Monday, November 11, 2002

- Reactions to Aghajari's death sentence

- Writer Fakhravar received 8 years in jail sentence

- Execution of drug traffickers

- Foreign investments

- Multiple decision centers

Reactions to Aghajari's Death Sentence

* After Majles speaker Mehdi Karrubi called the Hamedan court's death verdict against Professor Hashem Aghajari shameful and disgusting, judiciary chief Shahrudi said the verdict will be reviewed by the supreme court. Students in several Tehran universities staged sit-ins to protest the verdict Aghajari, (Mehdi Khalaji)

* Tehran University student Ahmadi, a resident of the university's dorms, tells RFE/RL that student action began with protests against the quality of food in the canteen, turned political and, continued today in Tehran University. Another student tells RFE/RL that teachers in Sharif, Alameh Tabatabai, Amir-Kabir, and Tehran Teachers' College shut down classes. She cannot confirm the mass resignation of college professors at the teachers' college.

* Tehran lawyer Mohammad-Ali Jedari-Forughi, in Germany to gather support for his client, jailed lawyer Nasser Zarafshan, tells RFE/RL that the Berlin bar association declared its support for Zarafshan. Jedari-Forughi believes that Aghajari's death sentence will be overturned in appeal. (Shahram Mirian, Cologne)

* Conservative newspaper columnists warn that reformists may try to exploit Aghajari's death sentence to build support for the bill that would empower the president to suspend court rulings he finds in violation of the constitution. (Siavash Ardalan)

Writer Fakhravar Sentenced

* The Tehran revolutionary court sentenced reformist journalist Amir Abbas Fakhravar to eight years in prison. Fakhravar tells RFE/RL that his main charge related to the publication of his book, "Here is not a Well (Inja Chah Nist)," in which he deals with the outcome of the 1979 revolution. (Golnaz Esfandiari)

Judiciary Hangs Five on Drug Charges

* Five convicted drug traffickers were hanged at a prison in Karaj yesterday, bringing the number of this year's executions in Iran to 250. Human rights activist Hossein Baqerzadeh says drug related executions have not helped reduce drug use in Iran. Tehran lawyer Nemat Ahmadi says Iran's addicts have increased from 250,000 before the revolution to more than 5 million. He adds that the government's anti-drug campaign has been ineffective and the death penalty has been no deterrent. (Jamshid Zand)

Foreign Investment in Iran

* The head of the economy and finance ministry's foreign investment division said his office receives an average of 15 inquiries per day about the conditions of foreign investment in Iran, suggesting that a wave of foreign investments totaling $1 billion is on its way. RFE/RL's Paris-based economic commentator Fereydoun Khavand says if such a figure proves true, it would mean an unprecedented revolution in Iran's economy. However, figures released by the economy ministry and international organizations show that non-oil foreign investment in Iran, mostly by Iranian expats, did not exceed $124 million during the past year. Iran ranked 137th in foreign investment in a list of 140 countries. However, the foreign investment promotion and protection law that passed last June has officials hoping for a flow of foreign investment. Under the right political and economic conditions, Iran is ripe for investment in power plants, telecom, and food processing, particularly food packaging. (Fereydoun Zarnegar)

Civil Society and Human Rights: Women's Blood Monay

* Lawyer and human rights advocate Mehrangiz Kar discusses the discriminatory laws that set the wrongful death compensation, or blood money, of a woman at half that of a man.

The Impact of Multiple Decision Centers on Economy

* The planning and management organization proposes to eliminate the current system of multiple decision centers by concentrating economic decisions to the cabinet on the advice of the high economic council. In addition to various government departments, the Supreme Leader makes many decisions affecting the economy through the religious-economic cartels under his control. (Fereydoun Khavand, Paris)

ARTS AND IDEAS

Italian to Coach Tehran's Saipa Soccer Team

* Giovanni May, coach of the Tehran soccer team Saipa, told Rome's Courier del la Serra that he signed his two year contract with the Iranian team to protest the commercialism of Italian professional soccer. (Ahmad Ra'fat, Rome)

Daily Internet Report

* The publisher of the popular web log www.KhorshidKhanoom.com tells how publishing her dairy on the Internet changed her life. (Behnam Nateghi, New York)

Daily medical advice (Dr. Mansur Moslehi, Los Angeles)

Daily Science Report

* Nobel prize winning research on the aging of muscle cells. (Fatemeh Aman, Washington)

Expat Film Festival in Paris

* Javad Dadsetan, director of the first expat film festival in Paris, tells RFE/RL that over two days works by 63 directors from 14 countries were screened. (Jean Khakzad, Paris)

Song (Mahmud Khoshnam)

Shadi (Afshin Gorgin)

Mediterranean Magazine (Ahmad Ra'fat, Rome)

WORLD

* The United States hopes to disarm Iraq without the use of force. But as United Nations weapons inspectors prepare to return to Baghdad, US leaders are already busy waging a psychological war on President Saddam Hussein, writes RFE/RL's Jeffery Donovan. (Homayoun Majd, Washington)

* Iraq's national parliament convenes to discuss the UN Security Council resolution. Egyptian expert on Iraq affairs Mustafa Kamel tells RFE/RL that Iraq would accept the terms of the resolution. (Jamshid Chalangi, Cairo)

* Four die and more than 100 are wounded as armed Islamic militants clash with the army in southern Jordan. (Farideh Rahbar, Cairo)

* Russian president Putin to take part in EU summit in Brussels. (Mani Kasravi, Moscow)

* UN conference of the biological weapons convention in Geneva. (Jean Khakzad, Paris)

* Italy's royal family returns home for the first time since WWII. (Ahmad Ra'fat, Rome)

* Israel attacks Gaza with missiles in retaliation for yesterday's Palestinian attack on Israeli kibbutz near West Bank. (Jamshid Chalangi, Cairo)

* White House national security advisor Condoleezza Rice defends US attack on al-Qaeda members in Yemen. (Farideh Rahbar, Cairo)

* Chinese Communist party welcomes capitalists to its ranks. (Shahran Tabari, London)

* Afghan refugees collect multiple payments from the UN by shuttling between Afghanistan and Pakistan. (Fariba Mavedat, London)