Iran Focus: Baghdad, Dec. 24 – The Iraqi Defence Minister stated that Iraq would soon display footage of Iranian
meddling throughout the country. Hazem Shaalan said that Iraqi security forces were able to obtain foreign satellite
footage of 50 suicide vehicles entering the country from Iran.
DM: Iraq to air footage of Iranian meddling before upcoming elections
DM: Iraq to air footage of Iranian meddling before upcoming elections
Iran Focus: Baghdad, Dec. 24 – The Iraqi Defence Minister stated that Iraq would soon display footage of Iranian
meddling throughout the country. Hazem Shaalan said that Iraqi security forces were able to obtain foreign satellite
footage of 50 suicide vehicles entering the country from Iran.
Iran: Lives in the balance: an open appeal to Iran’s judicial authorities
Amnesty International: The case of Leyla Mafi, who faces execution on account of charges including sexual intercourse with blood relatives, giving birth to an illegitimate child and acts contrary to chastity, flies in
the face of justice and human dignity. It also breaches Iran’s own obligationsunder international law, Amnesty International said.
Iran Focus:No immediate plans for new US sanctions on Syria, Iran
AFP: Despite President George W. Bush’s stern warnings to Iran and Syria against “meddling” in Iraq, Washington has shown no sign of readying new sanctions and appears to have little leverage with either state. Bush raised eyebrows last
week when he issued the threat to the two countries accused by the US-installed Baghdad government of orchestrating attacks in Iraq ahead of next month’s crucial elections.
Now Iran is in Washington’s nightmares
The Globe and Mail: An election will be held on Jan. 30 in Iraq. Later in the year, another will be held next door in Iran. The Iraq election will produce a Shia-led government, because Shiites make up about 60 per cent of the population. The hope must
be that such a government, resented by the Sunnis and barely tolerated by the Kurds, will not be the first step in Iraq’s unravelling through political conflict and/or civil war.
Shattered Bam to honour quake victims one year on
AFP: A year after one of the worst earthquakes in modern history, residents of the Iranian city of Bam are to pay their final respects Saturday to the 30,000 dead and bring an end to the traditional
12 months of mourning.
People from Bam and the surrounding region are to converge on cemeteries where loved ones were hastily buried after the earthquake that measured up to 6.7 on the Richter scale and reduced the town’s magnificent citadel to rubble.
Memories that haunt orphans of Iran quake a year on
Daily Telegraph: A year after surviving an earthquake that destroyed his town, 10-year-old Hossein still cannot sleep indoors. “We’ve tried to persuade him to sleep inside,” said Maryam Ghasemi, who heads the Mahshiz Institution for Boys, located on an arid tract of land a mile south of Bam. “But every time we persuade him to spend the night indoors, we get a tremor that triggers the miserable memories of last year.”
‘Nuclear push key to Iran’s ambition’
The Australian: Iran’s historic ambitions to be the dominant regional power mean it will not be dissuaded from its long-
term goal of nuclear weapons, creating the prospect of an eventual showdown with the US and its allies. That is the view of US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who also says the Iranian ambition to be the world centre for Shia Muslims is driving its “dangerous game” in neighbouring Iraq.
Runaway teenage girl sold to man twice her age serves prison time
Iran Focus: Tehran, Dec. 23 – A 15-year-old girl who ran away from home because of being forcefully married to a man twice her age was arrested and is currently in a juvenile correctional facility in Tehran. The girl, who is of Afghan origin, ran away from home after she was sold by her father to another 30-year-old Afghan man for 50 million rials (the equivalent of $5,000).
