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Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal Have Been Held by Iran for 445 Days

By Kirita Radia and Jim Sciutto

Source: ABC News

October 19, 2010

Two American hikers who have been detained in Iran for 445 days will stand trial on Nov. 6, the Swiss ambassador in Tehran told ABC News.

Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal were detained in late July 2009 after crossing an unmarked border while hiking in northern Iraq with a friend, Sarah Shourd, who was released last month.

Asked about the trial date, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reiterated her call for the pair’s release.

“We continue to express our hope that the Iranian authorities will exercise the humanitarian option of releasing these two young men,” Clinton said. “We do not believe there is any basis whatsoever for them to be put on trial, and we regret that they and their families are being subjected to the criminal system that we do not think in any way reflects their actions.”

A senior State Department official told ABC News that the United States had been informed of the trial date by the Swiss, who represent American interests in Iran, who in turn learned of the move from the hikers’ lawyer.

Shourd was released on Sept. 14 on $500,000 bail after concerns were raised about her health. An Omani delegation, which had toiled behind the scenes for months to win her release, traveled to Tehran to bring her back.

The U.S. State Department has confirmed since then that an Omani delegation has returned to Tehran to seek the release of Bauer and Fattal.

As of today, the two remaining hikers have been detained in Iran longer than the Americans held during the hostage crisis in 1979-1981, which lasted 444 days. In a statement, their mothers again called for their release.

Detained American hikers Shane Bauer, left, Joshua Fattal and Sarah Shourd smile as they wait to meet their mothers at the Esteghlal hotel in Tehran, in this May 21, 2010 file photo. Bauer and Fattal, who were detained in late July 2009 after crossing an unmarked border while hiking in northern Iraq with Shourd, will stand trial on Nov. 6, the Swiss ambassador in Tehran tells ABC News. Shourd was released last month. Collapse (PressTv/Reuters)

“As long and heartbreaking as this ordeal has been, we never imagined that our sons’ detention would reach this sad and painful milestone,” Cindy Hickey and Laura Fattal said. “A generation after the U.S. hostage crisis, we pray that Iran and the U.S. will overcome the mistrust and antagonism of the past 31 years.

“Shane and Josh need to get on with their lives, as do our families. We pray that Shane and Josh will soon be in our arms and that the needless suffering their detention has brought upon so many people will end,” they said.

In calling for the hikers’ release today, Clinton noted that the United States has other matters it wished to discuss with Iran, suggesting the case had delayed other diplomatic efforts.

“There are many areas where we need to be discussing matters between the United States and Iran that are of great significance to not only our two countries but the world,” she said, a likely reference to efforts to restart nuclear talks with Tehran.

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October 16, 2010

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By Julie Stahl

Source: CBN News

October 14, 2010

JERUSALEM, Israel — Many in the West have been anticipating an Israeli military strike against Iran’s nuclear programs. However, a different kind of attack could already be underway. A mysterious cyber worm may be eating away at Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

It’s known as Stuxnet — a computer worm or malicious software that Iran says has infected some 30,000 PCs — some of them even belonging to workers at the Bushehr nuclear power plant.

“Apparently it’s not industrial espionage, which is something we’ve come to expect,” said Yael Shahar, who heads the database program at the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), Herzliya, Israel. “Most of these things are industrial espionage worms.”

While Iran has accused the West of targeting its nuclear program, it denies that the worm has infiltrated any control systems.

Shahar said no one knows exactly the extent of the damage.

“However, there have been bits and pieces of information trickling out of Iran for two years about accidents and setbacks and delays and in the summer of 2009 in fact there was a serious accident at least according to Wikileaks,” she said.

Some suspect the worm is a government sanctioned project, costing as much as $3 million and taking up to a year of work.

“This is a form of cyber warfare essentially,” Shahar added.

One theory about the origin comes from the word “myrtus,” appearing in the worm. That’s a myrtle plant, known in Hebrew as Hadassah. Hadassah is also the name of biblical Queen Esther, who saved the Jewish people from destruction at the hands of a Persian king.

“Israel definitely could have done something like that,” Shahar said. “So could the U.S. My guess and this is just a completely uneducated guess, sort of a hunch is that this would be more likely to be the work of the U.S., Israel and/or NATO or some of the European countries.”

According to media sources, both the U.S. and Israel have been involved in previous attempts to sabotage the Iranian nuclear program.

The worm wouldn’t likely scuttle Iran’s entire nuclear program but Shahar said it could create delays and erode Iranian confidence in it.

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Mahmoud fuelled his claims that the US government was behind the Sept 11 attack on America and demanded to ‘know the truth of what happened’ during his visit to Lebanon.

By Damien McElroy in Beirut

Source: Telegraph

14 October 2010

Speaking at a late night rally, he said: “I announce that the formation of an independent and neutral team to examine the facts and discover the truth of the September 11 events is the demand of all the peoples of the region and the world.”

Earlier in the day, thousands held up flowers and Iranian flags as Mr Ahmedinejad waved through the open roof of an armoured car that carried him through the Shia Muslim strongholds of south Beirut, the Lebanese capital.

Hizbollah, Iran’s local ally, mobilised its followers to throw rice and slaughter camels as the motorcade passed by.

It was, however, a welcome that ran just one street deep and normal life – bereft of Iranian flags – continued yards away from the old airport road used by the Iranian leader to reach a summit with his Lebanese counterpart, Michel Sleiman.

Maura Connelly, the US ambassador, expressed misgivings about the impact of the Iranian leader’s visit and newspapers reported that America had unveiled a $22 million (£13.8 million) package of military aid to strengthen the Lebanese security forces.

“There is a concern we share with the countries in the region that Iran is not playing a helpful role in the region in terms of stability”, she said.

Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, cautioned Mr Ahmadinejad to avoid statements that would inflame tensions in Lebanon.

Mr Ahmadinejad’s trip comes amid tension over an international tribunal for those implicated in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005. Hizbollah has demanded the government withdraw from the tribunal, believing it will seek to prosecute its members.

The Iranian leader took the opportunity during his trip to lash out at Israel following talks with Mr Sleiman.

“We fully support the resistance of the Lebanese people against the Zionist regime,” he said. “Lebanon is not only a source of pride for the Lebanese but for the region because Lebanon has changed the balance of power in favour of the people of the region.”

More friction is expected today (Thurs) when Mr Ahmedinejad travels to Lebanese border towns targeted in the 2006 war that killed more than 1,000 people. Hizbollah has used hundred of millions of dollars donated by Iran for reconstruction of the south and residents expressed gratitude to the Iranian leader. Mahmoud Darwish, a 50-year old local who turned out for Mr Ahmadinejad said: “He helped us rebuild Lebanon. If he hadn’t, our houses would still be destroyed and we would still be living in tents.”

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By Dominic Waghorn, Middle East correspondent, in Bint Jbeil

Source: Sky News

October 14, 2010

Iran’s president has addressed thousands of Hezbollah supporters at a rally close to the Israeli border with Lebanon, as he continued his controversial visit to the country.

Speaking in Bint Jbeil, the scene of fighting between Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas in the war of 2006, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad praised what he called Lebanon’s resistance against Israel.

“The world should know the Zionists are mortal … today the Lebanese nation is alive and is a role model for the regional nations,” he said at the rally in the town, which is 2.5 miles from the border.

He added: “I announce that Bint Jbeil is alive and is standing. The world should know that Bint Jbeil is proud and will stand against the enemies till the end.

“They (the enemies) have no way but surrender to the nations and go back to their first homes… Palestine will… be freed.”

Mr Ahmadinejad headed to the border with Israel on a provocative excursion directly defying America’s efforts to isolate his regime’s influence in the Middle East.

Thousands at the rally waved Lebanese, Iranian and Hezbollah flags

Thousands at the rally waved Lebanese, Iranian and Hezbollah flags

On his first day in Lebanon he issued a not-so-veiled threat to Israel saying Iran would stand with Beirut against Zionist aggression.

America has criticised the visit as provocative.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has warned against any efforts to destabilise or inflame tensions in Lebanon.

The visit comes as a new political crisis looms over an international tribunal’s investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.

The tribunal is expected to indict senior members of Hezbollah, raising fears of renewed violence between the Shia militant organisation and the pro western March 14 coalition led by Hariri’s son and current prime minister Saad Hariri.

Fares Souaid, secretary general of the March 14 coalition, told Sky News Mr Ahmadinejad is acting like the commander in chief of a private army on Lebanese soil.

He said: “He’ll be there in the south like a general who wants to visit the soldiers, wants to visit the front and say, ‘My people are here, my military structure is here represented by Hezbollah’.”

Ahmadinejad waves before speaking to his supporters in Beirut

Ahmadinejad waves before speaking to his supporters in Beirut

To some Lebanese, such as the thousands of Shia who turned out to welcome him, Mr Ahmadinejad is a hero who stood alongside them during their hour of need in the war with Israel.

To others, he is a deeply worrying interference from outside.

Like Fares Souaid, they fear his tough stance with Israel comes at the expense of the Lebanese.

Mr Souaid said: “The presence of Ahmadinejad in the south 100 metres from the Lebanese border is to say indirectly the two superpowers who don’t want to reach peace are here face to face and they can decide what is the future of this country.”

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Photo by: Associated Press

Source: The Jerusalem Post

October 13, 2010

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman on Wednesday, who said that Lebanon and Iran are fighting the Zionists together.

“We support Lebanon fully, and we call for the liberation of occupied lands in Lebanon and in Syria,” Ahmadenijad said at a press conference with Suleiman.

Ahmadinejad said of Lebanon, “I feel like I am at home, like I am in my country.”

The Iranian president presented a gift to the president, which was only described as a “state of the art device owned by only six countries across the globe.” He said that the device would be useful for scientific research.

“We seek a unified, modern Lebanon, and we stand by the Lebanese government and people,” Ahmadinejad said. “We have both common interests and enemies.”

Suleiman went on to thank his Iranian partner for Iran’s support, saying, “I assured Ahmadinejad that Lebanon is keen to oblige Israel on implementing UN Security Council resolutions.” He continued, “We also discussed international terrorism and how to differentiate it from the resistance.”

Speaking about Iran’s controversial nuclear program, the Lebanese president said that he stresses “the right of states, including Iran, to acquire nuclear energy and use it for peaceful purposes.”

At the press conference, the two presidents announced that they had signed bilateral memoranda of understanding on economic, trade, environmental and energy issues.

Earlier Wednesday, thousands of Lebanese — mostly Hizbullah backers — lined the main highway into the capital from Beirut’s airport, where Ahmadinejad arrived Wednesday. Loudspeakers blasted songs as women sold Hizbullah flags and balloons to onlookers.

The Lebanese daily Assafir reported that Ahmadinejad may hold a tripartite meeting with Turkish Prime Minster Tayyip Erdogan and Lebanese Prime Minister Sa’ad Hariri on Friday.

The paper reported that the Iranian president extended his trip so the three can meet “amid major headlines.”

Ahmadinejad is expected to visit battlegrounds of the Second Lebanon War in southern Lebanon, including Bint Jbail and Maroun a-Ras on Wednesday and Thursday, and reportedly wants to go to the border with Israel and throw rocks at IDF soldiers.

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Mahmood and Lebanon

* * Below: A video message from the people of Iran: “The Final Uprising by the People of Iran is Coming Soon.”

Workers from the Philippines Red Cross watch live TV coverage of the Chilean miners rescue in Manila. Photo: Francis r. Malasig/EPA

* * In another priceless conspiracy theory, the Iranian regime-run website Jahan News claims that the the rescue of the Chilean miners is another Zionist plot to steal the world’s attention away from Mahmood Ahmadinejad’s ‘historic’ trip to Lebanon. In this absurd editorial, three countries have been targeted as the enemies of the Iranian regime; the U.S., Israel and Spain have been named as the forces behind the scheme to focus the international media on the Chilean government’s efforts to extricate the miners from their 70 day long ordeal.

Ahmadinejad, gestures at the Lebanese University where he was awarded an honorary doctorate in Beirut Thursday. Hezbollah supporters rallied crowds in southern Lebanon ahead of a visit that will take Ahmadinejad within 2 miles of the Israeli border. (Associated Press)

Jahan News opines: “Israel has pressured Spain, the U.S. and Chili to coordinate the rescue efforts in such a way that the bulk of the international news concentrates on that news item, ignoring Ahmadinejad’s historic trip. Also a huge part of the blame for this plan has been coordinated with internet experts in the Middle East. Of course the BBC reported Ahmadinejad’s trip as a second tier news item which is not surprising because clearly they are worried about Ahmadinejad’s plan to throw rocks at the Israeli border from southern Lebanon. Arab Networks have also shown their anti-Iranian colors by going along with the Zionist efforts.”

* * And in another farcical episode of the Iranian regime’s historical revisionism, the head of the Iranian Historical and Cultural Heritage Organization has claimed that the Cyrus Cylinder, supported the Velayat’eh Faqih. The clay cylinder which was carved in Akkadian Cunei form in the name of Cyrus the Great, dates back to the 6th century B.C and is thought of as the first declaration of human rights.

The doctrinal basis of the Velayat’eh Faqih in it’s earliest form was mentioned by Shia Mujtahids such as Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid (948-1022 A.D.) and enforced for a while by Muhaqqiq Karaki during Shah Tahmasp era (1524–1576 A.D.).

Hamid Baghaei, the head of the Iranian Historical and Cultural Heritage Organization and a close ally of Mahmood Ahmadinejad has now claimed that the missing section of the clay cylinder (pictured above) was the section in which Cyrus the Great ‘showed his support for the Velayat’eh Faqih but global expansionists and western plutocrats have destroyed it and that he can prove it’. Baghaei however has not as of yet offered the proof.

* * Below: Ahmadinejad´s wife Azam al-Sadar Farahi in Lebanon

* * Below: A video of Iran’s last power play in Lebanon. While people inside Iran starve, industry is gutted and the monetary value of Iranian money is in a free fall, the Lebanese government shameless allows the Iranian regime to buy influence in Lebanon with money belonging to the Iranian people. Inside Iran this has created a huge resentment among the Iranian people against the Lebanese who have accepted these bribes.

* * Below: A video of yet another six Iranians in Athens joining the 43 day long protest in Athens, against the inhumane treatment of refugees in that country. The six new Iranians who have sewn their lips and joined the hunger strike in solidarity with the protesting Iranian refugees are Mandana Daneshnia (young woman seen in the video), Afsheen Taalebi-Rod, Mohsen Abdol-Hosseinadabi, Ahmad Moradi, Hossein Nowbari, Mohammad Pour-Samad.

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Source: Homylafayette

October 12, 2010

Two gunmen at the right of the image

Two gunmen at the right of the imageFootage recently posted on the Internet shows last week’s gunfight in front of a police station in Sanandaj, Iran, on Thursday, October 7, 2010.

The deadly battle left four security agents and a civilian dead, according to news sites. Five police officers and four civilians were injured in the attack, said Colonel Kazeminejad, deputy police chief of Kurdistan province.

The attack took place in front of the police station situated at the north end of Sanandaj’s Azadi Square, formerly known as Eghbal Square:

The police station, a prominent concrete and glass structure, can be seen from another angle in the image to the the right. The cameraman was most likely in the brown building to the east of the police station.

Two individuals opened fire on police officers outside the building late in the afternoon, the spokesman for the Kurdistan Human Rights Organization, Ejlal Ghavami, told BBC Persian, citing eyewitnesses. The gunmen can be seen clearly in the video posted on Unity4Iran’s YouTube channel:

Northwestern Iran has been wracked with violence in the past weeks. A bomb blast killed 12 people during a military parade in Mahabad, West Azerbaijan province, on September 22. A security officer and a 4-year-old boy died in a gun battle on the streets of Saghez, Kurdistan province, on September 20.

No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attack. Some opposition groups have pointed the finger of blame at the regime’s security forces, accusing them of trying to unite the people against ‘counter-revolutionaries’ and attempting to justify the current crackdown in the country.

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Click here to sign the petition in support of Heshmatollah Tabarzadi

October 3, 2010

According to received reports, branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court presided by Judge Peer-Abbas, has sentenced Heshmatollah Tabarzadi, political activist and Secretary General of the Democratic Party of Iran to 9 years in prison and 74 lashes.

He has been charged and convicted of unlicensed assembly, conspiracy against the Iranian regime’s national security and insulting the Supreme Leader.

Tabarzadi was detained on December 28^th after the Ashura protests and transferred to solitary confinement in Ward 209 of the Evin Prison. He was later transferred to the Rajaei-Shahr prison for protesting the execution of the 5 Kurdish activists including Farzad Kamangar.

His first court session was held on June 9^th and after the objections made by his lawyers, the charges of destructing the public property, espionage, and insulting Ayatollah Khomeini were dropped.

During the short weeks of furlough from prison, Tabarzadi bravely penned an article for the Wall Street Journal.

During Mr. Tabarzadi’s trials neither one of his lawyers, Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh or Mr. Mohammad Oliayifar were present as both of them were arrested and are also in prison. Tabarzadi read his statement of complaint at the end of his so-called trial. The most important points in said statement were the following: “I  announce publicly that I do not recognize either this court’s authority or the pressures that have been brought by the intelligence apparatus in issuing such a sentence. I expected such a sentence from an intelligence and security court.”

Below: A video of Voice of America (VOA) Persian’s interview with Heshmatollah Tabarzadi’s son, Hossein regarding his father’s case (in Persian). Hossein speaks of the prison conditions and transfers that his father has had to withstand. He also adds that his father has expressed hope for the future of Iran in terms of the Green movement and the solidarity of the Iranian people in confronting the Iranian regime. He also adds that though his father has suffered physically and is in need of medical attention but that his spirit remains strong.

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By Borzou Daragahi in Beirut

Source: Los Angeles Time Babylon & Beyond

October 10, 2010

A story from Iran this weekend combines elements of tribal banditry and nuclear espionage.

The ethnic Baluchi group Jundollah claimed on its website (Persian link) that it had kidnapped an Iranian nuclear scientist and would begin forcing him to tell his secrets unless the Iranians released 200 prisoners from the group.

But the story may turn out to be more like a tale from filmmakers the Coen brothers than an espionage thriller. Iranian authorities say the man who was kidnapped, Amir-Hossein Shirvani, is not a nuclear scientist, rather a laborer who was fired from a nuclear facility in Isfahan four years ago.

“Amir-Hossein Shirvani worked as a welder and later as a driver in one of the contractor companies of the AEOI for a short time,” Iranian Atomic Energy Organization spokesman Hamid Khadem-Qaemi said Saturday, according to the website of Iran’s state-owned Press TV.

Another Iranian official, Mohammad Mehdi Esmaili, told Iran’s Fars news agency that Shirvani was running smuggling operations along the eastern Iranian border and that the kidnapping was over a business dispute. Iran considers Jundollah a terrorist organization

Jundollah, which describes itself as a “resistance” group but shares the extremist ideology of Osama binb Laden, has responded to Iran.

It claims that 38-year-old Shirvani worked at a “secret facility” and had precious information about Iran’s nuclear program that he would be forced to disclose.

“The responsible ones know well what important information Mr. Shirvani has, specifically about leading nuclear experts such as Khanzareh Tehrani,” the bulletin says. “And publishing these confessions will have a heavy price for the regime.”

Photo: Jundollah fighters, from the group’s website. Credit: Junbish.blogspot.com

Video: Report about the kidnapping of a man purported to be an Iranian nuclear scientist on Al Jazeera International. Credit: YouTube