Iran News Round Up (Dec. 12)

Iranian court orders arrest of senior lawmaker’s son in embezzlement case; Iran summons Afghan ambassador over American drone; Iran says downed U.S. drone winning card in intelligence trade

Politics According to parliamentarian Javad Karimi Qodousi, the court, as a part of the $3 billion embezzlement investigation, has ordered the arrest of the son of Ala al-Din Boroujerdi, Parliament’s National Security Committee chairman. Reports on the 2012 parliamentary elections: Davoud Ahmadinejad, brother of the president, attacks the „current of deviation“: „The leader of the current of deviation [Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei] once said that the Imam of the Era would have his minor emergence on June 4, 2011. Very this issue proves that this current is a current of deviation, since we do not have any reference to ‚minor emergence‘ in the [traditional Shi’a] accounts. We do have minor and major occultation, but we do not have minor and major emergence. This did not happen, since in the Shi’a books, the Imam of the Era appears on a Friday, but the current of deviation desired to present the Imam of the Era on a Saturday which is the sacred day of the Jews!“ Hojjat al-Eslam Ahmad Salek, Combatant Clergy Association spokesman, urges Ahmadinejad to „have a clear position concerning the current of deviation.“ Shafaf News warns against „use of public funds“ by „the current of deviation“ to win the 2012 parliamentary elections.

Justice for Iran: حاج داود رحمانی

زندگینامه

حاج داوود رحمانی متولد سال ۱۳۲۴ در خیابان شهباز (هفده شهریور) در شرق تهران است[۱].او که در حوالی همان محل تولد خود به آهنگری اشتغال داشت[۲]، پس از انقلاب وارد کمیته ی انقلاب شد و سپس به واسطه ی آشنایی با لاجوردی، دادستان تهران در آن زمان، به ریاست زندان قزل حصار رسید. وی در تابستان ۶۳ و پس از برکناری اسدالله لاجوردی در اثر فشارهای سیاسی مختلف برکنار شد  و بعدها به کار سابق خود در بازار تهران بازگشت؛ برخی از شنیده های تایید نشده حاکی از این است که وی به دلیل بیماری، در حال حاضر خانه نشین است.

France24:The noose tightens around Iranian refugees at Camp Ashraf

The Iraqi government has announced that it plans to close Camp Ashraf, home to more than 3,000 Iranian dissidents by the end of the year. But the decision that has put the international community in a difficult position.

By Marc DAOU (text)

During his visit to the US this week, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has a number of issues on the agenda, primarily the December 31, 2011, withdrawal of all US troops from Iraq. But at Camp Ashraf – home to more than 3,000 Iranian dissidents in Iraq – all eyes are set on whether Maliki’s visit could bring a resolution to a looming crisis over the future of the refugee camp.

December 31 also happens to be the deadline set by Maliki’s government to dismantle the camp, which is situated in Iraq’s Diyala province about 60 kilometers north of Baghdad.

A sprawling camp that emerged in the mid-1980s, Camp Ashraf is a base of the People’s Mujahideen Organization of Iran (PMOI), a resistance group opposed to the Iranian theocratic regime and reviled in Tehran. Under former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, the group – which is also called the Mujahideen Khalq – mounted attacks against the Iranian government

Following the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the camp was disarmed and secured by US troops until 2009, when the US turned the camp over to the Iraqi government.

Justice for Iran: علی رازینی

 

زندگینامه

علی رازینی، متولد دوم خرداد ۱۳۳۲ در شهرستان رزن همدان است. پدر بزرگ او آیت الله حاج میرزا حسن رازینی به همراه آیت الله خمینی و آیت الله گلپایگانی ، از  اولین شاگردان حاج شیخ عبدالکریم حائری در حوزه ی تازه تاسیس قم بودند[۱]. پدر او، حجت الاسلام و المسلمین حاج شیخ محمود رازینی نیز روحانی است و هم اکنون در قم زندگی می کند.  علی رازینی، در سال ۱۳۴۲ و در سن ده سالگی به حوزه ی علمیه ی قم وارد شد و تحت تعلیم روحانیونی چون آیت الله قدوسی، مشکینی، جنتی، صانعی، وحید خراسانی، شبیری، حاج شیخ مرتضی حائری یزدی، دکتر بهشتی، دکتر مفتح، جوادی آملی و مصباح یزدی قرار گرفت. او فارق التحصیل کارشناسی حقوق در دانشگاه تهران، فارغ التحصیل کارشناسی ارشد حقوق جزا و حقوق خصوصی از دانشگاه شهید بهشتی و فارغ اتحصیل دکتری

Eye on Iran: Iran Says It Will Not Return US Drone

Top Stories

AP: „Iran will not return a U.S. surveillance drone captured by its armed forces, a senior commander of the country’s elite Revolutionary Guard said Sunday. Gen. Hossein Salami, deputy head of the Guard, said in remarks broadcast on state television that the violation of Iran’s airspace by the U.S. drone was a ‚hostile act‘ and warned of a ‚bigger‘ response. He did not elaborate on what Tehran might do. ‚No one returns the symbol of aggression to the party that sought secret and vital intelligence related to the national security of a country,‘ Salami said. Iranian television broadcast video Thursday of Iranian military officials inspecting what it identified as the RQ-170 Sentinel drone. Iranian state media have said the unmanned spy aircraft was detected over the eastern town of Kashmar, some 140 miles (225 kilometers) from the border with Afghanistan. U.S. officials have acknowledged losing the drone.“ http://t.uani.com/uhRKFs 

SN: Iran übt Schließung der Straße von Hormus

Die iranischen Streitkräfte wollen nach Darstellung eines Parlamentsabgeordneten in einem Manöver die Schließung der Straße von Hormus, der für den Öltransport wichtigsten Wasserstraße der Welt, üben.

Das Manöver werde in Kürze beginnen, sagte das Mitglied im Sicherheitsausschuss des Parlaments der Nachrichtenagentur ISNA am Montag.Der Politiker Parwis Sawari fügte hinzu: „Wenn die Welt die Region unsicher machen will, machen wir die Welt unsicher.“ Die iranischen Streitkräfte lehnten einen Kommentar in der Angelegenheit ab.

NZZ: Iraner bewirft Ahmadinejad laut Medienbericht mit Schuhen

Ein aufgebrachter Arbeitsloser hat den iranischen Präsidenten Mahmud Ahmadinejad laut einem Medienbericht mit seinen Schuhen beworfen. Mit der Aktion wollte der Mann seinem Ärger über sein ausbleibendes Arbeitslosengeld Luft machen, wie die konservative iranische Nachrichtenwebsite shafaf.ir am Montag berichtete. Laut dem Bericht verfehlten die Schuhe Ahmadinejad. Bei dem Werfer handle es sich um einen entlassenen Arbeiter einer Textilfabrik in der Stadt Sari, die der Präsident zum Zeitpunkt des Angriffs besuchte. Dass iranische Medien über Demütigungen des Präsidenten berichten, gilt als äusserst selten. Shafaf.ir steht allerdings Ahmadinejads politischen Gegnern nahe.

Quelle: NZZ

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: Iraq/Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization: Cooperate With UN

(New York) – Both the leadership of the exiled Iranian opposition group Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization and the Iraqi government should fully cooperate with the UN refugee agency, Human Rights Watch said today.

Both sides should allow the more than 3,200 Iranians at Camp Ashraf, in Iraq, to move to a protected location under UN supervision before the Iraqi government’s December 31, 2011 deadline for closing the camp, Human Rights Watch said. And both should allow the UN refugee agency sufficient time to conduct private and confidential interviews with each person to assess their refugee claims.

Two Inmates Hanged in Public in Kermanshah; Six Others Hanged in Central Prison

On 28 November, the Public Relations Unit of Kermanshah General and Revolutionary Courts issued a statement about the execution of two inmates convicted of rape and kidnapping. According to local sources, the two convicts were hanged at 10 in the morning on Sunday 29 November in Kermanshah’s Azadi Square with onlookers stated to be “in the thousands.”

Two men hanged publicly in Kermanshah’s Azadi Square 

Radio Free Europe: Iran Claims Massive New Caspian Gas Field

Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi

 

Iran’s oil minister says the country has discovered a huge natural-gas field in the Caspian Sea.

The ministry’s news website, shana.ir, quotes Rostam Qassemi as saying the field is located within Iran’s maritime borders at a depth of 700 meters and contains an estimated 50 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Qassemi said Iran has 11 trillion cubic meters of proven gas reserves in the Caspian Sea, excluding the latest discovery.

Iran holds the world’s second-largest natural-gas reserves, after Russia.

Most of its gas production is used domestically.