TEHRAN - Iran is to unveil a new surface-to-surface missile at a military parade to be held here Wednesday, officials said Sunday.

Brigadier Gholamhossein Gheibpour gave no details of the range or technical specifications of the missile, saying only that it was called the Zelzal.

Gheibpour’s announcement came hot on the heels of a flurry of Western reports that Iran is perfecting its intercontinental and cruise missile technology with North Korean and Chinese assistance.

On Thursday Washington made public a National Intelligence Estimate warning that Iran could test an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of striking the United States by the end of the next decade.
 
 

Judiciary Official Says Jews "Confessed", Associated Press, September 20

DUBAI - Some Jews held in Iran on charges of spying for Israel and the United States have confessed to their crimes, an Iranian official was quoted as saying Monday.

"The evidence against them was based mostly on those confessions," Hadi Marvi, the first deputy of the judiciary chief, was quoted as telling Iran News daily. He did not disclose how many have allegedly confessed or detail the crimes they purportedly admitted.

Marvi said the trial of the imprisoned Jews will not be held in the near future because a number of people connected with the case are abroad.

[Emphasizing that "torture is widespread" in Iran and is extensively used to extract confessions from prisoners, Amnesty International in statement issued on September 16, said it "has long-standing concerns regarding unfair trials in Iran. Trial proceedings in Islamic Revolutionary Courts fall far short of international standards for fair trial. They are usually held behind closed doors, often inside prisons."]
 
 

Court Convicts Publisher, Reuters, September 20

TEHRAN - The publisher of Neshat, a pro-Khatami newspaper, was convicted of insulting Islamic values.

Latif Safari, whose daily was already under suspension, was found guilty of insulting police officials and members of parliament and "inciting people and students to revolt and strike."

The Press Court jury was unanimous and the court said there were no mitigating circumstances, according to a judiciary statement.
 
 

Fresh Paint on Bloodied Walls Will Not Be Enough for Students, Reuters, September 20

TEHRAN - Students at Tehran University, the epicenter of pro-democracy unrest in July, trickle back to campus this week where fresh paint on the bloodied hostel walls may not be enough to erase their anger or demands.

Workers labored around the clock to get everything ready for returning students.

But university officials and student leaders are wondering out loud whether that would be enough for a student population that feels increasingly isolated from its dreams of greater social and cultural freedom, enhanced political rights and some semblance of economic opportunity.

Even as work crews put the finishing touches on their repairs to the big dormitory complex, stark reminders remained of this summer's violence. "On July 9, students rolled in their own blood," read a painted slogan on the school of metallurgy dorms that had so far evaded the clean-up crews.

Such anger is likely to flare again in large measure because most student demands have not been met.

These include public prosecution of police officers involved in the attack, and clampdown on the vigilantes that intimidate students.

Fuelling these were the detention of some 1,000 students for their part in the unrest and the recent announcement that four people had been sentenced to death after secret trials for inciting violence. So far, the authorities have taken no such action against either the police or the extremists.

Among the casualties of this summer's unrest was the relationship between Mohammad Khatami and the students. Those ties have been badly strained by the Khatami’s inability to restrain the vigilantes or to punish those responsible for the attack on the dormitories.

The clerics have seen the full implications of the student protests: demands for freedom would weaken the establishment's grip on religious interpretation, the source of much of their power.

The clerical apparatus immediately launched a full-scale campaign in mosques across Iran to disparage any attempt at Islamic revisionism and to justify the use of force in defense of its orthodox views.

In a sermon last week at Tehran's Friday prayers, chief conservative ideologue Mohammad Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi summed up the new call to arms: "If someone tells you he has a new interpretation of Islam, sock him in the mouth."

Back to Brief on Iran