Villagers Inside Iran Denounce Iranian Gov't

Truth Lies in the Village.



Created by: Mehraeen آفتاب را بايد با آيينه همپيمان ساخت.

Hat tip: Bereft.

Are Farsi-language broadcasts helping?

Washington Times

TODAY'S EDITORIAL
March 9, 2007

Today, as Washington grapples with the threats posed by Iranian support for terrorism and efforts to develop nuclear weapons, it appears that American policy-makers are being forced to choose between very bad options: 1) taking military action against Iranian nuclear sites and other regime targets, or 2) continuing to push for passage of largely unenforceable U.N. resolutions and hoping that if the regime develops nuclear weapons, we would somehow be able to use some form of "containment" to deal with the problem.

We find ourselves in this untenable position today due in part to our neglect of alternatives such as the development of radio stations oriented towards taking the American message directly to the Iranian people. In his position as ranking member on the Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee on Government Information, Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, has made it his mission to reform what he views as a largely dysfunctional system of broadcasting to Iran. In a letter to President Bush last month, Mr. Coburn made a powerful case that Radio Farda, which broadcasts music and other entertainment programs to Iran, and the Voice of America's Farsi-language service "may actually be harming American interests rather than helping."

As chairman of the subcommittee last year, Mr. Coburn held a hearing on the Iranian nuclear question, in which lawmakers heard testimony from Amirabbas Fakhravar, an Iranian dissident who wants the United States to publicly support regime change in his country. Imprisoned in 2002 after writing a book denouncing Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, he managed to escape Iran three years later. Mr. Fakhravar told the subcommittee in July that Radio Farda and VOA "are presently giving more assistance to the regime than to the dissident movement" in Iran by touting fraudulent efforts to institute reforms within the Islamist regime. Subsequent complaints from native Farsi speakers who monitor U.S. broadcasts to Iran and a report commissioned by the State Department and National Security Council mirrored Mr. Fakhravar's testimony. The federal Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) disputes the criticisms and periodically provides examples of broadcasts it describes as balanced. But according to Mr. Coburn, the board has not conducted a systematic review of all content broadcast into Iran and is limited in its ability to oversee broadcasting content because there are no English-language transcripts of U.S. international broadcasting. Along with his letter to the president, Mr. Coburn attached several transcripts of VOA's Farsi-language coverage of the State of the Union address. One of the two guests provided by VOA, Dr. Mansour Farhang, "uses a Farsi term best described as 'baseless statement' to describe your State of the Union speech," Mr. Coburn wrote. "Dr. Farhang's hostility is further expressed when he describes your Iraq policy as having 'no connection to reality.' " Dr. Farhang then went on to blame the United States for increased violence and instability in Iraq. The only other guest, who was supposed to balance the criticism, said he agreed with this harsh assessment of U.S. policy.

All of this is particularly tragic in view of the fact that the Iranian government would appear to be quite vulnerable to the kinds of pressures that U.S. radio broadcasts, properly done, could help generate. Public-opinion polls taken in recent years suggest that an overwhelming majority of Iranians admire the United States and/or want to bring down the Islamist regime in Tehran, and despite a brutal secret-police, visitors to the country frequently say they have little trouble finding Iranians who want to be rid of clerical rule. Iran has been convulsed by unrest and violence, particularly in the southeastern Baluchistan region, where last month Sunni radicals killed 11 members of the elite Revolutionary Guards in a bus bombing. On Feb. 19, one week after the bombing, the regime televised the hanging of a man it said was responsible for the attack. It would be a positive thing if BBG were offering Iranians a real alternative -- something better than the likes of both Dr. Farhang and public hangings.

But, that does not appear to be happening today. As Mr. Coburn wrote in his letter to the president: "Our international broadcasting needs serious management and accountability reforms. Given the international challenges and threats to our national security, I believe it is vital that this important public diplomacy does not undermine your role as our lead diplomat. The status quo should not continue."

And if BBG thinks it is getting a bum rap from Mr. Coburn, it would do well to conduct its own comprehensive study of its Farsi-language broadcasts and set the record straight.

Iran releases 8 women's rights activists from jail

By Agence France Presse (AFP).

TEHRAN: Eight Iranian women's rights activists arrested during a demonstration this week have been released but 25 others still detained are on hunger strike, one of their lawyers said on Wednesday. Thirty-three women's rights activists were arrested in Sunday's demonstration outside a revolutionary court where five other feminists were standing trial. "Eight of the 33 detained activists were released on Tuesday evening," lawyer Nisrine Sotoudeh said. "The hunger strike goes on. We hope they are all released before March 8." She added that two activists, Parvin Ardalan and Mahnaz Mohammadi, "who suffer from multiple sclerosis, are in bad health and the prison officials are refusing to deliver their medicine." Sotoudeh said the authorities have asked for a hefty bail of 500,000 rials (about $54,000) each for three of the detainees, and three others "have been transferred to the inmates' section, which has poor conditions." - AFP

Iran, Sudan close ranks in face of Western pressure

CNN March 1, 2007.

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) -- Leaders of two nations faced with strong international pressure -- Iran for its nuclear program and Sudan because of the conflict in Darfur -- closed ranks as Sudan's Omar al-Bashir and visiting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran gushed in support of one another.

"Enemies try by force to prevent Sudan from emerging powerful in the region, as they do in Iran's case," Ahmadinejad declared on Wednesday after arriving in Khartoum.

The Persian nation's president said Iran considers "progress, dignity and power of Sudan" as important as its own, and "extends ideological support" to the country, Iran's state IRNA news agency reported.

"There is no limit to the expansion of relations with Sudan," said Ahmadinejad, announcing a "new chapter" in oil, energy, industry and agriculture sectors between the two countries.

Meanwhile, Sudan's President al-Bashir said Iran was within its "absolute right" to pursue a nuclear program -- which is condemned by the U.N. Security Council and the United States, worried that Tehran is using it to mask efforts to create nuclear weapons.

"Attempts by some countries that possess lethal nuclear weapons to frustrate Iran's right in using nuclear energy for peaceful purposes reflect double standards that dominate the international scene," al-Bashir said.

Those same countries "turn a blind eye on Israel's nuclear arsenal and are incapable of forcing it to relinquish its arms so that the Middle East could be a nuclear-free zone," al-Bashir added. Israel, which is believed to possess nuclear weapons of its own but has never publicly acknowledged it, considers a nuclear armed Iran as the greatest threat to its existence.

Ahmadinejad's visit to Sudan comes a day after the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor accused a junior member of al-Bashir's Cabinet of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

During his two-day visit, Ahmadinejad will deliver a lecture at a private institution in Khartoum and witness the signing of several bilateral agreements, according to Sudan's Information Ministry.

Sudanese state SUNA news agency said the visit would promote "cooperation in defense relations, the exchange of expertise and scientific and technological capabilities."

Iranian ambassador in Khartoum, Ridha Amiri, said the trade volume between the two countries is expected to jump from $43 million to about $70 million.

During Ahmadinejad's visit, Sudanese defense minister, Gen. Abdul Rahim Hussein said that "both Sudan and Iran are being subjected to similar international challenges, particularly from the Untied States in its attempt to rearrange the Middle East."

For his part, Ahmadinejad said "foreign presence" -- shorthand for U.S. troops -- is the root cause of problems in Iraq. "Today, continued occupation has added to insecurity and problems in Iraq," he said, and urged the "occupiers of the country" to revise their policies.

Ahmadinejad said that preserving the "legal government, territorial integrity and national unity in Iraq is the key to resolving the country's problems."

The U.S. has accused Iran of helping support Shiite militants in Iraq, but Ahmadinejad hurled accusations back on Wednesday, saying the "occupiers" want to prevent Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds and other ethnic groups in Iraq from living peacefully together.