Selected Headlines

08 Apr 2010 21:48No Comments

Press Roundup provides a selected summary of news from the Iranian press, and excerpts where the source is in English. The link to the news organization or blog is provided at the top of each item. Tehran Bureau has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. Please refer to the Media Guide to help put the story in perspective. You can follow our news feeds on Twitter.

Ayatollah Makarem: Promiscuity should not be allowed to attract tourists

Tabnak Asr Iran | April 7, 2010

Shia Source of Emulation Ayatollah Nasser Makarem-Shirazi decried the declining standards of hejab in society and said promiscuity should not become permissible under the guise of attracting tourists.

Addressing his students in Qom on Wednesday, Ayatollah Makarem criticized the remarks about reducing restrictions in order to attract more tourists to the country.

"Proposing such a thing means using the income brought in through tourism as an excuse to allow all forms of promiscuity," he said.

"Westerners do not adhere to religious and moral values, and establish centers for corruption and receive taxes from them," Fars News Agency quoted him as saying.

Ayatollah Makarem said any income made through such means would be like fire and haram (religiously forbidden).

"We must have one face. We can't have two faces and be both the Islamic Republic and Democratic Republic. We can't be religious and secular [at the same time]. A well known Hadith said two swords cannot be placed in one sheath and two tongues cannot be in one mouth."

"Even though our government is an Islamic one, we still see un-Islamic faces [in society]. The hejab situation is very bad and some so-called Islamic conventions are accompanied by nonreligious music and actions."

Mousavi, Hashemi, Khatami sue newspaper

Tabnak | April 7, 2010

Iran newspaper's editor-in-chief was summoned to court after Mir Hossein Mousavi, Seyyed Mohammad Khatami, and Mehdi Hashemi lodged a complaint against him.

According to Fars News Agency, branch 2 of the government employee courthouse sent a separate letter of notification to Kaveh Eshtehardi.

Qorban Behzadiannejad, on behalf of Mousavi's election campaign; and Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaei, on behalf of Mehdi Hashemi and Khatami, will take the case to court.

Previously, Faezeh Hashemi, Mohsen Hashemi, Mohammad Hashemi and the office of Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani lodged separate complaints against Eshtehradi.

Four Yemenis suspected of spying for Iran to be tried

Saba | April 7, 2010

A trial of four Yemenis suspected of spying for Iran was slated to start on Monday, April 12, a judicial source said on Wednesday.

The source was quoted as saying by the Defense Ministry website that the four suspects are Mu'amar Mohammed Ahmed al-Abdali, Walid Mohammed Ali Sharaf al-Din, Abdullah Ali Mutahar al- Dailami and Sadiq Abdul-Rahman al-Sharafi.

The four have contacts with a foreign country, which is Iran, from 1994-2009, seeking for support and financing to carry out intellectual and political projects in Iran's favor in Yemen.

The suspects have delivered reports on the political, social and economic conditions in Yemen in addition to information and photos for some islands, ports, marine sites, security and military facilities, according to the source.

The source added that they have involved an armed gang to execute criminal acts, including receiving financial and armed support from various parties and sending that for al-Huthi rebels in Sa'dah province to fight against the government troops.

Ahmadinejad transportation minister up for impeachment

Tabnak | April 7, 2010

The city of Sari's representative in Parliament announced that the proposal for the impeachment of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Transportation Minister has been presented to the Majles presiding board.

Ali Asghar Yousefnejad told Mehr News Agency that the motion was presented to the Majles presiding board on Wednesday after gathering enough signatures.

"The reading of this proposal should be announced today," he said. "Otherwise it will be announced in the next Majles session."

Yousefnejad named Hassan Kamran (Rep.-Isfahan), Mohammad-Reza Khabbaz (Rep.-Kashmar), and Marashi (Rep.-Roudbar) among the signatories of the impeachment motion.

The lawmaker, however, added that the motion would remain pending for a while as the Majles presiding board usually allows time for the parliament and government representatives to debate the issue and reach an agreement.

Reformist MPs to decide about Rahimi after meeting Naderan

Parleman News | April 7, 2010

After Principlist lawmaker Elias Naderan went public with information about first vice president Mohammad-Reza Rahimi's involvement in the Fatemi Street Corruption network, the Reformist minority bloc invited him to a meeting to discuss the matter.

"The Majles minority bloc has invited Elias Naderan for a meeting with the bloc to elaborate on the remarks he made about the Fatemi Street corruption case," Majid Nasirpour, Sarab's representative in parliament, told reporters on the sidelines of the Wednesday Majlis session.

"The position of first vice president is an important one and the person of the first vice president must be an honest person and fit [for the position]," he said. "Having an uncorrupted first vice president for a government that advocates the slogan of spreading justice is even more important. We hope that Naderan's remarks about Rahimi have no truth to them."

"If Naderan offers proof, and we reach the conclusion that his remarks are true, the minority bloc and Majlis will take a stand against Rahimi's continued cooperation with the government."

Majles meeting to iron out differences with government postponed

Fars | April 7, 2010

The second joint Majlis-Government committee [for removing obstacles to implementation of smart subsidies bill] has not been formed.

Fars: The Majlis Deputy Communications and Government Deputation Officer [Seyyed Ali Akbar Mas'ud-Pur] has divulged news of the non- formation of the joint committee of Government and Majlis charged with addressing the bottlenecks in the implementation of the smart subsidies bill.

Hojjat Ol-Eslam Ali Akbar Mas'ud-Pur who is The Majles Deputy Communications and Government Deputation Officer spoke to the parliamentary correspondent of Fars, remarking: It was intended that the second joint Majlis-Government meeting dedicated to reforming the bottlenecks in the implementation of the smart subsidies law be convened today. But, as the Majlis deputies who are members of this committee are on business trips in universities and other places and as members of the government are accompanying the president in his trip to West Azarbayjan Province, this meeting will not take place today.

On the next scheduled meeting, he said: The next meeting will take place tomorrow [8 April] should the two sides agree. But should this [alternative] meeting not take place the next definite meeting will be on Saturday 10 April 2010.

Appeals court reduces Alviri's prison sentence

Tabnak | April 7, 2010

Moreteza Alviri's lawyer said his client was sentenced to one year in prison by the appeals court and that the sentence has been suspended for four years.

"Morteza Alviri's charges were propagating against the establishment, acting against national security and participating in the June 15 protest. The initial court exonerated him of the charge of acting against national security but sentenced him to two years in prison and a monetary fine for the other two counts," Abbas Shiri told ISNA.

"After appealing the verdict, the case was referred to the appeals court and branch 54 of the appeals court exonerated my client of the charge of propagating against the establishment but sentenced him to one year in prison for participating in the June 15 protest. Given his credentials, the prison sentence was suspended for four years."

Prof. Rahmatollah Bastani released on bail

Parleman News | April 7, 2010

Rahmatollah Bastani, a Sistan-Baluchestan University professor, who was arrested during the funeral of the late Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri's wife, was released on Wednesday.

The 51-year-old professor with more than 20 years of experience in teaching Quranic sciences was arrested in Qom for attending Mrs. Montazeri's funeral and was released after posting a USD $50,000 bail.

Khatami meets with Arabsorkhi after release

Parleman News | April 7, 2010

Former Iranian president Seyyed Mohammad Khatami met with Feizollah Arabsorkhi on Tuesday following his release from prison.

Khatami praised Arabsorkhi, a prominent member of the Islamic Revolution Mojahedin Organization, and his family for their perseverance during his time in prison.

Khatami expressed his dissatisfaction for the illegal treatment of reformist political activists and expressed hope the remaining political prisoners would be freed soon.

Iran has produced several kilos of 20 percent enriched nuclear fuel

Mehr | April 7, 2010

Iran has produced several kilos of uranium enriched to a purity of 20 percent to power its medical research reactor, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) director announced on Wednesday.

However, Ali Akbar Salehi declined to state how many kilos have been produced.

Speaking to reporters, he said good news on how the country will produce fuel for the research reactor will be announced in the next few months.

He went on to say that Tehran is still ready to exchange its low enriched fuel for fuel rods, although Iran itself is capable of producing fuel rods.

Elsewhere in his remarks, he said the 5+1 group (the U.S., Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany) and Iran have each presented a package of proposals and that Iran will hold talks with the 5+1 group based on the common points in these two packages, which include global nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation as well as Iran's nuclear issue.

Nevertheless, Tehran must wait to see if the 5+1 group will enter talks with Tehran in a fair manner, he noted.

Iran FM: Nuclear disarmament an achievable goal

Mehr | April 7, 2010

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has stated that nuclear disarmament is an attainable goal.

Mottaki made the remarks here on Wednesday at a press conference in which he outlined the details of the international conference on nuclear disarmament scheduled to be held in Tehran from April 17 to 18.

"The Nuclear Energy for All, Nuclear Weapons for No One" conference will focus, among other things, on three major themes, namely challenges of nuclear disarmament, international commitments towards nuclear disarmament, and practical approaches to nuclear disarmament, he noted.

Mottaki maintained that the existence of thousands of nuclear weapons across the globe poses the gravest threat to world peace and international stability.

He lamented that the international community's efforts to completely eradicate nuclear weapons have borne no fruit so far.

There are grave concerns in the international community over the realization of nuclear disarmament, he added.

He went on to say that all countries should sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and those that have already signed the NPT should reaffirm their commitment to it.

Mottaki warned against the double-standard approach towards the application of nuclear power meant for peaceful purposes, adding that this has undermined the credibility of the NPT.