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Cabinet List Likely on Aug. 6
TEHRAN, July 31--A rightist lawmaker said president-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will probably present the list of cabinet members to the Majlis on Saturday.
Qodratollah Eimani, an MP from Khorramabad (in Lorestan province), told reporters that Ahmadinejad has proposed several candidates for each post, IRNA reported.
“After discussing the proposed candidates with lawmakers, it will become evident which one has a higher chance of gaining the vote of confidence,“ he added.
Eimani further said Ahmadinejad is trying to submit his list concurrent with the swearing-in ceremony on Aug. 6.
Ahmadinejad’s induction ceremony will be held in Majlis on Wednesday.
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Bill on MPs Detention Under Consideration
TEHRAN, July 31--Majlis Judicial and Legal Commission is presently working on a bill based on which Islamic Republic of Iran Police and courts can summon or detain lawmakers only if Majlis were to authorize them.
Article 1 of the bill reiterates that lawmakers have the same status as ministers.
Another article notes that civil disputes and cases not directly or indirectly related to the duties of lawmaker are outside the bill’s jurisdiction, IRNA reported.
According to the bill, the Majlis has to be notified first in cases where a lawmaker has to attend a court or investigation session. Majlis will then refer the case to Majlis Judicial and Legal Commission, which should inform Majlis about its opinion. The final decision is to be based on a Majlis vote.
A total of 37 lawmakers have signed the bill.
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Legal Notification For Majlis
Research Center
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Reza Talaie-Nik
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TEHRAN, July 31--A lawmaker advised members of Majlis Research Center to discharge duties legally assigned to it and not interfere with the functions of the legislative branch, IRNA reported.
In a legal notification during an open parliament session on Sunday, Reza Talaie-Nik said the research center should strictly focus on its duties of carrying out expert studies to help the lawmaking body take better decisions and leave it to the MPs to comment on domestic and foreign issues.
Talaie-Nik, a member of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, disapproved the center’s move to organize seminars for discussing and releasing statements about foreign contracts, saying that it was in violation of its scope of responsibilities.
Parliament Speaker Gholamali Haddad-Adel said in response that the center acts as the parliament’s advisory and research arm, and entitled to probe into every possible issue, though the final decision lies with the parliament.
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Rights Group Protests Judiciary Move
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Abdolfattah Soltani
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TEHRAN, July 31--Center for Advocates of Human Rights on Saturday protested against the arrest warrant issued for lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani.
Soltani is one of the center’s founders who acted as defense lawyer for journalist Akbar Ganji and the family of photojournalist Zahra Kazemi who died in custody in 2003.
The center said in a statement that only the Lawyers Disciplinary Court is entitled to issue arrest warrants for lawyers, IRNA reported.
“The Center for Advocates of Human Rights is a non-governmental organization advocating human rights in accordance with its charter,“ it said, noting that policemen arrived with an arrest warrant and confiscated documents from Soltani’s house without listing their seizures.
“The judiciary’s action is in contravention of Article 6 of the law concerning independence of lawyers passed by the legislature in 1955. According to Article 14 of the law, any allegation against lawyers should be examined by Lawyers Disciplinary Court and Article 5 of the law has specified that only the disciplinary court is entitled to issue any arrest warrant against lawyers,“ the statement said.
The center further said the judiciary has committed an illegal act by issuing the arrest warrant for the lawyer.
Soltani has written an open letter to Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, complaining about the violation of the law pertaining to the procedure of issuing arrest warrants for lawyers and asked for a probe.
Meanwhile, Soltani went on a sit-in to protest breaking into his house and confiscation of documents. He said policemen broke drawers and took several tapes, documents and other materials.
Soltani further said he thinks the action has been taken against him for his duty as defense lawyer in controversial cases, adding that he would continue his sit-in until the judiciary chief clarifies the situation.
IRNA’s reporter asked Judiciary Spokesman Jamal Karimirad about the arrest warrant, to which he said the matter is under investigation.
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Anti-Drug Cooperation Talks With Saudis
TEHRAN, July 31--Brigadier General Mehdi Abouei met with Commander of Saudi Arabia’s Police Organization Saeed Al-Qahtani on Saturday.
Abouei, chief of Police Anti-Drug Control Program and head of the delegation visiting Saudi Arabia, said Tehran is ready to provide its experiences in fighting drug smuggling to regional states, IRNA reported.
He referred to the widespread cultivation of drugs in Afghanistan after the Taliban’s ouster.
“The Western forces present in Afghanistan have followed certain goals in their fight against drug trafficking and this has led to a significant increase in production of drugs in the country,“ he added.
He called on regional states to assist the Afghan government in its fight against drug trafficking.
The Saudi police commander lauded Iran’s efforts to rein in drug trafficking in the region and welcomed sharing Iran’s experiences to fight the drug menace.
The two sides also stressed on strengthening mutual security and police cooperation.
Also, the Iranian delegation visited on Saturday various sections of ’Nayef’ Security College and the Riyadh anti-addiction center. The delegation, which is in Riyadh for the past few days, reached agreements with Saudi officials for stepping up their fight against the drug phenomenon by holding training seminars and exchanging information.
Earlier, Riyadh and Tehran began discussions on an agreement for repatriation of criminals and offenders.
During the weekly cabinet meeting chaired by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah last week, they approved Saudi Interior Minister Nayef bin Abdul Aziz’s request to start negotiations for an agreement with Iran.
Iran and Saudi Arabia inked a security agreement in March 2001 concurrent with the trip to Tehran by the Saudi interior minister. The agreement stipulates that Persian Gulf states cooperate in bolstering security, as well as combating terrorism, organized crime and drug trafficking in the region.
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Spain Will Honor Envoy to Tamerlane Court
MADRID, Spain,
July 31---Spain intends to honor its first ambassador to Iran, who established bilateral relations around 600 years ago by launching a special research and tourism program.
Ruis Gonzalez de Klavijo, the first Spanish ambassador to Amir Teimur’s (Tamerlane) court in 1405 arrived in Samarkand and worked as plenipotentiary ambassador of Spain for three years, IRNA reported.
A group of history lovers and adventurers in Spain intend to travel to Samarkand by taking the same route Klavijo took. The group includes an economist and former parliament member from Socialist Party, a journalist, a mathematician and a writer.
According to Spain’s official news agency (EFE), the trip started on July 29 and will end on August 15.
Klavijo served in the court of Spanish King Enrique III and wrote his diary, which became the second Spanish book being translated into foreign languages after Cervantes’ Don Quixote.
Klavijo’s book is reputed to be the second important travel book of medieval ages after Marco Polo’s “The Wonders.“
The Spanish group will publish its travel book after the trip, which has been estimated to cost 12,000 euros.
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Kharrazi Writes To Kuwaiti Counterpart
KUWAIT CITY, July 31--Iran’s ambassador to Kuwait, Seyyed Jafar Mousavi, on Saturday met with Kuwait’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Muhammad Sabah Al-Salem and passed the message of his Iranian counterpart, Kamal Kharrazi.
Talking to IRNA after the meeting, Mousavi said the message is about expanding bilateral relations in different fields.
Middle East issues as well as ways to expand mutual ties were discussed in the meeting.
Sabah Al-Salem stressed development of ties with Iran, expressing his government’s will to strengthen relations with one of the region’s strong countries.
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Flights Suspended
TEHRAN, July 31--Shortage of aircraft is the reason for suspending Iranian flights to Turkish tourist islands, an official said on Sunday.
Talking to IRNA, Ministry of Roads and Transportation’s Director General of Public Relations Bureau Mostafa Barzegar said insufficient revenues due to low demand forced ministry officials to stop flights by Iranian airlines to Turkish islands.
Barzegar further explained that Iranian airline companies would suffer no financial loss by stopping the flights because domestic destinations enjoy higher demand.
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Rumsfeld’s Visit
ABRAR: The recent visit of US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to Iraq and his request from Iraqi officials to adopt a more concrete stance towards Iran and Syria reveals the increasing concern of Washington for the establishment of a new political atmosphere in the region. The point is that the present political atmosphere is contrary to the US expectations. It seems that the main incentive behind Rumsfeld’s visit to Iraq is the recent visit by Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari to Iran. In fact, the US is concerned about friendly ties between Iraq and Iran. Rumsfeld is actually trying hard to seed the sows of discord between Tehran and Baghdad. Moreover, America intends to be the only player in Iraq.
Transparency
AFARINESH: All over the world the norm is that the officialdom assume accountability vis-ˆ-vis the public. If our social understanding reaches the level that officials consider themselves accountable towards the people, then one can expect progress for the society. This issue is more applicable to the performance of the executive branch as the citizens are more eager to find out about the performance of the executive officials. Of course, principle of transparency is not limited to the performance of officials after they have been given vote of confidence, but rather the people should be informed about the process of choosing cabinet members.
Gasoline Shortage
DONYA-YE EQTESAD: Reports concerning investments by Oil Ministry and National Iranian Petrochemical Company for construction and development of new refineries show that Iranian officials are trying to remove the problem of shortage of gasoline in the country. However, there are two points noteworthy here. Firstly, gasoline consumption is so high in Iran that something should be done about it before it is too late. Secondly, while the price of each liter of gasoline is fixed at 80 tomans, it actually costs the government about 300 tomans per liter. It looks like the cheap price of gasoline in the country has led to an increase in the demand for sedan cars.
Liquidity Growth
KHORASAN: Experts believe that the national economy will be threatened by liquidity growth. Hence, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has requested for the permission to issue participation bonds. This measure by the CBI is aimed at preventing an increase in the inflation rate. The volume of liquidity has increased by 10 times in the past 10 years. Considerable amount of money is spent in unproductive activities such as purchasing cellular phones, foreign exchange trade as well as buying and selling houses. In the meantime, the people do not like to deposit their money in the banking system due to the low profit rates. That is also why investors prefer to invest somewhere outside the banking system. Nevertheless, when the people withdraw their deposits from banks, the inflation rate increases. It is crucial that when the deadline of participation bonds approaches, the government replaces them with new bonds.
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From: Cdlr2@btconnect.com To: Iran-daily@iran-daily.com Subject: Bombings Date: 2005/07/29 07:51
Despite the fact that the Iraqis have overwhelming justification to retaliate against the illegal invasion of Iraq, the retaliation must be done in context and according to the rules allowed to Muslims.
If British life is lost so be it! But the people targeted must be the right ones!
The only legitimate targets were military ones and the Government. A very large portion of the British public were opposed to the war in Iraq, but as you are more than aware of, when you have a lying dictator in power, there is only so much which can be done to control them. The Spanish got rid of Aznar, but Spain may have still remained in the war! Would Spanish civilians have deserved to die for that? Even in Islamic history, there have been leaders who were complete scumbags.
As Muslims we have a moral responsibility to show non-Muslims how human beings should behave, not act as bad as they are, therefore proving that we are no better than them! I have done some research in the last few weeks that justifies this statement.
The other point I want to make is that 3 of the people who committed the bombings on 7/7 were ’extremely’ young adults and mostly likely did not fully understand what they were doing before they decided to ’ignore’ the rules of the covenant that all Muslims are bound by and to shirk their responsibilities to their pregnant wives (absolutely disgusting). The person that encouraged these men to act should be punished Islamically.
Umar
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