The National Council of Resistance of Iran issued a statement today indicating that about 10,000 workers of the Melli Shoe Industrial Group have staged a strike since two weeks ago to protest low salaries, lack of bonuses, and the deteriorating safety conditions.

According to NCR, the industrial facilities are surrounded and by the regime's suppressive forces and agents of the Intelligence Ministry. On several occasions, workers have clashed with the security forces.

In another development, more than 400 workers and staff at Jihad Nasr company in Ilam, western Iran, staged a protest in front of the factory Sunday, January 25, the statement said.

Since Khatami took office, tens of workers' strikes and protests in Tehran and other cities have shut down many factories. This trend has escalated with the approach of the Iranian New Year and the workers' greater need to receive their delayed salaries and bonuses to provide for their families. Iran's clerical regime thus faces a new crisis, to which it has so far responded only with violence.

 
Iran Condemns Magazine Editor To Death for Spying, Reuter, January 28

An announcement by an Iranian judge that prominent editor Morteza Firoozi had been sentenced to death for spying was the first official statement in the case since his arrest in May.

Iranian newspapers on Wednesday had few further details beyond Tuesday's announcement by the judiciary official to Iran's state news agency IRNA.

The official, a Shi'ite Moslem cleric identified only as Qadiani, said Firoozi, former editor-in-chief of the daily Iran News, had been in custody on spying charges since May, IRNA said. He did not name any foreign country.

Iranian newspapers, which last year carried brief reports on Firoozi's rumored arrest, had said he was accused of spying for the United States…. In August, Iran executed a retired air force colonel for spying for the United States….

 
No Reduction in Mullahs' Support for Terrorism, Voice of America, January 28

…[Testifying on Capitol Hill today, director George Tenet] outlined the CIA's assessment of Iran….

"We have seen no reduction in Iran's effort to support Hizbollah, radical Palestinians and militant Islamic groups that engage in terrorism. Moreover, even as it attempts to improve its international image, Tehran is continuing to bolster its military capabilities."

That capability includes development of medium-range missiles That could threaten Israel or Saudi Arabia. Last year, Mr. Tenet testified Iran could build those weapons within a decade. Now, thanks in part to Russian technology, Mr. Tenet says Iran could Acquire them much sooner, though he does not say just when.
 

Top Woman in Khatami's Government Once Spoke for Hostage-Takers, The New York Times, January 28

Massoumeh Ebtekar is the highest-ranking woman in Iran, a symbol of President Mohammed Khatami's promise to promote women into high-profile positions in government….

But Ms. Ebtekar is a woman with a history, a history she would rather not dwell on these days.

More than 18 years ago, as an 18-year-old freshman at Polytechnic University in Tehran, Ms. Ebtekar was the official interpreter and spokeswoman of the militants who occupied the American Embassy in Tehran.

Speaking the near-perfect English she learned in the United States as a child, hiding her hair under a black hood, and using the nom de guerre "Mary," she became an object of anger and curiosity with her appearances on American television.

Night after night she listed the "crimes" of America against Iran and denounced the hostages as "spies"…. Asked by an ABC News correspondent whether she could see herself picking up a gun and killing the hostages, she replied: "Yes. When I've seen an American gun being lifted up and killing my brothers and sisters in the streets, of course."

These days her role in the embassy seizure is largely forgotten, or at least ignored. It is nowhere on her official resume; it was not included in the extensive profile and interview of her that appeared in Zanan, a prominent women's magazine, after her appointment….

But when confronted by an American journalist who said she recognized her from her role in the embassy occupation, Ms. Ebtekar acknowledged that she was the face and voice of the keepers of the hostages.

Her words came slowly, when asked directly whether she was "Mary."

"I was," she said. "But I don't bring those things up."

Asked about the wisdom or folly of that chapter in Iranian history, she had no apology and made no excuses….

…She recalled that she, like the other hostage-takers, lived in the embassy compound at different stages to guard their captives….
 

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