guide his policies if he were elected, a statement issued by his office said.
1. Preparing grounds for elevation of Islamic thoughts and morals among people and endeavoring to eradicate bad morals and corruption. Revival and domination of religion and Islamic perspectives and basing action and policies on Islamic teachings and codes.
2. Create equal opportunities and guaranteeing equal access to all resources and means in the community, creating grounds for blossoming of talents, fighting discrimination and elimination of poverty.
3. Encouraging pious struggles.
Appreciating the services of mobilized forces and martyrs, enhancing Basiji culture and appreciating the sacrifice of the martyrs and disabled war veterans during the Revolution and the imposed war.
4. Respecting human rights and dignity.
Familiarize people with their inherent rights and prepare grounds for freedom of expression, writing, formation of societies; respecting different perspectives, encouraging criticism, propagating debate and speculation, avoiding despotism and preventing violation of individual and legal rights.
5. Nation's independence and power.
To encourage a spirit of glory and dignity among people, safeguarding the independence and sovereign integrity of the nation and strengthening the defense armed forces, elevating public awareness and Iranian identity based on Islamic and human teachings and upholding the memory of prominent scientific and social figures and propagating Islamic and national culture.
6. Prevalence of law and order and social security.
Preparing grounds for peace and security by enhancing spiritual and material security in the community, endeavoring to enforce law and order, stabilizing the community and fighting law violators.
7. Islamic and national solidarity.
Respecting different perspectives and defending the rights of minorities by emphasizing on Islamic and national unity and squarely combating degrading and illegal actions.
8. Construction and sustained overall growth.
Continuation of economic, cultural and political growth in keeping with people's abilities and by thrifty exploitation of national resources. Relying on manpower as the main foundation for growth and allowing all masses to profit from national resources.
9. Public participation and competition.
Eliminating obstacles for widespread public participation in all economic, social, cultural, scientific and political fields and profiting from the opinion of scientists, experts and specialists in planning and implementation of government programs.
Encouraging wholehearted participation of masses particularly women and the youth and creating an atmosphere of healthy competition and collective cooperation.
10. Knowledge and wisdom.
To profit from the immense achievements made during the reconstruction era and commending the endeavors of former governments particularly Mousavi and Rafsanjani and other officials and employees in the country, reviewing the performance of former governments to find strong and weak points and continually amend methods on the basis of a comprehensive program.
11. International relations and global dignity.
To consolidate equitable relations in international level particularly with neighboring and Muslim and non-committed nations, defending national interests, enhancing the dignity of the Islamic Republic, defending the rights of Muslims and the oppressed particularly the Palestinian citizens, active participation in international forums and squarely dealing with enemy arrogance and aggressive attitudes in cultural, political and military fields.
12. A strong, responsible and serving government.
The legibility of the government in the Islamic Republic emanates from public votes. A strong government chosen by the nation is an efficient body which makes comprehensive and realistic decisions by taking into consideration all latent and evident resources and capabilities.
A public appointed government is a servant of the nation and not the master and is responsible to all citizens for all its actions and such a government should profit from international opportunities to serve the elevated goals of the System [Iran News, April 5].