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Rights Group Warns Of Political Pressure In Iran's Northwest
(RFE/RL)
August 23, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- A human-rights group in northwestern Iran claims
that state pressure on political activists in the region has increased in
recent months.
The Iranian provinces of East and West Azerbaijan are home to many ethnic
Azeris.
The Committee To Defend Political Prisoners in Iran's Azerbaijan told Radio
Farda that more than 20 Iranian citizens have been jailed by authorities for
their political activities.
Group spokesman Alireza Javanbakht said a lack of media attention
contributes to rights abuses in Iran's Azerbaijan provinces.
"Unfortunately, in statements that are being issued by human-rights groups,
those Azeris who are jailed for political reasons are not being mentioned,"
Javanbakht said. "The reason is either a lack of access to news developments
in [Iranian] Azerbaijan or there are other reasons, including sensitivities.
The lack of coverage results in pressure on [political prisoners] and their
families. Most of the detainees do not have access to a lawyer."
The Committee To Defend Political Prisoners in Iran's Azerbaijan has issued
a list of some 20 political prisoners who it says are facing particular
hardship in prison.
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Draft Report Logs
Bleak Outlook for Iran
By PAULINE JELINEK and KATHERINE SHRADER
The Associated Press
Thursday, August 23, 2007;http://www.washingtonpost.com
WASHINGTON -- A draft intelligence report on Iran suggests a change in the
Tehran regime appears unlikely any time soon despite growing public anger
over the country's economic woes, U.S. officials said Thursday.
The report also anticipates little progress in getting Iran to halt its
nuclear program or stop supporting militant groups in the region, officials
familiar with the draft said on condition of anonymity because the report
has not been released.
The latest in a series of reports from the nation's 16 intelligence
agencies, the new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran is nearly complete
and could be shared with President Bush and other policymakers within weeks,
said the officials. One said it is expected to be completed as soon as next
week.
It is one of four reports the intelligence community is wrapping up on the
Persian Gulf. Two others look at Iran's nuclear program and its military and
conventional threat.
And an update on the situation in Iraq was released Thursday.
The report on Iran's political situation looks at issues ranging from the
economy to its weapons programs, the officials said.
It says that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will continue in
power despite rising discontent with the worsening economy, the officials
said.
With the backing of the unelected clerical leadership that controls Iran,
hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected on a populist agenda in
2005, promising to bring oil revenues to every family, eradicate poverty and
tackle unemployment. His failure to keep those promises has provoked
increasingly fierce criticism over recent months from both conservatives and
reformists, who point to rising housing, food and oil prices, including the
recent decision to ration fuel.
The new intelligence report also says Iran will continue to pursue a nuclear
program that the United States and others believe is aimed at developing
nuclear weapons, the officials said. Tehran denies that and says the program
is for power generation.
Addressing another dispute between Washington and Tehran, the report also
says Iran will continue to cause problems in Iraq, the officials said.
The U.S. government alleges that elements of Tehran's military are equipping
and training militias involved in sectarian killings, roadside bombings of
U.S. troops and other violence in Iraq _ allegations that Iran denies.
U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker met in Baghdad early this month with
his counterpart from Iran, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, on the subject. Though it was
the third round of U.S.-Iranian security talks in just over two months,
officials have reported no progress.
U.S. officials and others also have criticized Iran for supplying money and
weapons to the Shiite Muslim extremist group Hezbollah, which is on the U.S.
government list of terrorist organizations.
The new intelligence estimate foresees that Iran will continue as a main
backer of the group, along with Syria, the officials said.
The U.S. broke diplomatic relations with Iran after the 1979 Islamic
Revolution and the hostage crisis at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
The lingering poor relations have been exacerbated in recent years by rising
tensions over Iran's nuclear program and U.S. allegations that Tehran is
supporting armed groups in Iraq.
Iran said it had uncovered spy rings organized by the U.S. and its Western
allies and has detained a number of Iranian-Americans.
The United States in recent months warned U.S. citizens against traveling to
Iran, accusing Islamic authorities there of a "disturbing pattern" of
harassment after the detention of a fourth Iranian-American for alleged
espionage.
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Iran hangs two in
volatile Iran city
Wed. 22 Aug 2007
Iran Focus
Tehran, Iran, Aug. 22 – Authorities hanged two men on Tuesday in the
south-eastern province of Sistan-va-Baluchistan, state media reported.
The two unnamed men were hanged in a prison in the provincial capital
Zahedan.
They were accused of drug trafficking.
Iranian authorities routinely execute dissidents on bogus charges such as
armed robbery and drug smuggling.
Sistan-va-Baluchistan Province is home to Baluchis, a predominantly Sunni
Muslim ethnic minority.
Iran has witnessed escalating unrest since 2006 in areas populated by
Baluchis, who complain of discriminatory and repressive policies by the
theocratic regime.
Since 2006, Iranian authorities have stepped up executions in the restive
province in what many Baluchis believe is a response to a spate of attacks
by dissidents on government and security officials.
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Mourners gather for
Bugti’s death anniversary
26.08.2007 ; http://www.dailytimes.com.pk
QUETTA: Hundreds of politicians, retired
bureaucrats, political workers, lawyers and others gathered at Mian Ghundi
in the outskirts of the provincial capital on Saturday to offer fateha for
the late Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, a day before his first death anniversary.
Nawabzada Jamil Akbar Bugti, the eldest son of the late Bugti tribe chief,
hosted the visitors at his ‘Bugti Bloak’ in Mian Ghundi for the programme of
mourning. With black flags hanging on all sides, the ceremony was attended
by Kachkol Ali Baloch, leader of the opposition in Balochistan Assembly, Dr
Abdul Hayee Baloch, president of the National Party, Dr Jahanzeb Jamaldini,
acting president of the Balochistan National Party, Dr Abdul Hakeem Lehri,
president of the Balochistan National Congress, Sardar Sanaullah Zehri,
chief of Jalawan, Mohammad Sadiq Raisani, president of the Baloch Bar
Association, and many other local notables.
However, Talal Bugti, another son of Nawab Bugti, who is engaged in domestic
infighting with his elder brother Jamil, did not attend the programme of
mourning. Neither did Amanullah Kanrani, Bugti’s former spokesman, or
Senator Agha Shahid Bugti, the Nawab’s son-in-law and secretary general of
Bugti’s Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP), or any other JWP parliamentarian.
Police personnel deployed at a nearby check-post disallowed several Bugti
admirers from going to Bugti Bloak.
Jamil Bugti told Daily Times that thousands of people attended the programme,
disproving the government claim that Nawab Akbar Bugti was unpopular among
his own tribesmen.
“Akbar Khan was undeniably the undisputed hero of Balochistan. The Baloch
land will never ever give birth to any other Akbar Khan. He was unique and
irreplaceable,” he said.
He said Nawab Bugti had led the people of the smaller provinces in the fight
for their rights. The Baloch parties must unite on a single platform to
achieve their common goals, he said. Paying tribute to Nawab Bugti, veteran
nationalist leader Dr Abdul Hayee said his killing had deepened instead of
improving the Balochistan crisis.
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Baloch group killed
six security men in blast
26-08-2007 ; http://www.dailytimes.com.pk
QUETTA: Six security personnel were killed and
five injured in a remote control bomb blast in Dera Bugti district on
Saturday, while security forces arrested five Bugti tribesmen, claimed a
Baloch militant organisation.
Speaking to Daily Times via satellite phone from an unidentified place,
Sarbaz Baloch, a spokesman for an apparently new separatist Baloch outfit,
the Baloch Republican Army (BRA), said his organisation accepted
responsibility for the remote control bomb blast. However, the BRA claim
could not be confirmed through independent sources. The spokesman contended
that the BRA had blown up six personnel of the security forces early on
Saturday morning, as they conducted a routine patrol in the Sangsila area of
Dera Bugti.
“More such attacks will follow on the occupant Punjabi army,” warned Sarbaz
Baloch, adding that the insurgency would continue until the “complete
independence” of Balochistan.
He said the security forces had whisked away five members of the Bugti
tribe. “These people tired to offer fateha on the eve of Nawab Bugti’s death
anniversary when they were taken away, leaving their families clueless about
their whereabouts,” he said. The arrested persons also include a former
servant of Akbar Bugti who was identified as Doda Khan.
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