INTERNATIONAL
Page 12
Nuke tensions with West simmer
Iran enters 2010 after year of deadly protests TEHRAN: A divided Iran enters 2010 after a year marked by recurring deadly protests against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - some of the worst demonstrations since the shah’s fall - and tensions with the West over its nuclear
drive. The protests, which erupted after Ahmadinejad’s reelection, shook the pillars of the 30-year-old Islamic regime, split its clerical elite and prompted supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to publicly support the president.
LONDON: Protestors rally alongside a poster of Maryam Rajavi, head of the National Council of Resistance of Iran outside the Iranian embassy yesterday. Supporters of the People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran rallied outside the Iranian embassy in solidarity with the uprising in Iran. – AP
Britain, Iran downplay Tehran link to hostages LONDON: Britain and Iran downplayed yesterday a report that the 2007 kidnapping of a British computer expert and his bodyguards in Iraq was led by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and that they were held there. Peter Moore was freed unharmed Wednesday after a two-and-a-half year ordeal in which all four bodyguards are thought to have died. A first photo since his release showed him looking relaxed in the grounds of Britain’s Baghdad embassy. Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki yesterday “to thank him for his efforts in the release of the British hostage Peter Moore,” Downing Street said in a statement. But there is speculation a deal was done after it emerged the leader of the group which took Moore from a government building in Baghdad was being transferred from US to Iraqi custody.
BAGHDAD: Briton Peter Moore is seen at the British Embassy yesterday. – AFP
Iran has dismissed as “baseless” reports of its involvement, saying they were motivated by British “anger” over a crackdown on opposition protests. “They emanate from the British anger towards the rallies in which millions of Iranians took part to condemn British interference in (Iran’s) internal affairs,” foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted as saying by state-controlled news channel Al-Alam. Britain added it had “no evidence” to support the report in the Guardian newspaper that the Revolutionary Guard led the operation and took the five to Iran within a day of their abduction. The BBC also quoted the US’s former commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, as saying he was “90 percent certain” that the group was held in Iran for part of their time in captivity. Petraeus was quoted telling a correspondent earlier this month: “I’m absolutely certain. I’m 90 percent certain” when asked if they were taken to Iran, adding: “I’m pretty sure I’ve seen hard intelligence on it.” Moore was targeted because he was installing a computer tracking system that would show how international aid money to Iraqi institutions was diverted to Iran’s militia groups in Iraq, the Guardian said. A former unnamed Revolutionary Guard said the five were held in two camps. “It was an Iranian kidnap, led by the Revolutionary Guard, carried out by the Al-Quds brigade,” he was quoted saying. An unnamed Iraqi government minister backed up the claims, telling the Guardian: “This was an IRG (Iranian Revolutionary Guard) operation”. But Sami Al-Askari, an Iraqi lawmaker who the Guardian suggested had flown to Iran to meet the kidnappers, denied this to the BBC, while acknowledging that he was involved in talks with the hostage-takers in Iraq. — AFP
The deepening political schism has turned some of those who helped build the regime after the 1979 Islamic revolution into its most bitter critics. While Iran in 2010 is likely to continue on the path of confrontation over its nuclear drive, domestically it will be preoccupied with political upheaval and trying to bolster its dilapidated, inflation-stoked economy. Hundreds of thousands of protesters who supported Mir Hossein Mousavi Ahmadinejad’s main rival in the June 12 election - flooded Tehran’s streets after the vote, claiming it was rigged. The streets echoed with antiAhmadinejad slogans such as “Give back our stolen votes” and “Death to the dictator”, which continue to reverberate six months later. Dozens were killed in running street battles as protesters clashed with Islamist militiamen and security forces who fired tear gas and beat them with batons and steel chains. Despite the initial crackdown, demonstrators have since taken every opportunity to stage antigovernment rallies, most recently during Sunday’s Shiite Ashoura ceremonies, memorials for dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri who died on Dec 19, and Students Day on Dec 7. On Sunday, eight people were reported killed, among them Mousavi’s nephew Seyed Ali. Police said “terrorists” killed him in an incident unrelated to anti-government riots. Scores of opposition figures were rounded up after the latest protests, and police arrested 500 “rioters”. Ex-premier Mousavi, reputed for steering Iran’s economy during the war with Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi forces in the 1980s, has become the leading light of the widely divergent but mainly young opposition movement. Mousavi, former president canidadate Mehdi Karroubi, and other leading opposition figures such as Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami are now accused by the authorities of being “riot leaders”. On Wednesday, IRNA news agency said some MPs and leaders have emphasised that the “prosecution of the heads of the sedition has become a public demand”. Amnesty International says human rights violations in Iran are as bad as at any time in the past 20 years and has urged authorities to probe allegations of “torture, rape and unlawful killings”. — AFP
Friday, January 1, 2010
Prosecutor threatens opposition with trials TEHRAN: Iran’s state prosecutor warned opposition leaders yesterday they could face trial if they do not denounce this week’s anti-government protests the worst unrest since the aftermath of June’s disputed presidential election. The prosecutor, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehei, said the opposition leaders could be accused of supporting people who defy God by protesting against the government last Sunday, when Shiites observed the sacred day of Ashoura. He said the leaders may face charges of “supporting apostates,” or those who go against God. At least eight people died during the protests and hundreds were arrested. Ejehei’s comments, published in state-owned Iran newspaper, deepened the bitter internal strife in Iran. Also yesterday, a group of government supporters, wearing white funeral shrouds to symbolize a willingness to die in defense of the clerical rulers, staged a rally in southern Tehran and gathered outside the offices of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, state radio reported. At mass pro-government rallies around the country on Wednesday, some called for the execution of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi and another top figure Mahdi Karroubi - both losing candidates in the disputed June 12 presidential election. The opposition contends the election was rigged and that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won by fraud. The orderly and peaceful display of popular support for the government was in sharp contrast to the
bloody crackdown by security troops and hardline militiamen on opposition protests at the height of the unrest over the summer. Iranian security forces crushed rallies against the government after the summer but they have regained momentum recently. Officials said more than 500 protesters were arrested since Sunday’s clashes and the number could be even higher. Many will likely be tried for apostasy - a crime punishable by death under Iranian law as well as attempts to topple the government and fomenting the post-election turmoil. Iran has already sentenced five defendants to death in an ongoing mass trial of more than 100 opposition activists and figures. More than 80 were sentenced to prison from six months to 15 years. Ejehei said prosecution of the opposition leaders would not be forgotten. “The charge of supporting apostates and those who defied God will be added to their past charges,” he said. Iran’s deputy chief of judiciary, Ebrahim Raisi told the official IRNA news agency on Thursday that those detained over Sunday’s unrest would be charged with violating public order and “Moharebe,” which is Farsi for defying God. The Iranian police released yesterday on its website about 100 pictures of protesters involved in Sunday’s rallies, asking the public to help identify and report them to the police because they were suspected of “damaging public property and insulting sanctities”. — AP
US mulls sanctions on Iran as year ends WASHINGTON: The Obama administration seemed more firmly set on pushing for fresh UN sanctions against Iran as Iranian leaders balk at a year-end deadline to engage world powers on their nuclear plans. However, with a UN diplomatic source in New York saying preliminary work on drafting a sanctions resolution is likely to begin in mid-January, President Barack Obama’s team is keeping its options open. “Even as we leave the door open to engagement,” world powers agree that Iran will pay the consequences if it does not meet its international nuclear obligations, said Darby Holladay, a State Department spokesman. The five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the United States, Russia, China, France, and Britain - plus Germany are “in the process of considering next steps consistent with our dual-track policy,” he told AFP. A senior State Department official told AFP on the condition of anonymity that the Obama administration was “pivoting” toward imposing more sanctions against Iran while keeping “the door open to engagement.” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said two weeks ago that Iran had failed to build confidence. For example, she said Iran has balked at a US-backed International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) proposal to ship abroad low-grade nuclear fuel so it can be further enriched and returned to refuel a Tehran medical research reactor. Such a move would buy breathing room as the big powers try to halt Iran’s uranium enrichment - which the West fears masks a drive to build a nuclear bomb. Denying the charge, Iran says it seeks peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Also undermining international confidence, Clinton said, is Iran’s continuing crackdown on peaceful opposition to Iran’s disputed election in June that gave incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad another term in office. She said Iran also fanned fears about its intentions when it failed to come clean on a secret uranium enrichment plant near the holy city of Qom, and noted that Iran has subsequently announced plans for 10 to 20 new nuclear plants. — AFP