News
Dec 21-24, 1998 / Azar 28-Dey 4, 1377
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Today
* Karbaschi's lawyer will appeal again
* Tehran mayor sentence reduced
Previous
* Iran local polls to heat up factional rivalries
* Iran to woo foreign funds with guarantees
* Asghar-Zadeh severely beaten
* Stanford surgeons return from Iran
* Argentina frees Iranian in 1992 bomb investigation
* Iran condemns ``criminal'' Israel raid on Lebanon
* Court won't free Karbaschi
* Iran forms panel to probe killings
* Iran eyes agriculture measures amid drought fears
* World press group award for Iran's Sarkuhi
* Shadowy group claims murder of writers
* Khatami pushes liberal reforms
* Struggle over upcoming local council elections
* Iranian clerics protest over arrest
* Total again defies US law on trade with Iran
* Iran and Japan agree on more dialogue
* Iran says U.S. apologised for stray missile
* Iranians begin Ramadan fasting a day late
* Iranian embassy officials injured in Vienna protest
* Iran meets EU talk politics and economics
* Abadan airport closed due to military raids
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Thursday
December 24, 1998
* Karbaschi's lawyer will appeal again
December 24, 1998, TEHRAN, Iran (BBC) - An Iranian appeal court has
reduced a prison sentence passed on the mayor of Tehran, a reformist and
close ally of the country's president, Mohammed Khatami. Gholam-Hossein
Karbaschi, convicted of embezzlement in July, had his sentence cut from
five years to two years. Mr Karbaschi's lawyer told the Reuters newsagency
that he would pursue a final appeal to the Supreme Court... FULL
TEXT ... Also audio
report from the BBC's Jim Muir
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* Tehran mayor sentence reduced
December 24, 1998, TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - An Iranian appeals court has
reduced the sentence of a former Tehran mayor convicted of corruption from
five years to two years in jail, a judiciary statement said today. The
court in the Iranian capital also reduced to 10 years from 20 years the
period Gholamhossein Karbaschi was banned from assuming public office.
Karbaschi's lawyer, Bahman Keshavarz, said his client, who seeks complete
exoneration, would protest the decision by the appeals court. ``I do not
accept the ruling,'' said Keshavarz, adding that he will protest to the
prosecutor general on Saturday ... FULL
TEXT
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Wednesday
December 23, 1998
* Iran local polls to heat up factional rivalries
TEHRAN, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Iran's rival factions are gearing up for
upcoming municipal polls, the next battleground over the drive for a ``civil
society'' by moderate President Mohammad Khatami, who has limited power
despite a huge electoral mandate. The municipal elections in February could
help tip the balance of power between moderates and conservatives locked
in heated rivalry after last year's landslide election of Khatami on a
platform of social and political reforms ... FULL
TEXT
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* Iran to woo foreign funds with guarantees
TEHRAN, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Iran's parliament on Wednesday passed a law
that will provide foreign investment guarantees as part of an attempt to
jump start the economy, which has been badly hit by the slump in oil prices.
Deputies approved the cabinet bill under which Iran's government pledges
to refund foreign investments in Iranian free trade zones in case of state
takeovers or seizures by the courts, the official news agency IRNA reporter
... FULL
TEXT
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* Asghar-Zadeh severely beaten
TEHRAN, Dec 23 (AFP) - A political activist who helped orchestrate an
attack on the former US embassy in Tehran in 1979 was severely beaten by
a group of Islamic fundamentalists while delivering a public speech, a
newspaper reported Wednesday. Ebrahim Asghar-Zadeh, a former left-wing
MP and now a supporter of President Mohammad Khatami, was attacked by the
extremists after addressing students at the University of Hamedan, a town
southwest of Tehran, on Sunday, the daily Zan (Woman) said ... FULL TEXT
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* Stanford surgeons return from Iran
STANFORD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 23, 1998--Two Stanford physicians
have opened the door to what they hope will be the revival of the once-thriving
interchange between academics in the United States and Iran. Dr. Camran
Nezhat, clinical professor of surgery and gynecology / obstetrics, and
Dr. Mark Vierra, assistant professor of surgery, returned in early December
from a two- week visit to the University of Tehran, where they demonstrated
advanced techniques in laparoscopic surgery and met with top-ranking university
officials ... FULL
TEXT
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* Argentina frees Iranian in 1992 bomb investigation
BUENOS AIRES, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Argentine authorities freed an Iranian
woman arrested in connection with the 1992 Israeli embassy bombing, but
she is still under investigation and may not leave the country, a Supreme
Court spokeswoman said on Tuesday. Nasrin Mokhtari was released from custody
on Monday due to lack of evidence against her, the spokeswoman told Reuters
... FULL
TEXT
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* Iran condemns ``criminal'' Israel raid on Lebanon
TEHRAN, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Iran on Wednesday condemned as ``criminal''
an Israeli raid which killed a woman and her six children in Lebanon, Iranian
state television reported. ``These criminal acts aim to put pressure on
the government, people and the heroic resistance of Lebanon and to destabilise
this country,'' the television quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid
Reza Asefi as saying ... FULL
TEXT
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Tuesday
December 22, 1998
* Court won't free Karbaschi
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- An Iranian court has rejected an appeal by the
former mayor of Tehran who was sentenced to five years in jail for corruption.
Gholamhossein Karbaschi's appeal was reviewed by three judges, and the
``charges and the cases of conviction remain the same,'' Iran's official
news agency reported Tuesday. It quoted judiciary spokesman Fotovat Nasiri-Savadkouhi
... FULL TEXT
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* Iran forms panel to probe killings
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- The chief of Iran's hard-line judiciary has ordered
the formation of a committee to investigate a spate of dissident killings,
Tehran newspapers reported Tuesday. The official, Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi,
said the committee would improve coordination of information and evidence
concerning the cases, the Farsi-language Iran and other newspapers reported.
No other details were available ... FULL
TEXT
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* Iran eyes agriculture measures amid drought fears
TEHRAN, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Iran's President Mohammad Khatami called
on Tuesday for measures to modernise agriculture and curb consumption as
a senior official cautioned about the possibility of a new drought due
to low rainfall. Khatami, quoted by the official news agency IRNA, said
Iran needed to boost mechanisation and modern technology in agriculture
to limit reliance on food imports ... FULL
TEXT
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Monday
December 21, 1998
* World press group award for Iran's Sarkuhi
PARIS, Dec 21 (Reuters) - The World Association of Newspapers awarded
its 1999 Golden Pen of Freedom award on Monday to exiled Iranian writer
Faraj Sarkuhi. The association said Sarkuhi, former editor of the cultural
journal Adineh freed from jail in January after serving a 12-month sentence
for ``propaganda'' offences, had consistently defended press freedom in
Iran ... FULL
TEXT
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* Shadowy fundamentalist group claims murder of Iranian writers
TEHRAN, Dec 21 (AFP) - A shadowy Islamic fundamentalist group has claimed
responsibility for a series of murders of writers and dissidents in Iran
in the past month, a newspaper reported Monday. "The revolutionary
executions are a warning to all those whose pens are in the service of
foreigners and want Iran's return to foreign domination," the Fedayeen
(Devotees) of Pure Islam said in a statement published in Khordad daily
... FULL TEXT
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* Khatami pushes liberal reforms
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- It's an uphill battle, but President Mohammad Khatami
is doggedly pushing through liberal reforms over the opposition of powerful
conservative rivals. What's emerging, says Abbas Abdi, editor of the moderate
newspaper Salam, is that the country is being run by a special kind of
balance. The conservatives challenge Khatami at every turn, but ousting
him from office ``isn't doable,'' Abdi says. ``To a certain extent, they
stick to their boundaries and don't exceed their limits.'' ... FULL TEXT
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* Struggle over upcoming local council elections
Tehran, (Hamshahri) - Arguments between conservatives and moderates
rage over who should and shouldn't be allowed to become a candidate for
local council elections, due to be help in February. There are several
reports in Monday's political section of Hamshahri ... FULL
TEXT IN PERSIAN
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* Iranian clerics protest over arrest
Dec 21, (BBC) - Supporters of the moderate Iranian President, Mohammed
Khatami, have protested against the arrest of a prominent cleric who is
a political ally of the President. The association of combatant clerics,
a political group consisting of left wing clerics, said the arrest of Asadollah
Bayat was surprising and has raised widespread questions ... FULL
TEXT
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* Total again defies US law on trade with Iran
TEHRAN, Dec 21 (AFP) - French oil group Total is again openly defying
US threats to punish foreign companies doing business with Iran, negotiating
new projects with Tehran, one of which involves a vast onshore field. "With
10 percent of the planet's oil reserves and 15 percent of the gas reserves,
Iran is central to our development strategy. We reject sidelining this
country because of political reasons," Total's Middle East director,
Christophe de Margerie, told AFP ... FULL
TEXT
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* Iran and Japan agree on more dialogue
Dec 21, (BBC) - Iran and Japan have agreed to step up political dialogue
during talks between their foreign ministers in Tokyo but have failed to
resolve differences over economic issues. The Japanese news agency said
both sides agreed to more frequent contacts at ministerial level ...
FULL TEXT
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* Iran says U.S. apologised for stray missile
TEHRAN, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Iran said on Sunday the United States had
apologised for a stray missile from air strikes on Iraq which hit an Iranian
border city. ``The government of the United States, through the embassy
of Switzerland in Tehran, expressed its regret over the landing of a missile
in the city of Khorramshahr,'' a foreign ministry statement carried by
state-run television said ... FULL
TEXT
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* Iranians begin Ramadan fasting a day late
TEHRAN, Dec 21 (AFP) - Iranians began fasting for the month of Ramadan
at dawn on Monday, a day late according to the Islamic lunar calendar and
after a number of Arab countries had already begun the dawn-to-dusk fasting.
Iranians were obliged to wait until Sunday afternoon to be told by religious
authorities that they had seen the new moon, which heralds the fasting
month ... FULL
TEXT
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Friday
December 18, 1998
* Iranian embassy officials injured in Vienna protest
VIENNA, Dec 18 (AFP) - Two Iranian embassy staff were injured in Vienna
Friday in an attack by Tehran opposition activists protesting during talks
between an Iranian minister and the EU, the Austrian foreign ministry said.
The officials sustained injuries during an attack on cars belonging to
the delegation of Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Morteza Sarmadi, meeting
here with a troika of European Union officials, said a ministry statement
... FULL TEXT
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* Iran meets EU talk politics and economics
Dec 18, (BBC) - Senior officials from Iran and the European Union have
begun talks in the Austrian capital, Vienna, on economic, political and
human rights issues. The officials also discussed the recent killings of
a number of Iranian writers and opposition figures, suspected to have been
carried out by conservative Iranian elements opposed to President Mohammmed
Khatami's reforms ... FULL
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* Abadan airport closed due to military raids
TEHRAN, Dec 18 (AFP) - Abadan airport in southwestern Iran near the
Iraqi border has been closed because of the US-British military strikes
against Iraq, Iranian state television said Friday. Domestic flights to
and from Abadan were suspended for at least five days, the television said
... FULL TEXTTEXT
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