The Iranian Times

Tuesday November 30, 1999 / Azar 9, 1378, No. 857


Flower delivery in Iran

Sehaty Foreign Exchange

Flower delivery in Iran

Iranian books


    Abu Saeed


Opinion

It's over
Conservatives are fighting a losing battle

By Kamran Qezelbash
November 30, 1999
The Iranian

For those of us looking at events in Iran from abroad, it's hard to understand how a cleric like Abdollah Nouri has been sent to prison by an Islamic court ...

But all the pushing and shoving in Iran, including Nouri's incarceration, the student uprising last July, the shutting down of opposition newspapers and the bitter fights over the upcoming Majlis elections, or even the chain murders of dissidents, should not be a cause for concern -- that is if you think the country is moving backward. In fact every attempt by the conservatives to counter the march toward liberty has exposed their lack of popular support as well as their diminishing influence on the course of events. They have lost the initiative. They are reacting to a wave they cannot control ... GO TO FEATURE


Outlook

How can you imprison one of us?
Senior cleric condemns Nouri jailing

... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN


    Anyway

Not even a great cook

The Shah's 1977 interview with Barbara Walters:

WALTERS: I am quoting, your Majesty, "In a man's life, women count only if they are beautiful, graceful, and know how to stay feminine. You may be equal in the eyes of the law, but not in ability. You have never produced a Michelangelo or a Bach or even a great cook. You are schemers. You are evil. All of you." Your Majesty, you said all of these things? ... FULL TEXT


More Letters

* Delplored life, glorified death

Engscience@aol.com writes in response to Mehrdad's letter:

Some people may think of Khomeini as a true fundamentalist who was acting on pure Islamic values without any regard to human rights or interanationally respected democractic principles ["Lunch with Khomeini"]. But, the fact is that Khomeini knew the power of religion over the unedcuated masses, and he used that to the utmost of his abilities ...

To call Khomeini as a man who only acted upon his fundamentalist view is a critical mistake; he delplored life, he glorified death ... FULL TEXT

* More thankful than Americans

B. writes in response to, "What are you thankful for?"

You should be thankful that you are living in the United States, and not anywhere else in the world.; thankful for the freedom that you are provided to breath freely; thankful for walking in the streets without fear of paasdaars, thankful for being able to look at hundreds of beautiful women of all ages; thankful that your daughter doesn't have to wear the chador and can get an education and have a future; thankful that you can publish your thoughts and ideas on the Internet without having to get permission from anyone; thankful that you can turn on the TV and radio and hear music; thankful that there is a huge bookstore in every neighborhood that you can go and browse hundreds of thousands of subjects; thankful that you can go to a bar and order a beer without fear; thankful for abundance in stores; thankful for cheap food of the highest quality; thankful for security...

Actually, come to think of it, as immigrants we have more to be thankful for than the natives. We were not born here, but we are extremely lucky and blessed to find ourselves not only out of Iran, but in the U.S., land of freedom and prosperity, like no other on earth.


* Film: Iranian films in Berkeley

Iranian Cinema: December 3, 9, 10, and 15 through 19 at the New Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, California. The PFA presents new features and documentaries-as well as influential 1970s films-selected in Teheran by Alissa Simon of the Film Center of the Art Institute of Chicago, an institution that has presented 10 annual Iranian Film Festivals ... DETAILS HERE

SELL TICKETS ONLINE AT YOUR SITE


Books of the Week

* Saaniyeh-yeh aakhar (1999)
Y2K issues in Iran
By Dr. Ali Parandeh

* Barandeh-haa ham baazandeh-and (1999)
A memoir by a former mayor of Tehran, with photos
By Ahmad Nafisi

* Jazireh sargardaani (2nd edition, 1998)
Novel
By Simin Daneshvar

* Mumia va assal (1996)
Novel
By Shahriar Mandanipour

* Mehr-e giaah (1998)
Novel
ByAmir Hassan Cheheltan

See more Iranian books for sale

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Video of the Week

Divorce Iranian Style

A new documentary that goes where Western camera s have never before gone: into an Iranian divorce court. The film is directed by award- winning independent filmmaker Kim Longinotto and Ziba Mir-Hosseini, an Iranian anthropologist and writer, based in London, whose specialty is women's rights and family law in the Mid-East.

THE IRANIAN
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More news

Khatami in dilemma over dissident jailing

TEHRAN, Nov 30 (AFP) - Iranian President Mohammad Khatami finds himself caught between the rule of law he has insisted on implementing here and calls to intervene in the jailing of the nation's leading reformist. Since a hardline religious court slapped former interior minister Abdollah Nuri with a five-year prison term Saturday, and closed his popular daily paper, Khatami's pro-reform backers have called for the verdict to be overturned ... FULL TEXT

Reformers condemn and hardliners welcome jailing of Nuri

TEHRAN, Nov 30 (AFP) - The reformist faction of Iranian President Mohammad Khatami on Tuesday denounced the five-year jail sentence handed down to a top reformer and Khatami ally for dissent while hardliners here hailed the ruling. The Association of Combattant Clerics (ACC) said the jailing of Abdollah Nuri on Saturday and the closure of his popular Khordad newspaper by a conservative court was an unfair decision motivated by partisan politics ... FULL TEXT

Parliament to reopen probe on murdered intellectuals

TEHRAN, Nov 30 (AFP) - The Iranian parliament is to continue its investigation into a series of murders of intellectuals and opposition figures shortly, an MP said Tuesday, contradicting a statement by a fellow deputy who said the inquiry was being abandoned. "The Commission of inquiry will resume its work next week," said conservative MP and commission member Ali Movahedi-Savoji ... FULL TEXT

Conservative papers get Iran says Russia accepts Moslem talks on Chechnya

TEHRAN, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Iran said on Tuesday that Russia had agreed to a proposed visit by an Iranian-led Moslem delegation to Moscow for talks on the crisis in Chechnya. The official IRNA news agency quoted Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov as telling his Iranian counterpart Kamal Kharrazi by telephone that the Russian cabinet had approved the visit ... FULL TEXT

Nateq-Nouri again rules out dialogue with the United States

ROME, Nov 30 (AFP) - Iran's conservative parliamentary speaker reiterated Tehran's opposition to re-opening dialogue with the United States in an interview in an Italian newspaper Tuesday. "The actions of the government and the US Congress go against dialogue," Ali Akbar Nateq-Nuri told La Stampa daily, stressing that Tehran could not accept Washington's continued hostility towards the Islamic republic.... FULL TEXT

Elf denies IOC joins Iran oil venture

LONDON, Nov 29 (Reuters) - French energy group Elf Aquitaine on Monday denied a report that Indian Oil Corp would become involved in developing Iran's Balal oilfield. ``This is false,'' an Elf spokesman said, referring to a statement by an IOC official that the state-owned company planned involvement in a development contract for Balal ... FULL TEXT

Iran officials doubt quick economic recovery

TEHRAN, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Doubts are growing in Iran over quick economic recovery, amid parliamentary resistance to President Mohammad Khatami's liberalisation plan and apparent policy confusion in the Islamic republic. Parliament, dominated by Khatami's opponents, recently blocked several key market-oriented elements in the reformist president's economic plan for the next five years and imposed provisions deemed contrary to the programme's spirit ... FULL TEXT

Jafari awarded in Italy

Tehran (Iran daily) - Mehdi Jafari's short film, "Ziarat", has won the jury prize at a youth film festival in Italy ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

Majidi hopes, Pashazadeh hurtt

Tehran (Iran daily) - An Austrian second division soccer club is looking to lure Farhad Majidi. Meanwhile, Majid Pashazadeh, who plays in Germany, may have to quit soccer altogether because of injuries ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN


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Kelk

All about beautiful Nastaliq caligraphy. Very nicely done.

Beyond Iran

Apocalypse!

PBS television's "Frontline" takes a look at "the evolution of apocalyptic belief and how it shaped the Western world."

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Quote Unquote

Choices

The conservatives can dismiss the president, call off the Majlis elections, mobilize their supporters in the basij, declare martial law and go back to the days of mass executions and exterminate their opponents. Or they can continue on the same basic course since Khatami's election: gradually leave their bunkers and allow the reformists to lead Iran in a new direction -- a sensible direction that won't be pretty but more in line with the wishes of the people.

-- Kamran Qezelbash
"It's over"
The Iranian
November 30, 1999


Photo of the Day

Reporters defend Nouri


Music

Musician of the Week

Dastan Ensemble with Shahram Nazeri: Homage to Rumi

Music artists index