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| FarsiNet News Archive
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November 2000, Week 3 |
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Weather
forcast of 50 cities in Iran
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Iran's Leading Satirist Apologizes for His Writings
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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- In testimony as funny as it was serious, Iran's leading satirist pleaded guilty Wednesday to a charge of insulting government officials and apologized for lampooning them in his writings. Ever the comic, Ebrahim Nabavi cracked a joke at the expense of his own lawyer that provoked guffaws of laughter around the courtroom. When the lawyer questioned the legality of a trial without a jury, Nabavi intervened to say he had no objection. "My lawyer is trying to create more charges against me by questioning the competency of the court. He may soon need his own laywer if this continues," Nabavi said. Nabavi pleaded innocent to a charge of having fabricated lies. His trial is part of a crackdown on the liberal press that the judiciary began earlier this year. "I say freely that I went to irresponsible extremes. I was not under duress in prison. I accept the charges of insulting the authorities and apologize to all those offended by my work. I will now distance myself from politics," said Nabavi, dressed in a gray prisoner's uniform. The judge, Saeed Mortazavi, said Nabavi's remorse would be taken into consideration. The verdict is expected next week. Nabavi was detained for a month in September 1998 for his popular satirical writings. He was released and detained again later. The hard-line judiciary has closed down some 30 publications, nearly all pro-reform, and detained more than two dozen journalists and political activists since April. The crackdown is believed to be in response to the humiliating defeat of hard-line candidates in the February legislative elections. The judiciary has become an important tool in the hands of those who seek to stifle the reform movement launched by President Mohammad Khatami since taking office in 1997. Hard-liners run the judiciary, military and the broadcasting network.
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Khatami Says Sanctions Will Hurt the U.S. More than Iran
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DOHA, Qatar (AP) -- U.S. sanctions against Iran will be more harmful to America's economy in the long run than Iran's, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said Monday.
In an interview with The Associated Press on the sidelines of the Organization of the Islamic Conference summit in Qatar, Khatami said European and Asian companies would continue to take advantage of the American business void in Iran.
"Naturally, these sanctions can have a more immediate effect on the lives of Iranians, but in the long run it is not we who will be hurt by them," Khatami said. "These sanctions will force us more and more to look elsewhere for what we need." Formal ties between the two countries were severed after the 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran by Islamic militants. The United States imposed economic sanctions on Iran that year. In 1998, the reform-minded Khatami proposed that the two countries try to break the "wall of mistrust" between them by people-to-people contacts and cultural and sports exchanges. The United States, which accuses Iran of sponsoring international terrorism, took steps earlier this year to improve ties, lifting a ban on U.S. imports of Iranian luxury goods and calling for a "new relationship" with Iran. However, on Thursday President Clinton renewed the 1979 sanctions for another year. "More and more, U.S. firms and financial institutions will fall behind their competitors in Europe and Asia, and eventually we believe it will be the pressure of big business that will force the United States to change its policy toward Iran," Khatami said. Washington has banned U.S. businesses from selling everything from Coca-Cola to Boeing airliners in Iran. European and Asian firms have been cashing in by filling multibillion-dollar orders from Tehran and winning contracts to rebuild Iran's oil industry and strategic facilities. Earlier this week, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh told the AP that U.S. businesses were bidding for large contracts in Iran despite the sanctions. He did not identify the firms.
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Continuation of Iran Emergency
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M2 Communications - On November 14, 1979, by Executive Order 12170, the President declared a national emergency to deal with the threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States constituted by the situation in Iran. Since that time, notices of the continuation of this national emergency have been transmitted annually by the President to the Congress and published in the Federal Register. The most recent notice appeared in the Federal Register on November 5, 1999. Because our relations with Iran have not yet returned to normal, and the process of implementing the January 19, 1981, agreements with Iran is still underway, the national emergency declared on November 14, 1979, must continue in effect beyond November 14, 2000. Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am continuing the national emergency with respect to Iran for 1 year. This notice shall be published in the Federal Register and transmitted to the Congress.
WILLIAM J. CLINTON |
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Iranian FM Urges U.S. to Change Hostile Policy
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DOHA -XINHUA - Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi here on Saturday urged the United States to change its policy towards Iran to open up chances for improvement of bilateral ties.
Speaking to reporters, Kharrazi said there was no change in U.S. relations with Iran over the past years, and "it depends on the new U.S. president who comes to the White House if he is interested in developing relations with Iran." He said that before talking about any development in relations between Tehran and Washington, "the U.S. certainly has to change its policy it maintains towards Iran." Kharrazi is here to attend the summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) due to start Sunday. He opened the OIC foreign ministers meeting on November 9-10, which prepared the agenda for the summit. Iran and the U.S. severed diplomatic relations in 1980 following the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran by radical Iranian students in the heyday of the 1979 Islamic revolution.!! After Iran's moderate President Mohammad Khatami came to power in 1997 calling for "people-to-people" relations with the Americans, senior U.S. officials have repeatedly called for "unconditional talks" with Iran. However, Iran stresses that talks with the U.S. will be useless if Washington refuses to change its hostile policy and continues its sanctions against Iran. Washington accused Tehran of supporting international terrorism, seeking weapons of mass destruction and opposing the Middle East peace process.
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