Afghan insurgents are being trained inside Iran and given weapons to fight security forces, the commander of US and NATO forces said on Sunday, joining the rising criticism of Iran’s role in the country. General Stanley McChrystal said coalition forces were working to stop Iran from giving material help to the Taliban, who have stepped up the campaign to force foreign forces out of Afghanistan in a nine-year conflict. “The training that we have seen occurs inside Iran with fighters moving inside Iran,” he said at a news conference in response to a question on Iran’s influence. “The weapons that we have received come from Iran into Afghanistan.”
The United States, battling a Taliban insurgency at its worst, has frequently accused Iran of providing some assistance to insurgents in Afghanistan, although Washington says it has not been nearly as important a factor as in Iraq, Iran’s other neighbor, where US troops are waging war. In March, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen said there had been a significant shipment of Iranian arms to fighters in the southern province of Kandahar. US forces are preparing for an offensive in Kandahar, the spiritual capital of the Taliban, this summer in what is seen a turning point in the war to force the insurgents to the negotiating table for a settlement of the conflict.
Iran denies supporting militant groups opposed to Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government, and says it has a stake in the security of the neighboring state. Tehran’s economic influence in Afghanistan has grown rapidly in recent years, especially in the West, where cross-border trade is brisk. A dialect of Iran’s Farsi language is one of two state languages in Afghanistan, and Iran hosted millions of Afghan refugees during decades of conflict.
McChrystal said Iran, as a neighbor, had natural interests in Afghanistan and to a certain extent the assistance and interaction it provided was healthy. “There is however clear evidence of Iranian activity, in some cases of providing weapons and training to the Taliban that is inappropriate,” he said. Iran backed the Northern Alliance in the war against the Sunni Muslim Taliban in the 1990s, but security analysts said Tehran’s intelligence services could be helping elements in the Taliban as a tool against the United States. source: Iran Focus
Zahra Rahnavard, wife of opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi, has issued a statement on the occasion of women's week in Iran and the birth of the Prophet Mohammad's daughter Zahra. In the statement, which was published by Mousavi's official website Kaleme on Sunday, Rahnavard argued that "despite the exceptional unity in the Green Movement, it was full of pluralism and this uplifting and diversity provided an opportunity to pay tribute to all of humanity’s beautiful conducts and to respect all models for seeking justice and freedom in the world."
Referring to the tragic martyrdom of the Prophet Mohammad's daughter Zahra, Rahnavard stated: "We will not forget for a moment what suffering she endured for elevating and promoting Islam". She added that her path would continue to last for "believers and seekers of freedom." Rahnavard stressed the need for a modern and contemporary approach towards the personality of Zahra and maintained that the conduct of the current rulers of Iran is far from being based on true religious practices and is in fact "contrary to religious behaviour."
"Can one accept the notion that this regime has a belief in Zahra while it lies to such an extent at the same time and suppresses women and men and stifles freedoms by silencing everyone?" she asked. "Alas, during this very week and day, the regime is unable to hear the cries of children who weep for having been separated from their mothers in captivity. Innocent children, who impatiently wait and yearn for the compassion and caress of their mothers either imprisoned or killed in cold blood, while only God is their refuge."
Rahnavard also called on the current rulers of the country to "value this great opportunity" and to "release political prisoners.” "Release all prisoners as a sign of respect towards Zahra and start doing so by freeing women prisoners. Be certain that you will not be belittled and no one shall claim that you have backed out. This will be followed by press freedom, individual liberties, and non-interference in the people's private lives, free elections, freedom and democracy." source: The Green Voice of Freedom
In a letter to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, detained Iranian filmmaker and journalist Mohammad Nourizad has described Evin prison in Tehran as the "second Kahrizak". Kahrizak is a detention centre that was closed down last summer by the direct order of Ayatollah Khamenei. It was later confirmed that post-election detainees at this centre were tortured, abused and killed.
Nourizad, who is currently being held at Evin prison, has written the letter at the behest of the Prosecutor-General. The letter indicates that Tehran Prosecutor-General, Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi, visited Nourizad and urged him to write a letter of apology to the Supreme Leader.
Nourizad writes: "At Evin Prison, I have been subjected to insults and beatings by illiterate interrogators. Interrogators use the ugliest methods to extract their confessions from the accused. I really would have liked to introduce the second Kahrizak to you, if you could visit this place in person, and tell you of the disastrous behaviour of people who claim to be the soldiers of the Hidden Imam."
Mohammad Nourizad was arrested in the course of the post-election protests. He published three letters addressed to the Supreme Leader, criticizing the violent confrontation of election protesters. He was arrested in December on the charge of insulting the Leader and the Head of the Judiciary.
The preliminary court has sentenced Nourizad to three and a half years in prison and fifty lashes. Nourizad started a hunger strike last week and on the third day of his strike, Tehran's Prosecutor-General visited him in person. In a note that was published yesterday on Kaleme website, Nourizad describes the details of that visit and Prosecutor-General's demand for a letter of apology for the Supreme Leader. According to Nourizad's note, he tells the Prosecutor-General: "I will not ask for a pardon because I believe I have not committed any error."
The detained writer criticizes the lawlessness of the Islamic Republic judiciary which he claims "has no relation to Islam." He adds that most of the Islamic Republic official bodies are "corrupt" and advises Tehran Prosecutor to resign from his position, as according to him, "justice in our judicial system is a big joke." source: Radio Zamaneh | |
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