Financial Times: Candidates linked to an Islamist party with close ties to Iran won out over rivals in elections for Iraq’s provincial councils announced on Friday. The results provide an early glimpse of the balance of electoral strength within the Shia political movement, which is expected to dominate once the final results of the January 30 election – expected in the next two days – are announced.
Pro-Iran Shia group ahead in Iraq polls
EU chiefs urged to take tougher stance on Iran
U-TV: European Union chiefs were today urged to adopt a tougher stance with Iran over any move to acquire nuclear weapons.
Democratic Unionist Jim Allister issued the call after MEPs were briefed by a critic of the Tehran regime, the President elect of the National Council of Resistance in Iran, Maryam Rajavi. In a hard hitting statement Mr Allister said: “Iran is a dictatorial theocracy, in which freedom of speech and human rights are trampled over on
a daily basis.
Iran Nobel Winner Complains About Threats, Summons
Reuters: Iran’s 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi on Saturday complained that the conservative judiciary had summoned her to court again without saying why. “I have received another summons to appear before a public court, this time as an accused on the fifth of Esfand (Feb. 23),” the human rights lawyer told Reuters by telephone.
Iran adamant over Rushdie fatwa
BBC: Iran’s hard-line Revolutionary Guards have declared the death sentence on British author Salman Rushdie is still valid – 16 years after it was issued. The military organisation, loyal to Iran’s supreme leader – said the order was “irrevocable” on the eve of the anniversary of the 1989 fatwa. The order was issued after publication of Mr Rushdie’s novel “The Satanic Verses”, condemned as blasphemous.
Rafsanjani: U.S. Can’t Stop Iran’s Atomic Ambitions
Reuters: Washington will not stop Iran pursuing nuclear technology and should not attempt a military “adventure” in the country, an influential cleric said on Friday. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has exhorted Iran to give up what she says is a nuclear weapons program. U.S. officials have stressed diplomacy but not ruled out an attack against atomic sites, which Iran insists are to meet booming demand for electricity.
Fire on bus kills 14 in northwest Iran
Reuters: Fourteen people were killed and 15 injured in northwest Iran when a gas cylinder on a bus toppled over and burst into flames, state television reported on Friday. The bus was travelling to Tehran from the western province of Kurdistan on Thursday when the fuel canister fell over and exploded.
Iranian Exiles Protest Against Tehran
Los Angeles Times: More than 2,000 Iranian exiles from across Europe rallied in Berlin today to protest against Tehran’s conservative Islamic government and criticize its nuclear ambitions as a dangerous ploy that could lead to U.S. military intervention. The demonstration quickly spun into a tale of legal maneuverings and conspiracy theories. Before it was to begin at the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin authorities canceled the rally, claiming it was partly organized by an Iranian opposition group linked to terrorism. A German court overturned the ban, and protesters, detained for hours at airports and train stations, streamed through rainy streets.
Iran exiles defy bans to hold rally, call for end to clerical rule
Iran Focus: Berlin, Feb. 10 Thousands of Iranian exiles braved cold and rain, and defied bans by two European governments, to hold a rally in the heart of the German capital on the twenty-sixth anniversary of the revolution that ended monarchy in Iran.
Iran exiles defy bans to hold rally, call for end to clerical rule
Iran Focus: Berlin, Feb. 10 Thousands of Iranian exiles braved cold and rain, and defied bans by two European governments, to hold a rally in the heart of the German capital on the twenty-sixth anniversary of the revolution that ended monarchy in Iran.
Scots Tory to speak against Iran at Berlin demonstration
The Scotsman: A SCOTS Conservative MEP is to address a gathering of 40,000 exiled Iranians in Germany at a demonstration against the fundamentalist regime in Tehran.
Struan Stevenson will tell the crowd at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin today that “the days of the brutal fascist regime are numbered”.
The demonstration has been organised by the National Council for Resistance in Iran.
