They Voted to Kill Lake Orumieh

Families of those arrested during the Ramadhan’s fast-breaking hours on Wednesday, August 24th, 2011, spoke with Rooz about their family members and said they still had no information about their status.

As described by witnesses and published video clips, an intense security atmosphere prevailed in yesterday’s gatherings and security forces in Tabriz tried to prevent people from gathering. In the town of Orumieh tear gas and shot were fired in the air to disperse crowds. This violence came despite that the slogans and calls of the demonstrators were mostly regarding environmental issues and the condition of Orumieh Lake.

The slogans people shouted included these: “Orumieh Lake brings life, but Majlis orders its death.” “Come cry, fill up Orumieh Lake with our tears” and “Azerbaijan shall live on, blind whoever can’t accept it.”

Aftab website, a primarily business site, covered the events and warned government officials that, “if officials did not want to rescue the dying Orumieh Lake, then they should at least be aware that not doing anything serious about the issue can create deep security issues in the north-western region of the country.” Read more

Siehe auch: Iran’s Two-Front War

 

Lehren für den Iran

Dictators like Qaddafi, who had long professed to love his people while cultivating an image of himself as a father figure feared by his children, have proved to be fooling only themselves. The truth is that at the end, dictators are neither loved nor feared. Sooner, if not later, that same truth will visit Syria and Iran.

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Secret help

Iran „discreetly“ provided humanitarian aid to Libyan rebels before the fall of Tripoli, Jam-e-Jam newspaper quoted foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi on Sunday as saying.

„We were in touch with many of the rebel groups in Libya before the fall of (Muammar) Gaddafi, and discreetly dispatched three or four food and medical consignments to Benghazi,“ Salehi told the daily.

„The head of the National Transitional Council (NTC), Mustafa Abdel Jalil,  sent a letter of thanks to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for having been on  their side and helping,“ he added.

Since the Libyan uprising erupted in mid-February, Iran has adopted a dual  approach – criticising the Gaddafi  regime for its violent assaults on the rebels while at the same time condemning NATO’s military intervention.

On Tuesday, Iran „congratulated the Muslim people of Libya“ after rebels overran the capital Tripoli, but it has so far distanced itself from officially recognising the NTC.

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Bei den Karroubis

Fatemeh Karroubi, under strict arrest with her husband Mehdi Karroubi, has spokenof their conditions. She says they are in separated from each other in small, one-bedroom apartments and deprived of all essential rights as fresh air, books, and contacts.

Fatemeh Karroubi says that, despite the conditions, Mehdi Karroubi — a former Speaker of Parliament, 2009 Presidential candidate, and leading figure in the challenge to the regime after that election — remains in „good and strong“ spirits.

The Karroubis were cut off from the world, with security forces occupying their apartment, in mid-February.

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Protest in defense of drying lake turns violent in Iran

Persian2English

Yesterday the quiet city of Orumiyeh became turbulent for a few hours. The city lies near lake Orumiyeh (in the Azerbaijan province), one of the largest lakes in the middle east. The important body of water is drying up due to neglect by Iranian authorities.

The Azeri-speaking people of this city held peaceful gatherings  to protest against the destruction of lake Orumiyeh and the lack of consideration by Iranian parliament members and officials to save it.

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Wo bleibt der Protest der Grünen?

Im Iran droht der Lake Urmia auszutrocknen. Eine ökologische Katastrophe ersten Ranges droht. Deshalb finden in den letzten Tagen immer wieder Demonstrationen statt. Die natürlich vom iranischen Regime brutal unterdrückt werden.

Iran’s Intelligence Ministry has detained over 30 ethnic Azeris in recent days over environmental protests, RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service reports.

The activists in Tabriz were protesting the Iranian government’s failure to take measures to save Lake Urmia, a salt lake situated between Iran’s East Azerbaijan and West Azerbaijan provinces that is drying up.

Members of the activists‘ families told RFE/RL that over 30 people were detained on August 24 during an iftar evening meal when Muslims observing Ramadan break their fast.

On August 25, several more activists were detained before and after a soccer match in Tabriz between the Azerbaijani Trakhtorsazi team and local team Shahrdari Tabriz. Thousands of Azerbaijani fans chanted „Lake Urmia is dying, the Majlis orders its execution“ during the match.

Several more activists were reportedly detained in Ardabil and other cities.

Iran’s parliament recently voted against allocating funds to channel water from the Araz River to raise the level of the lake. Instead, they proposed relocating Azerbaijanis living around Lake Urmia.

Legitime Forderungen?

Iran, Syria’s closest ally, called on the government in Damascus to recognize its people’s “legitimate” demands on Saturday, in the first such remarks to come from the Persian country since the five-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad started.
Although the remarks, by Iran’s foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, did not advocate any specific changes, they were the first public sign of growing unease with the crisis in Syria — even as Iran has maintained an unyielding crackdown on its own dissenters.

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Wer gegen Assad ist, ist gegen die Islamische Republik

Supreme Guide” Ali Khamenei apparently has decided to throw Iran’s weight behind Assad. “We cannot allow plotters to succeed in Syria,” the daily Kayhan, which expresses Khamenei’s views, said in an editorial this week. “Those targeting Syria are, in fact, targeting the Islamic Revolution in Iran.” The paper also warned: “Turkey must know that the Islamic Republic will use all means at its disposal to ensure the failure of plots against Syria.”

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9/11: al-Qaeda didn’t act alone

Im Gegenteil, da gab es einige Helfer. Und zwar unter anderem und  Seit‘ and Seit‘ der Iran und Saudi Arabien erklären Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan, die sich durch ganze Aktenberge gewühlt haben.

Gegen den Al-Quds Tag!

Auch in diesem Jahr gibt es wieder Proteste gegen den islamistischen und antisemitischen Aufmarsch zum, von den iranischen Machthabern propagierten, sog. „Al-Quds-Tag“ in Berlin, der dieses Jahr für Samstag, den 27. August 2011 angekündigt ist.

STOP THE BOMB gehört zum Initiatorenkreis der  Kundgebung „Protest gegen den Al-Quds-Tag: Gegen islamistische und antisemitische Propaganda auf Berlins Straßen – Solidarität mit Israel und der iranischen Freiheitsbewegung!“

Ort und Zeit der Kundgebung: Samstag, 27. August 2011, Beginn: 14:30 Uhr, Berlin, Ecke Joachimstaler Str. / Kurfürstendamm („Joachimstaler Platz“), Berlin (Karte).

Den Aufruftext sowie alle weiteren Information zum Al-Quds-Tag finden Sie auf der Website www.no-al-quds-tag.de. Bitte laden Sie auch über Facebook Ihre Kontakte ein!

Die Dokumentation der letztjährigen Protestkundgebung finden Sie hier, die Proteste von 2009 sind hier dokumentiert.

Bereits um 12 : 00 Uhr beginnt eine Demonstration antifaschistischer Gruppen unter dem Motto „Gegen Antisemitismus und Islamismus – Kein Al Qudstag – Solidarität mit Israel!“. Die Demonstration startet am Wittenbergplatz und wird in unmittelbarer Nähe zu unserer Kundgebung enden. Weitere Informationen finden Sie hier.

Botschafter raus!

Hundreds of angry protesters have gathered in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square to demand that the government expels the ambassadors of Iran, Turkey and Kuwait in response to the “violations” committed by these nations. (…)

Iran and Turkey have in the last month both carried out attacks in Iraqi Kurdistan aimed at destroying Kurdistan Workers Party and its affiliate’s bases, but the attacks have left 10 dead and more than 1,000 displaced.

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Interkulturelle Kompetenz gefragt

Zur Einstimmung auf den diesjährigen Al-Quds-Tag brachte Ahmadinejad wieder einige Übersetzungsfehler vor, wie etwa diesen hier: „Iran believes that whoever is for humanity should also be for eradicating the Zionist regime as symbol of suppression and discrimination“

Liebherr ist raus

Der Tod ist ein Meister aus Deutschland, doch Liebherr zieht sich nun nach viel zu vielen Jahren offenbar endlich vom iranischen Markt für Galgenkräne zurück.

Boykottiert Durban 3

Auf der Durban-Konferenz kurz vor dem 11. September 2001 wurde Israel im Namen des Antirassismus für alle Übel der Welt verantwortlich gemacht. Die UNO droht zum Jahrestag mit einer neuen Durban-Konferenz – unweit von Ground Zero. Demokratische Länder sollten sie boykottieren.

von: Nasrin Amirsedghi, Alex Feuerherdt, Thomas von der Osten-Sacken und Benjamin Weinthal

Es gibt Ereignisse, die man nicht einmal mehr als Farce bezeichnen kann. Im September dieses Jahres laden die Vereinten Nationen zu einer “Durban 3” genannten Folgekonferenz gegen “Rassismus und Xenophobie” nach New York ein. Zur Erinnerung: Was 2001 im südafrikanischen Durban begann, geriet binnen weniger Stunden zu einer grotesken Veranstaltung, bei dem Diktatoren verschiedenster Couleur Israel die Schuld an allem Übel dieser Welt gaben. Das Spektrum reichte dabei von der offenen Leugnung des Holocaust bis zur Diffamierung des jüdischen Staates als “Apartheidregime”

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Iran streicht Hamas das Geld

Iran has reduced or possibly halted its funding of Hamas after the Islamist movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, failed to show public support for Syrian President Bashar Assad, diplomats said on Sunday.

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Teheran, nicht Kairo

Die Hamas, so heißt es, verhandele mit dem Jihad Islami, damit dieser den Raketenbeschuss von Israel einstelle. Eine seltsame Meldung, ist doch Hamas eigentlich für den Gazastreifen verantwortlich. Und warum zeigt sie so deutlich auf den Jihad Islami und erklärt “the group is not interested in an escalation with Israel saying it does not believe it is in the interest of the Palestinians“? In wessen Interesse liegt eine Eskalation dann? Oder lügt  Hamas, die eigentlich sonst doch immer recht klar und deutlich sagt, was sie denkt?

Hier eine mögliche Antwort: hinter den Anschlägen in Südisrael steckt weder die Hamas noch irgendwelche mit ihr verbundenen Terrortruppen, sondern der Iran. Und was dort geschah, passt der Hamas gerade gar nicht ins Zeug. Nicht etwa weil sie etwas gegen Terroranschläge und tote Juden hätte, ganz im Gegenteil, sondern sie gerade kein Interesse an einer bewaffneten Auseinandersetzung mit Israel hat.

Und so zeigt sie womöglich, wenn auch indirekt, mit dem Finger auf Teheran. Denn der Jihad Islami jedenfalls ist ein verlängerter Arm des iranischen Regimes (und nicht nur, wie die Hamas ein Verbündeter Teherans)  und wurde aus Teheran  in der Vergangenheit Waffen und Logistik ausgerüstet.  JI hört unmittelbar auf seine Sponsoren im Iran, das Verhältnis mit der Hamas ist dagegen seit längerem gespannt.

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Iran sentences US hikers to eight years for spying

Iran has sentenced two American hikers detained in the Islamic republic to eight years in prison on charges of „illegal entry“ and „espionage“

Iran has sentenced two American hikers to eight years in prison for illegally entering the country and spying for a US intelligence agency, state television said on Saturday.
„According to an informed source with the judiciary, Shane Bauer… and… Josh Fattal, the two detained American citizens, have been each sentenced to three years in prison for illegal entry to the Islamic Republic of Iran,“ the television reported on its website.
It further said the two have been „sentenced to five years in prison on charges of espionage for the American intelligence agency,“ without saying when the verdict had been reached.
„The case of Sarah Shourd, who has been freed on bail is still open,“ the report said referring to the third hiker who is being tried in absentia.
The verdict is expected to further raise tension between Washington and Tehran at a time when the animosity between the two has deepened under the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Deutscher Amtsschimmel und menschliche Schicksale

Schwebendes Verfahren

Michelle Kossel

Der Iraner und Spitzenturner Reza Abbasian aus Nenndorf möchte gern für Deutschland starten, aber die Behörden und der Turnerbund mauern.

Harburg. Reza Abbasian, 20, steht am Pauschenpferd, zieht sich an den Holmen hoch und lässt die Beine kreisen. Dann steht die Zeit für einen Moment still in der Sporthalle an der Angerstraße in Wandsbek, in der viele junge Turntalente trainieren. Die junge Frau, die auf Händen durch die Halle spaziert, hält inne, und ein kleiner Junge in weißem Turneranzug, der gerade an einem Seil hochklettert, rutscht wieder runter.

Freude in Südbeirut

Hezbollah on Friday issued a statement saluting the “heroic operation which was executed by resistant militants and resulted in killing and injuring tens of Israeli soldiers and settlers.”

“We are proud of the heroes that executed this operation, despite the [group] they belong to, … only these actions can let the enemy know that they cannot occupy this land forever,” the statement added.

The statement also condemned the “violent assaults which were executed by the ‘Zionist killing machine’ against Palestinian civilians in Gaza and against Egyptian soldiers.”

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Universelle Menschrechtserklärung als unislamisch abgelehnt

Ein Beitrag von Wahied WahdatHagh:

Die wissenschaftliche Abteilung des iranischen Pseudo-Parlaments lehnt die Menschenrechte und westliche Demokratien ab. Das islamische Menschenrechtsverständnis geht prinzipiell davon aus, dass das islamische Gesetz als von Gott offenbartem Gesetz die Menschenrechte definiert. Die Allgemeine Erklärung der Menschenrechte vom 10. Dezember 1948 wird daher abgelehnt.

Die Kairoer Erklärung zu den Menschenrechten im Islam wurde am 5. August 1990 von den Mitgliedstaaten der Organisation Islamischer Konferenz verabschiedet. Im Juli 2008 erklärte Präsident Ahmadinejad diesen Tag zum „Internationalen Tag der Islamischen Menschenrechte“. Nun vergleicht die wissenschaftliche Abteilung des iranischen Pseudo-Parlaments in einer neuen 48-seitigen Studie vom August 2011 die islamischen und die „westlichen“ Menschenrechte miteinander. Darin wird die Behauptung aufgestellt, dass der geistige Vater der „Islamischen Menschenrechte“ der am 16. November 1998 verstorbene Kleriker und Philosoph Mohammad Taghi Jafari gewesen sei. Gleichzeitig wird in dieser „parlamentarischen“ Studie des Iran erklärt, warum die „westliche Demokratie“ kein gutes politisches System darstellt.

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Gunning down Palestinians

Now it turns out that the Iranian regime, which professes to be the Palestinians’ biggest supporter, has been helping a dictator who is not only brutalizing his own citizens, but also the Palestinian refugees living in Syria in a camp not too far from where the new Iranian-funded military base will be located. (…)

In sum, Palestinians are being fired upon and forced out of their homes in the same Syrian port city, under bombardment by Assad’s forces, where Iran will be funding a military base.

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Interests of Turkey and Iran may collide in Syria

Syria, seized by mass rallies since early March, has turned into an arena of struggle for leadership in the region between Iran and Turkey, of whom each in their own estimate the crisis in the country, experts say.

The leadership in the region largely depends on the resolution of the Syrian crisis, and therefore, Iran and Turkey are competing for control over the situation in this country, an analyst on the Middle East Saleh Zaitoon said.

„Iran can not give up its principles in the Syrian issue, and it creates even more tense situation in the country,“ Zaitoon told Trend by telephone from Amman.
He said such a situation where each side considers the solution to the conflict in different ways could further exacerbate the situation in Syria.

The Chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s Commission for National Security and Foreign Affairs Alaeddin Boroujerdi reiterated Iran’s support for Syria, Reuters reported.
„The interests of the Muslim world are to get mobilized to protect Syria like a center of Palestinian resistance,“ said Boroujerdi.

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Hilfe unter Freunden XIII

STRATFOR sources linked to Hezbollah claim that there are about 3,000 Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) members, 2,000 Hezbollah fighters, 300 Amal movement supporters and 200 Syrian Nationalist and Socialist Party members in Syria. The IRGC men are allegedly leading pro-regime armed gangs, while Iranians and pro-Syrian Lebanese allies are killing Syrian soldiers who refuse to open fire on protesters. This information has not been verified.

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Wider den al-Quds-Tag

Der Aufmarsch am al-Quds-Tag ist das einzige Ereignis in Europa, in dem die Islamische Republik Iran mit ihren hiesigen Repräsentanten die Diskretion ablegt, die sie bei Einladungen von Freunden aus Industrie und Politik bewahrt. Als Geste der Solidarität mit den Revoltierenden im Iran und in der Hoffnung, dass die Friedhofsruhe aus Hinrichtungen, Folterungen und Tugendterrorismus ehest endet, rufen wir auf zu Protest gegen den al-Quds-Tag in Berlin und anderswo. Marg bar jomhuriye eslami! Marg bar asle velayat faqih!

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Osmosis

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Tuesday he hoped Iran was not harboring fugitives accused of the 2005 assassination of his father, following the publishing of a report suggesting Tehran was linked to the killing of former statesman Rafik Hariri. (…)

“Iran is behaving according to the political and media accusations leveled against it, and is acting in light of its responsibility in covering the assassination crimes. Such behavior does not express any wisdom or any responsible attitude in this regard,” Hariri said in a statement.

“Everyone in the world knows the extent of the relationship between Hezbollah and Iran. Iran’s position regarding the [Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL)] is another example of the state of osmosis and complementarities between the two parties, a reality that, we hope, has not yet reached the level of participating in hosting persons sought by international justice.”

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