Back to Brief on Iran
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the Iranian Resistance's President-elect, called on her women compatriots to defy and resist the mullahs' misogynous regime. In a message on the International Women's Day, Mrs. Rajavi said women must play their "significant" role in the overthrow of the theocracy ruling Iran, particularly by joining the National Liberation Army. She told her fellow Iranians: "For freedom and equality, you must rise, fight and win them."
Mrs. Rajavi added: Khatami… formally opposed and prevented the regime from becoming a signatory to the United Nations' Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, a move that once again exposed the deceptive nature of the mullahs' propaganda ploys on women and their rights. The criminal mullahs… stone women and execute them in public, force them into wearing the veil and arrest them on the streets under the banner of Islam, just to preserve their evil rule. These crimes have nothing to do with Islam, a religion of compassion, emancipation and equality.
Guards Corps' Qods Force Commander Quits,
Iran Zamin News Agency, March 9
According to reports from Iran, Ahmad Vahidi, one of the founders of the Revolutionary Guards Corps and commander of the Qods Force, has quit. The Qods Force is organ of the Guards Corps for the extraterritorial terrorist operations.
Vahidi follows Mohsen Reza'ii, the Guards Corps Commander in Chief, and many other commanders who have quit in recent months.
Vahidi's departure marks a growing trend of resignations within the Guards Corps and bespeaks of the disillusionment and frustration of the highest and most loyal forces of the mullahs' regime. In step with the unbridled escalation of feuding within the regime, these developments are reminiscent of the flight of the shah's generals.
Senior Tehran Official Gets 25 Years Jail, 322 Lashes,
Agence France Presse, March 9
TEHRAN - A senior adviser to Tehran's mayor Gholam-Hossein Karbaschi was sentenced on Monday to 25 years in prison, a large fine and 322 lashes for fraud and illegal sexual affairs, the press reported.
Kamal Azimi-Nia was convicted of embezzlement, financial negligence, cheating in government deals and bribery as well as "illegitimate" relations, Kayhan newspaper said.
One hundred of the lashes are punishment for his illegal affair and the rest for financial misconduct.
Nine major developers linked to the case were also give jail and fines.
Azimi-Nia was arrested along with a dozen other senior city officials, including several district mayors, in recent months in connection with a financial scandal in the municipality. Several other officials have already been sentenced to prison.
Factional Infighting Continues, Agence
France Presse, March 9
TEHRAN - More than 150 deputies in the Iranian parliament have called for an investigation into allegations that police tortured Tehran city officials during their detention, a newspaper reported Monday.
Arzeshha weekly said 152 MPs of the 270-member parliament had sent a letter to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei demanding the probe to be launched at the highest level.
Kurosh Fuladi, a deputy from western Iran, told the paper that the request followed a recent meeting between the MPs and the victims, who are former senior officials from Tehran municipality.
The storm over the torture charges is the latest chapter in the ongoing battle between religious conservatives and the controversial mayor of Tehran, who himself has been summoned to court over the corruption charges.
U.S. Presses Russia on Iran and Missile Aid,
The New York Times, March 9
The United States is offering Russia the opportunity to expand its lucrative business launching foreign satellites if it clamps down on the sale of missile technology to Iran, senior American officials say…
Washington has long been worried about Russian nuclear cooperation with Iran. But more recently the United States has also become concerned about Iran's effort to develop missiles that could carry a nuclear warhead, poison gas or germ weapons….
Iran has been developing a new missile, called the Shahab 3, that has a range of about 800 miles -- long enough to reach Israel and Saudi Arabia and more than twice the range of a Scud missile.
American intelligence experts expect
Iran to flight-test the missile over the next year or so.