News
October 4-8, 1999 / Mehr 12-16, 1378
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Today
* Iran holds six new suspects for dissidents'
murders
* Top cleric accuses US of spreading lies
* MKO protests Khatami plan to visit France
Previous
* Banned daily returns to news-stands
under new name
* Iran rejects U.S. charges of religious persecution
* Iranians protest Khatami plan to visit France
* MP blames Taliban for kidnapping
* U.S., oil firms clash on Caspian exports
* Iran denies involvement in 1996 Saudi bombing
* Pro-reform Iran editors ready new daily after ban
* U.S. cites Iran for religious persecution
* Majlis opens debate on Khatami's economic plan
* Turkey to help Iran compensate loss
* Iran "doing its best" to free Portuguese hostages
* Iran closes publisher over ``blasphemous'' book
* MPs question government development plan
* Europeans, Arabs make strong showing at Iran fair
* Iran recommends legal action over satirical play
* Nateq-Nuri echoes call for end to faction fighting
* Editors ask Khatami to defend the press
* Iran says no date set for Khatami visit to France
* Lawmakers seek Iran disclosure
* Iran rebuffs U.S. over Saudi bombing case
* Iran denies plans to use force to free hostages
* Oman denies mediating between Iran, U.S.
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Friday
October 8, 1999
* Iran holds six new suspects for dissidents' murders
TEHRAN, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Iranian authorities arrested six new suspects
in connection with a series of dissidents' murders last year blamed on
rogue secret police agents, Iranian state television reported on Thursday.
It quoted a statement from the military courts as saying an investigation
had been launched into the role of the six in the murders of veteran opposition
leader Dariush Forouhar, his wife Parvaneh, and two outspoken dissident
intellectuals ... FULL
TEXT
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* Top Iran cleric accuses US of spreading lies to harm Saudi ties
\TEHRAN, Oct 8 (AFP) - US accusations about a possible Iranian involvement
in the 1996 bombing of a US military facility in Saudi Arabia are "baseless
lies" intended to harm Tehran's ties with its Gulf neighbours, a top
Iranian cleric charged Friday ... FULL
TEXT
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* MKO protests Khatami plan to visit France
PARIS, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Iranian exiles said they demonstrated outside
French embassies in 24 cities around the world on Thursday to protest against
a French government invitation to Iran's President Mohammad Khatami. In
Paris, a protest took place outside the headquarters of UNESCO, the United
Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation, where Khatami
is expected to attend the agency's general assembly at the end of this
month ... FULL
TEXT
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Thursday
October 7, 1999
* Banned daily returns to news-stands under new name
TEHRAN, Oct 7 (AFP) - Senior staff members of the leading reformist
daily Neshat, banned for "insulting Islam," defied the conservative-led
clampdown against the moderate press Thursday by bringing a new daily to
the newsstands. "Asr-e Azadegan (Era of the Freed) is Neshat's replacement,"
a staff member told AFP. Editor-in-chief of the new moderate paper, Mashallah
Shamsolvaezin, and his main deputy, Hamid-Reza Jalaipur, retained the positions
they had held at Neshat on the new newspaper ... FULL
TEXT
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* Iran rejects U.S. charges of religious persecution
TEHRAN, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Iran on Thursday rejected U.S. allegations
that it violated religious freedom, and charged that America itself was
blighted by injustice and inequality. ``Unfortunately such baseless...statements,
which are in line with Washington's self-serving policy of double-standards,
are made at a time when American society is itself suffering from injustice
and inequality,'' Iran's news agency IRNA quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman
Hamid Reza Asefi as saying ... FULL
TEXT
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* Iranians protest Khatami plan to visit France
PARIS, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Iranian exiles said they demonstrated outside
French embassies in 24 cities around the world on Thursday to protest against
a French government invitation to Iran's President Mohammad Khatami. In
Paris, a protest took place outside the headquarters of UNESCO, the United
Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation, where Khatami
is expected to attend the agency's general assembly at the end of this
month ... FULL
TEXT
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* MP blames Taliban for kidnapping of Portuguese nationals
TEHRAN, Oct 7 (AFP) - An Iranian MP blamed Afghanistan's Taliban militia
Thursday for the kidnapping of three Portuguese journalists in a southeastern
border region last month and said the three might well now be over the
border. "The kidnapper's headquarters is in Afghanistan, and most
probably, the abducted Portuguese nationals are in Afghanistan," said
MP Abbas Ali Nura who represents the Zahedan region where the journalists
were seized ... FULL
TEXT
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* U.S., oil firms clash on Caspian exports
ALMATY, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Italian oil company ENI stirred up a long-standing
dispute on possible routes for oil exports from the landlocked Caspian
basin on Thursday by calling for exports through Iran. This put ENI firmly
at odds with the oft-stated wishes of the United States and Turkey, and
exposed sharp disagreements between regional powers seeking influence over
the vast and valuable energy resources of the region ... FULL
TEXT
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Wednesday
October 6, 1999
* Iran denies involvement in 1996 Saudi bombing of US barracks
TEHRAN, Oct 6 (AFP) - Iran on Wednesday denied US reports that it may
have been involved in the 1996 Dhahran truck-bombing that killed 19 US
servicemen in Saudi Arabia. "These claims are baseless and are only
aimed at sowing discord in the region," foreign ministry spokesman
Hamid-Reza Asefi said, cited by state radio ... FULL
TEXT
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* Pro-reform Iran editors ready new daily after ban
TEHRAN, Oct 6 (Reuters) - A team of reformist Iranian editors was busy
on Wednesday preparing to launch yet another newspaper after hardliners
banned three previous dailies, a source in the newsroom said. ``God willing,
Asr-e Azadegan newspaper will be on the newsstands on Thursday,'' the source
close to publisher Ghafour Garshasbi told Reuters. ``This newspaper will
continue the same reformist line as its predecessors,'' he said ... FULL
TEXT
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* U.S. cites Iran for religious persecution
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The State Department has designated China, Iran,
Iraq, Myanmar and Sudan as countries of particular concern for violations
of religious freedom, making them liable for U.S. diplomatic and economic
sanctions, spokesman James Rubin said Wednesday. The designations are the
first under a procedure mandated by Congress in last year's Religious Freedom
Act. The test is whether a government has ``engaged in or tolerated particularly
severe violations of religious freedom during the preceding 12 months.''
... FULL
TEXT
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* Majlis opens debate on Khatami's economic plan
TEHRAN, Oct 6 (AFP) - Iran's conservative-dominated parliament began
a closed-doors review of President Mohammad Khatami's five-year economic
plan on Wednesday amid criticism that the ambitious project could be unrealistic.
"Experts estimate that the plan cannot ensure the fulfilment of the
government's economic projections" of an annual growth rate of six
percent, said MP Mohammad-Baqer Nobakht, a member of parliament's directory
board, quoted in the press ... FULL
TEXT
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* Turkey to help Iran compensate loss over alleged bombing raid
ANKARA, Oct 6 (AFP) - Turkey said Wednesday that it has agreed to help
compensate Iran for losses resulting from what Tehran described as a deadly
bombing raid on its territory by Turkish warplanes three months ago. But
a foreign ministry spokesman stressed that Turkey did not bomb Iranian
territory and was offering assistance only "within the framework of
friendly ties with Iran and out of humanitarian considerations." ...
FULL TEXT
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* Iran "doing its best" to free Portuguese hostages
TEHRAN, Oct 6 (AFP) - Iranian authorities are "doing their best"
to secure the release of three Portuguese nationals taken hostage last
week by drug traffickers in southeastern Iran, officials said in Wednesday's
press. "The hostages are alive and security forces are doing their
best to secure their release," interior ministry spokesman Bahaeddin
Sheikholeslami said, cited by the English-language Iran News ... FULL TEXT
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Tuesday
October 5, 1999
* Iran closes publisher over ``blasphemous'' book
TEHRAN, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Iran has suspended the licence of a publishing
house which printed a book deemed blasphemous to Shi'ite Islam, an official
at the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry said on Tuesday. The official
told Reuters the book Divaneh-ye Dovvom (The Second Lunatic) was written
in what he termed a ``cryptic style'' and disparaged the 12th Imam, whose
return to earth to usher in an era of perfect justice is eagerly awaited
by pious Shi'ites ... FULL
TEXT
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* Iranian MPs question government development plan
TEHRAN, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Iranian parliament deputies on Tuesday poured
cold water on the government's ambitious $112 billion development plan,
saying it was too general and lacked concrete answers for Iran's economic
ills. State media said the conservative-led assembly held a closed session
to review the five-year plan, which aims to boost annual growth to six
percent from the current 1.6 percent, fight high unemployment and trim
the bloated state sector ... FULL
TEXT
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* Europeans, Arabs make strong showing at Iran fair
TEHRAN, Oct 5 (Reuters) - European and Arab companies were out in force
on Tuesday at Tehran's annual international trade fair, encouraged by President
Mohammad Khatami's overtures to Western and neighbouring states. Some 1,000
companies from 85 countries and 1,500 local firms are attending the fair,
the largest in its 25-year history ... FULL
TEXT
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Monday
October 4, 1999
* Iran recommends legal action over satirical play
TEHRAN, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Iranian authorities said on Sunday they had
completed an investigation into a satirical play, which had caused an uproar
among hardliners, and transferred the files of four suspects to the judiciary
for legal action. The official IRNA news agency quoted a statement by the
intelligence ministry as saying the suspects had confessed ``to being guilty''
over the play ... FULL
TEXT
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* Nateq-Nuri echoes Khamenei's call for end to faction fighting
TEHRAN, Oct 3 (AFP) - Iran's conservative leader, parliament speaker
Ali Akbar Nateq-Nuri, Sunday echoed calls by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei for an end to the increasingly bitter faction fighting with reformers.
"Just as the leader said, the country needs unity in what it says
and what it does," Nateq-Nuri told Iran's conservative dominated parliament
... FULL
TEXT
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* Editors ask Khatami to defend the press
TEHRAN, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Two leading Iranian journalists appealed to
reformist President Mohammad Khatami on Saturday to break his silence on
the mounting pressures against his allies in the press. In an open letter
to the president, Hamid Reza Jalaiepour and Mashallah Shamsolvaezin asked
Khatami -- who has fostered Iran's independent press in his campaign for
a civil society -- to shield them from their powerful critics ... FULL TEXT
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* Iran says no date set for Khatami visit to France
TEHRAN, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Iran said on Monday that no date had been
set for a planned visit to France by Iran's reformist President Mohammad
Khatami, Iranian radio reported. Foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza
Asefi said the two countries were discussing the timing of the visit. Banking
sources in Paris said last Thursday that the visit was due to take place
on October 26-27 in principle, though no definite date was given ... FULL TEXT
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* Lawmakers seek Iran disclosure
October 4, 1999 (USA TODAY) -- A congressional committee has asked for
"full disclosure" of U.S. contacts with Iran, expressing concern
that Congress is being kept in the dark about overtures toward a strategic
country and longtime adversary. Rep. Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y., chairman
of the House Committee on International Relations, sent a letter late Friday
to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. USA TODAY obtained a copy Sunday
... FULL
TEXT
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* Iran rebuffs U.S. over Saudi bombing case
TEHRAN, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Iran has rebuffed a request from U.S. President
Bill Clinton to help solve the 1996 bombing in Saudi Arabia that killed
19 American servicemen, saying it was an internal matter for the Saudi
authorities. In remarks to U.S. journalists in New York on Saturday, Iranian
Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi also denied any Iranian involvement in
the blast that rocked a U.S. military complex in Saudi Arabia ... FULL TEXT
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* Iran denies plans to use force to free Portuguese hostages
TEHRAN, Oct 4 (AFP) - Iran's interior ministry on Monday denied reports
it planned to use force to free three Portuguese nationals kidnapped a
week ago as efforts to secure their release remain shrouded in uncertainty.
"The interior ministry vehemently denies such reports," spokesman
Abolreza Bandi said, after Sunday's Tehran Times quoted a ministry official
saying Iran would resort to force to free the hostages ... FULL TEXT
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* Oman denies mediating between Iran, U.S.
DUBAI, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Oman's foreign minister said in an interview
on Monday the Gulf Arab state was not mediating between arch foes Iran
and the United States and denied a press report that it had carried a letter
between the two capitals. Foreign Affairs Minister Youssef bin Alawi bin
Abdullah told the London-based Arabic-language al-Hayat newspaper that
Oman did not carry a letter from President Bill Clinton to Iran's President
Mohammad Khatai ... FULL
TEXT
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