VNESHTORGBANK MAY INCREASE STAKE IN ARMENIAN VTB TO 100%
SKRIN Market & Corporate News
October 30, 2006 Monday 1:49 PM GMT
Vneshtorgbank may increase its stake in VTB (Armenia) to 100%,
Kommersant quoted Senior Vice President of Vneshtorgbank Vasiliy Titov
as saying. Vneshtorgbank holds a 70% plus 1 stake in Armsberbank,
which is operating under the Bank VTB (Armenia) brand.
Mikhail Bagdasarov, owner of a 30% stake in Bank VTB (Armenia),
is conducting talks on sale of the stake to Vneshtorgbank.

COMSTAR UTS ANNOUNCES ACQUISITION OF ARMENIAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS GROUP
SKRIN Market & Corporate News
October 30, 2006 Monday
Comstar UTS announced the acquisition of 75% plus one share in the
Armenian transit operator CallNet, which also owns 100% of Cornet,
an ISP with an extended corporate customer base, Aton Capital said.
According to a company press release, Cornet provides Internet services
to 76% of the Armenian banking sector and is the sole provider of
WiMax services in the country. The purchase price was not disclosed,
but with $4.3mn in consolidated 2005 revenue for Callnet and Cornet,
Aton estimates it could be around $15mn. Comstar-UTS also has an
option to acquire the remaining 25% stake in the group.
Aton sees the acquisition of telecommunications assets in the CIS as
positive news for Comstar-UTS: since the IPO in February, investors
have waited for expansion outside Russia.

TO WHOM ARE MILITARY EXERCISES IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH ADDRESSED?
by Nurani
Translated by Pavel Pushkin
Source: Echo (Baku), October 26, 2006, p. EV
Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
October 30, 2006 Monday
Saber Rattling Against The Background Of Negotiations;
Azerbaijani Observer Is Afraid Of Armenia’s Provocations In Nagorno-Karabakh;
Negotiations of foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Paris
are accomplished.
Despite that the ministers agreed to continue the dialog in Brussels
on November 14, many observers hurried to announce that negotiations in
Paris were fruitless. Really, the region already heard more than enough
conversations about “constructive meetings,” “interested discussion”
etc but there was no real progress in the dialog.
At any rate, another thing is more possible. During the days of the
latest round of negotiations in Paris dedicated to resolving the
conflict and held at the level of foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and
Armenia, Senor Asratyan, press secretary of the Defense Ministry of
self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic announced that the army
of Nagorno-Karabakh was conducting preplanned tactical exercises
“aimed at improvement of interaction between the branches of armed
forces and troops formations in the course of counterattacking and
defensive combat operations and improvement of skills of personnel
and commanders.” Representatives of the separatist regime developed
impressive media activeness around these military exercises.
Practically simultaneously with the meeting of the ministers in Paris
it was announced in Yerevan that between October 30 and 31, President
of Armenia Robert Kocharjan would visit Russia and a significant
part of the agenda would be again dedicated to military and military
technological cooperation. Such unambiguous readiness of Russia for
“asymmetric” military cooperation in the region definitely pushes
Yerevan towards a new “dance with sabers” against the background
of negotiations. Yerevan also drew unambiguous conclusions about
the stance of another co-chair – France too. Whereas Paris states
that disagreement with the thesis about “genocide of Armenians”
is a crime that Yerevan may not be afraid of harsh reaction on the
part of Paris. Against this background apprehensions about possible
provocative actions of Armenia are far from being ungrounded.

ARMENIAN LEADER TO VISIT KAZAKHSTAN 6-7 NOVEMBER
Interfax, Russia
Oct 30 2006
Astana, 30 October: Armenian President Robert Kocharyan will pay an
official visit to Kazakhstan on 6-7 November.
“Armenian President Robert Kocharyan’s official visit to Kazakhstan
will take place on 6-7 November. He will hold meetings with the
country’s leadership,” the Kazakh Foreign Ministry’s spokesman,
Yerzhan Ashikbayev, said at a news conference in Astana today.
During the visit, a number of bilateral documents are expected to
be signed and a round-table meeting, attended by the two countries’
business circles, is due to be held, Ashikbayev said.

TURKISH TRADE MINISTER CRITICIZES EU “DOUBLE STANDARDS”
Anatolia news agency, Ankara, in English
30 Oct 06
Essen, 30 October: “Abatement of Turkish public’s interest in EU
membership is because of implementation of double standards towards
Turkey,” Turkish Industry and Trade Minister Ali Coskun said on Monday
[30 October].
Speaking at inauguration of a symposium organized by the Turkish
Studies Centre in Germany’s Essen city, Coskun pointed to the
importance Turkey attaches to relations with EU.
“Turkish government will continue to carry out works on the way to
EU membership with patience and tolerance,” Coskun indicated.
Coskun said EU’s double standards could be seen in stance of France
and at Cyprus question, noting that, “the Greek Cypriot party who voted
`No’ in the referendum in Cyprus was awarded with EU membership. Also
adoption of the bill on criminalizing denial of so-called Armenian
genocide by the French national assembly caused very big reactions
in Turkey.”
“Such kind of double standards has certainly negative impacts on
Turkey,” he added.
“With a trade volume exceeding 23 billion dollars, Germany is the
biggest trade partner of Turkey. Turkish enterprises in Germany are
also successful,” Coskun stated.
Coskun will leave Germany for Turkey in the evening.

17 YEAR OLD INTERNATIONAL MASTER ZAVEN ANDRIASIAN OF ARMENIA WINS WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
The Washington Post
October 30, 2006 Monday
Final Edition
Seventeen-year-old International Master Zaven Andriasian of Armenia,
playing before his home crowd in Yerevan, won the World Junior (under
20) Championship this month, scoring 91/2 points in 13 games. The
top-finishing American, IM Robert Hungaski, ended in 46th place with
61/2 points.
Andriasian is progressing fast. Last year, he won the Boys’ Under 16
European championship in Herceg-Novi, Montenegro. He was only the 29th
seed in Yerevan but won the event convincingly. His victory against
IM Maxim Rodshtein of Israel in the Tarrasch variation of the French
defense reveals an outstanding opening preparation and maturity.
Andriasian-Rodshtein
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.Ngf3 cxd4 6.Bc4 Qd6 7.0-0
Nf6 8.Nb3 Nc6 9.Nbxd4 Nxd4 10.Nxd4 a6 11.Re1 Bd7 12.Bg5! (The most
aggressive approach.) 12…Qc7 (Black’s position is already not easy to
play. After 12…Be7 comes 13.Nf5! Qxd1 14.Nxg7+, followed by 15.Raxd1
and white is better. Castling long 12…0-0-0 seems to be the safest,
although in the game Asrian-Wang Hao, Taiyuan 2006, the rook lift
13.Re3 caused black problems after 13…Kb8 14.Rb3 Rc8 15.Qf3 Bc6
16.Nxc6+ Qxc6 17.Bxf6 gxf6 18.Qxf6 Rg8 19.Bf1 Rg6 20.Qxf7 and white
later won. Andriasian was more likely aware of another queen move,
12…Qc5?!, with a double-attack on white’s bishops and control of
the fifth rank. It can quickly draw fire: 13.Bxe6! fxe6 14.Bxf6 gxf6
15.Nxe6 Bxe6 16.Rxe6+ with powerful pressure, for example 16…Be7
17.b4! Qxb4 [17…Qf5 18.Qe2!] 18.Rb1 Qc5 19.Rxb7; or 16…Kf7 17.Qd7+
and now 17…Kg8 18.Rxf6 Qh5 19.Re1! h6 20.Re5!
wins; or 17…Kg6 18.Rae1 Qf5 19.R1e3 Bh6 20.g4! wins; or 17…Be7
18.Rae1 Rae8 19.Qxb7, threatening 20.b4, white has a clear advantage.)
13.Bxe6! (The bishop sacrifice works also in this position. White
is not risking anything, having a draw by perpetual check at hand.)
13…Bxe6 14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.Nxe6 fxe6 16.Rxe6+ Kf7 (After 16…Be7
17.Qh5+ white’s attack is decisive either after 17…Kd8 18.Qf7
Bd6 19.Qxf6+ Kd7 20.Rd1; or after 17…Kf8 18.Rae1 Re8 19.Rxf6+
Bxf6 20.Rxe8+ Kg7 21.Qg4+ Kf7 [or 21…Kh6 22.Re3!] 22.Qe6+ Kg7
23.Rxh8 Kxh8 24.Qxf6+ winning.) 17.Qd5! Kg7 18.Qf5 Qf7 (The point of
black’s 12th move: The black queen can help on the kingside. After
18…Be7 19.Rae1 Rae8 20.R1e3 white’s heavy artillery outmaneuvers
black’s pieces, for example 20…Qd8 21.Rg3+ Kf7 22.Rd3 Qc7 23.Qh5+
Kf8 24.Rg3 Rd8 25.Qg4 Qc5 [or 25…Ke8 26.Rxe7+! Qxe7 27.Re3!] 26.Qg7+
Ke8 27.h3! Rf8 28.Rc3 Qb4 29.Rc4! wins.) 19.Rd1 Be7 (After 19…Qg6
20.Rd7+ Kg8 21.Qd5! wins.) 20.Rd7 Rhe8 21.g3 (Black is in a bind and
does not have many useful moves. White simply improves his position
and slowly creates a dangerous passed pawn on the queenside.)
21…Rab8 22.h4 h5 23.c4 b6 24.b4 Rbc8? 25.Rexe7 Rxe7 26.Rxe7 Qxe7
27.Qxc8 (White is winning easily.) 27…Qxb4 28.Qxa6 Qe1+ 29.Kg2 Qe4+
30.Kh2 Qd4 31.Kg1 Kh6 32.Qa4 Kg7 33.Qb3 Kg6 34.a3 Kg7 35.Kg2 Qd6
36.Qb5 Kh6 37.a4 Qd4 38.Qd5 Qc3 39.Qd6 Black resigned.
Remember the Chinese girl who dreamed of beating the best woman ever,
Judit Polgar, and of buying real estate in Paris? Twelve-year-old Hou
Yifan is on her way to fulfilling her dreams. She tied for first in
the girls’ section of the Junior World Championship in Yerevan with
her countrywoman Shan Young, Salome Melia of Georgia and Mongontuul
Bathuyag of Mongolia. They each scored nine points in 13 games, but
the 18-year-old Shan won the title on a tiebreaker, just edging Hou.
American Tatev Abrahamyan finished 14th with 71/2 points. Hou’s
one-sided victory over Vietnamese women’s grandmaster Hoang Thi Bao
Tram in the Caro-Kann defense is very impressive.
Hou-Hoang
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Ng5 Ngf6 6.Bd3 e6 7.N1f3 Bd6
8.Qe2 h6 9.Ne4 Nxe4 10.Qxe4 Qc7 11.0-0 b6 12.Qg4 Kf8 (You have to
have Anatoly Karpov’s great defensive skills to hold this position.)
13.b3 c5?! 14.dxc5 Nxc5 15.Bb2 e5 16.Bf5 Bxf5?! (Usually black plays
16…h5 17.Qh3 Ne6, but now instead of 18.Bxe6, the current women’s
world champion, Xu Yuhua of China, tried successfully 18.Nh4 against
Liu Pei in Wuxi last year, and after 18…Kg8 19.Rfe1 Nf4 20.Qf3
Bb7 21.Be4 Bxe4 22.Qxe4 Re8 23.Nf5 f6 24.g3 Ne6 25.h4 Kf7 26.Rad1
was clearly better and won in 43 moves.) 17.Qxf5 Re8 18.Rad1 Kg8
(After18…e4 19.Nh4 Kg8 20.Qh3 black is still tied up.) 19.Rfe1
(Mobilizing the last piece and attacking the pawn on e5 gives white
an overwhelming advantage.) 19…f6? (Surrendering the light squares,
but after 19…e4 20.Qg4 Bf8 21.Nd4 black is playing without the
rook on h8.) 20.Nh4! Rd8 21.f4 (The move order 21.Ng6 Rh7 22.f4 is
more precise.) 21…exf4 22.Ng6 Rh7 23.b4 Nb7 24.Re7! (Playing for
24…Bxe7 25.Qe6 mate.) 24…Qc4 (24…Bc5+ is met by 25.Bd4.) 25.Rd5
(After 25…Bc5+ 26.bxc5 Qxd5 27.Re8+ Kf7 28.Rf8+ Rxf8 29.Qxd5+
wins.) Black resigned.
Solution to today’s study by F. Lazard (White: Ke3,Rh8,Ba7,P:a6,d3;
Black: Kg1,Rd6,Nd7,P:h2): 1.Ke2+ Kg2 2.Rxh2+ Kxh2 3.Bb8 Nxb8 4.a7
wins; or 1…Nb6 2.Bxb6+ Rxb6 3.a7 Rb2+ [3…Re6+ 4.Kd2 Ra6 5.a8Q Rxa8
6.Rxa8 h1Q 7.Ra1+ wins] 4.Ke3 Ra2 5.a8Q Rxa8 6.Rxa8 h1Q 7.Ra1+ wins.

GEORGIA’S FOREIGN MINISTER TO MEET RUSSIAN COUNTERPART IN MOSCOW
RIA Novosti, Russia
October 30, 2006
TBILISI, October 30 (RIA Novosti) – Georgia’s foreign minister
will meet with his Russian counterpart in Moscow at a session of an
economic alliance of Black Sea countries, to be held November 1-2,
Georgia’s Foreign Ministry said Monday.
The 11-member Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization comprises
Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova,
Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine.
Gela Bezhuashvili’s talks with Russia’s Sergei Lavrov come in the midst
of an intense diplomatic standoff between the ex-Soviet neighbors,
which has led several countries to urge the sides to ease tensions
before the situation gets out of control.
The crisis began when Georgia detained four Russian officers last
month, and accused them of spying. Russia responded by suspending
postal and travel links with Georgia, shutting down casinos and
restaurants owned by Georgians, and deporting hundreds of Georgians
who had allegedly been living in the country illegally.

RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
_________________________________________ ____________________
RFE/RL Iran Report
Vol. 9, No. 40, 30 October 2006
A Review of Developments in Iran Prepared by the Regional Specialists
of RFE/RL’s Newsline Team
******************************************** ****************
HEADLINES:
* CANDIDATES REGISTERED FOR LOCAL COUNCIL POLLS
* IRAN PREPARES FOR CENSUS
* RIGHTS GROUP GATHERS SIGNATURES TO BAN STONINGS
* END TO STONINGS DEMANDED
* RIGHTS GROUP WANTS INVESTIGATION OF EVIN PRISON
* DISSIDENT RELEASED ON BAIL
* REPORTS HIGHLIGHT PRECARIOUS RIGHTS IN IRAN
* STATE NEWSPAPER RESUMES PUBLICATION
* TEHRAN STUDENTS DISCIPLINED, CAMPUS JOURNAL SHUT DOWN
* DISSIDENT CRITICIZES EU INDIFFERENCE TO ABUSES
* SENIOR IRANIANS CHARGED IN 1994 BOMBING IN BUENOS AIRES
* FORMER SECURITY AGENT IN JAIL FOR REVELATIONS ABOUT DISSIDENT KILLINGS
* FOREIGN MINISTRY SUMMONS EUROPEAN ENVOYS OVER MEETINGS WITH TERRORISTS
* SANCTIONS DISCUSSED IN MOSCOW
* GUARDS CORPS EYEING ENEMY MOVEMENTS
* AHMADINEJAD DEPLORES ‘AGGRESSIVE’ U.S. ADMINISTRATION
*********************************** *************************
CANDIDATES REGISTERED FOR LOCAL COUNCIL POLLS. Registration of
aspiring candidates for local council polls due in December ended
late on October 22, with some prominent Iranians registering to run,
agencies reported. They included former Tehran police chief Morteza
Talai; Masumeh Ebtekar, a vice president in the reformist government
of Mohammad Khatami; Ishaq Jahangiri, former industry minister under
Khatami; and Ahmad Masjid-Jamei, Khatami’s former culture and
Islamic guidance minister. Others registering were prominent
reformist Ibrahim Asgharzadeh, former state budget chief Muhammad Ali
Najafi, and conservative Mehrdad Bazrpash, who, until recently, was
an adviser to President Ahmadinejad, “Aftab-i Yazd” reported on
October 23.
Candidacies must be approved by the Guardians Council, a body
of clerical jurists. On October 23, leftist cleric Hadi Khamenei said
unfair disqualifications, bias among Guardians Council or related
personnel involved in electoral supervision, or the “citing of
amazing excuses or raising pseudo-legal obstacles” for aspirants will
discredit the upcoming polls for local councils and the Assembly of
Experts, a clerical body. “If…the gentlemen want to resort to their
old methods, the elections are flawed, even if nobody says so,” ISNA
quoted him as saying. Khamenei is the brother of Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. (Vahid Sepehri)
IRAN PREPARES FOR CENSUS. Iranian authorities are preparing to carry
out the country’s sixth nationwide census from October 28 to
November 27, IRNA reported on October 26. Officials reportedly expect
new surveying methods to give the count a 99.8 percent level of
accuracy. Households will answer 26 questions chosen “with
international advice” from 900 relevant questions used in similar
measurements. The survey is expected to cost $40 million and will be
carried out by 88,000 people, with the final results expected in
March 2007, IRNA reported.
President Mahmud Ahmadinejad told a gathering of officials
and statisticians involved in the project on October 26 that “precise
and scientific planning” are necessary for the government’s
stated plans to “implement justice and build the country,” IRNA
reported. “A correct response to the country and the people’s
needs requires correct and comprehensive information and figures,”
Ahmadinejad said. (Vahid Sepehri)
RIGHTS GROUP GATHERS SIGNATURES TO BAN STONINGS. Amnesty
International has gathered some 160,000 signatures to pressure
Iran’s government to ban the practice of stoning, a lethal
penalty imposed on people — more often women — convicted of
adultery or extramarital sex, “El Pais” reported on October 25. The
rights group said seven women are now waiting to be stoned to death
in Iran, while a man and a woman were stoned in May, reportedly for
the first time since December 2002, according to elpais.es.
Iran’s Islamic laws forbid extramarital sex. Articles 102
and 104 of its Penal Code explain the modalities of this punishment,
whereby men and women are buried to the waist or chest respectively,
before being stoned by mid-sized stones to ensure pain before death,
the daily reported.
Rights activist Mehrangiz Kar told Radio Farda on October 24
that the time has come for legal reformers to call for the
elimination of stoning from Iran’s laws. She said a recent letter
written by jurists to judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmud
Hashemi-Shahrudi observed that even existing legal stipulations on
stoning are not properly implemented and there is “inconsistency” and
“subjectivity” in sentences issued by judges, Radio Farda reported.
(Vahid Sepehri)
END TO STONINGS DEMANDED. Women’s rights activists in Iran have
called on the head of the country’s conservative judiciary and
the parliament to end the stoning to death of convicted adulterers.
Under pressure from the European Union, Iran was said to have
introduced a moratorium on stonings in 2002. But activists accuse
judges of perpetuating the practice.
Reports suggest that two people were stoned to death in May
and at least eight women currently face stoning sentences.
Under Islamic laws as applied in Iran, the punishment for
adultery is stoning. It is widely considered to be among the cruelest
of punishments. Women are buried up to their chests in a pit; men are
buried up to their waists. And their hands are tied behind their
backs.
Then, as lawyer Elham Fahimi explains, they are struck with
rocks until they die.
“They put them in a hole and they wrap them in a kafan [a
white sheet used for burial] — this is how it should be done,
according to the law,” Fahimi says. “Then they call on those who have
not committed any crimes to come and throw stones.” Death by stoning
is slow and painful. Islamic code prescribes that “the stone should
not be so big as to kill the offender with one or two stones” and
“nor should it be as small as pebbles.”
Still Happening
The latest case of a judicially ordered stoning was
reportedly carried in early May in a cemetery in the holy city of
Mashhad in eastern Iran.
A woman, identified as Mahbubeh M., and a man, identified as
Abbas H., had been convicted of committing adultery and murdering the
woman’s husband. Activists say that before the two were stoned to
death, they were treated like “lifeless corpses.” They were given
final ablutions and then buried in a hole in the ground. Reports
claim that more than 100 members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard
and Basij paramilitary forces participated in the stoning.
The case alarmed and outraged women’s rights activists.
Their investigations suggested that judges in several cities have
continued to condemn people to death by stoning, despite the reported
moratorium.
Women’s rights activist Mahbubeh Abbasgholizadeh tells
RFE/RL that one of the reasons new stonings are being ordered is
because the moratorium was not enshrined in law.
“Since under our laws, judges are independent, one reason
[for continued stonings] might be that with the new government [of
President Mahmud Ahmadinejad] coming to power and the change in the
political atmosphere, judges who are in favor of such sentences have
become more active,” Abbasgholizadeh says. “Therefore, we think
stoning should be banned by law — otherwise judges can issue such
sentences as they desire.”
Silent Killings
Abbasgholizadeh says it is unclear how many stoning sentences
have been issued and carried out in Iran since reports of the
moratorium emerged four years ago.
“Currently they don’t carry out stoning in public. I
don’t know [why], maybe because of public opinion or
international pressure,” Abbasgholizadeh says. “Now it seems that
they do it in the prison courtyards by prisoners or prison guards
[casting the stones]. I even know…a political prisoner who was
detained three or four years ago and had seen from his cell that they
brought a woman and forced other female detainees to stone her.”
The head of Iran’s judiciary, Ayatollah Shahrudi, has not
reacted publicly to the activists’ calls for an end to stonings.
Parliamentarian Elham Aminzadeh was quoted by Iranian media
as saying after a trip to Brussels in mid-October that stoning
sentences are no longer being handed down in Iran. She said EU
officials had asked about the resumption of the practice. Aminzadeh
said they had referred to an Amnesty International statement and an
Internet list, which she described as invalid.
Abbasgholizadeh dismisses Aminzadeh’s claim and says
rights activists have carefully documented stoning cases.
“We don’t speak without proof,” Abbasgholizadeh says.
“This lady speaks in a way that shows she’s denying stoning and
saying that the judiciary has replaced it with other sentences. This
means she’s saying stoning should not exist. Our point is that as
long as [a ban] doesn’t become law, judges can [issue stoning
sentences] and are doing it. So this lady, who is a legislator and
opposes it, should make the ban a legal one.”
Pressure Continues
On October 10, Amnesty International Secretary-General Irene
Khan called on Iran to abolish stoning “immediately and totally.”
Activists have published the names of nine women and two men
whom they claim have been sentenced to death by stoning.
One of them is Shamameh Malek Ghorbani, who was reportedly
sentenced to stoning in June after relatives found a man in her home.
Amnesty International reported that her brothers and husband murdered
the man and also stabbed Ghorbani with a knife.
Ghorbani’s lawyer, Fahimi, tells RFE/RL that the case is
being reexamined by a higher court.
“She is in Urumiyeh prison,” Fahimi says. “Her crime is
adultery, and she has been sentenced to stoning. I visited her while
my colleague went to Qom to study her case, which is before the Qom
supreme court. The sentence has most probably been overturned.”
Reports suggest that the stoning sentence against another
woman identified by Amnesty International, Ashraf Kalhori, has also
been suspended.
But activists are determined to continue their efforts until
the practice is rooted out of Iran.
Women’s rights defenders say adultery cannot be
considered as deserving of such harsh punishment. They are quick to
add that “no crime deserves to be punished by stoning.”
With officials largely silent on the issue except to deny
that it occurs, it is unclear how many more Iranians might be stoned
to death before authorities throughout the country are forced to
agree. (Golnaz Esfandiari)
RIGHTS GROUP WANTS INVESTIGATION OF EVIN PRISON. Four Iranian human
rights organizations have called on the United Nations and other
human-rights bodies and organizations to send an independent
delegation to investigate the situation in section 209 of
Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. The human rights groups say most
prisoners held in section 209 are being maltreated and have no access
to their family or lawyers. Section 209 is reportedly controlled by
Iran’s Intelligence Ministry and no other government bodies have
access to it.
Abdolfattah Soltani, a prominent human rights lawyer, was
detained in a cell measuring about five square meters in section 209
of Evin prison for more than seven months.
He was not physically tortured but he told RFE/RL that during
the first two months he was completely cut off from the outside
world.
Held Incommunicado
“One doesn’t have any contact with family, a lawyer. For
two months I didn’t have a television, radio, newspapers, or a
book — just a Koran and maybe a [prayer book],” he said. “It is the
worst form of psychological torture when one has no contact outside
of the prison cell; many were ready to confess to anything just not
to be forced to bear those conditions.”
Section 209 is Iran’s most notorious detention center for
detained critics and activists.
Located inside Tehran’s Evin prison, the names of the
individuals held there are not recorded on the official list of
Evin’s prisoners and families of the detainees are sometimes left
clueless about where their loved ones are being held.
Political- and security-related prisoners are sometimes held
in section 209 in solitary confinement for months without being
charged or put on trial.
Reports Of Abuse
Detainees are reportedly subjected to long and multiple daily
interrogations. Some former detainees have said they were deprived of
sleep and medical care. Others have said they were threatened by
authorities with indefinite imprisonment. Some said they were beaten
up.
Soltani says prisoners in section 209 do not enjoy the same
rights as prisoners held in other wards of Evin prison.
“If anybody becomes sick there is a room there they call the
infirmary, inside 209, and only after many demands will they take
prisoners there where there is a general doctor with very limited
possibilities,” he said. “I had a heart problem and I asked for an
appointment for two months — then I was freed and still hadn’t
had an appointment.”
Four Iranian human rights groups have expressed concern over
the situation of scores of political prisoners, including dissidents,
human rights activists, and students who are reportedly being held in
section 209.
The rights groups that have sent an appeal to international
human rights bodies include the newly founded UN human Rights
Council, Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRAI), the Committee for the
Defense of Human Rights in Northwest Iran, the Kurdish Human Rights
Defense Organization, and the Ahwazi Human Rights Organization.
Secret Service Controlled
HRAI’s spokesman in Europe, Sadegh Naghashkar, says
section 209 is out of the control of bodies such as Iran’s prison
organization and Evin’s prison officials.
“[Section 209] is one of the most dreadful sections of
Evin’s prison, and it is controlled by the Intelligence
Ministry,” he said. “No one else has control over this section. The
interrogators in this section put pressure on detainees based on
their assessment.”
Last summer, when a group of Iranian legislators visited Evin
prison, they were not allowed into section 209. One of the
legislators, Akbar Alami, said “most regrettably” the wing was closed
and added that this has contributed to “doubts” about what goes on in
section 209.
In recent years there have been reports of other unofficial
detention centers that are not under the control of Iran’s prison
authorities. Their number is not known, however, as they are
officially not registered as prisons and are reportedly being run by
certain security bodies.
Some have been reportedly closed, including Prison 59, which
is controlled by the Revolutionary Guard.
Unexplained Deaths
Many reformist figures and human rights activists have
described such detention centers as illegal and called for their
closure.
Soltani says all detention centers should be under the
control of relevant authorities.
“According to the law, the Intelligence Ministry does not
have the right to have a detention center,” he said. “It doesn’t
have the right to do interrogations; it should do its investigation
and give its information to the police. The police then have the
right to make arrests with orders from the judiciary. But, in section
209 there is unfortunately no control over the actions of officials;
anything can happen to the detainees and that’s a tragedy.”
Soltani says there should be tighter control by the relevant
authorities of the prison situation and also monitoring should be
done by independent human rights groups. He said such measures could
prevent “tragedies” such as the murder of Iranian-Canadian
photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, who died from a head injury suffered
during beatings while in custody in Evin.
The human rights groups who have called for an international
investigation into the conditions in section 209 have published the
names of some of the detainees that are believed to be held there.
They include the outspoken Ayatollah Kazemeyni Borujerdi — who was
arrested after calling for the separation of religion from politics
— and student activists Kayvan Ansari and Kianush Sanjari. (Golnaz
Esfandiari)
DISSIDENT RELEASED ON BAIL. Former legislator Ali Akbar
Musavi-Khoeini was released on bail on October 21 after 130 days’
detention, Radio Farda reported on October 23, quoting his wife,
Zohreh Islamian. Musavi-Khoeni reportedly had to post bail of 150
million tomans (roughly $160,000). He said after his release that he
was jailed for his “useful and effective” activities when a member of
parliament and an activist, including for calling state officials to
account and defending the rights of detainees. Musavi-Khoeini was
arrested on June 12 after he participated in a Tehran demonstration
for women’s rights (see “RFE/RL Iran Report,” September 26,
2006). He vowed to continue his “social and human rights” activities,
Radio Farda reported.
Separately, Muhaddaseh Saberi, a supporter of detained cleric
Ayatollah Seyyed Hussein Kazemeyni Borujerdi, told Radio Farda on
October 22 that reports of that outspoken cleric’s release are
false and that Borujerdi remains in Tehran’s Evin prison. “They
want to make it seem as if [Borujerdi] has been released,” she said,
so that no one “follow[s] up” on his case. (Vahid Sepehri)
REPORTS HIGHLIGHT PRECARIOUS RIGHTS IN IRAN. In a Reporters Without
Frontiers (RSF) report on press freedom in the world over the past
year, Iran is listed as a state that restricts free speech, Radio
Farda reported on October 23. The report includes Iran’s Supreme
Leader Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad among the prominent enemies
of the free press, Radio Farda added. Separately, Iran’s
Defenders of Human Rights Center has issued a report on the state of
human rights in Iran over the past six months, Radio Farda reported.
The center’s report cites rights irregularities including 29
cases of legal action against journalists in that time; 38 cases of
interference in court cases by “irresponsible individuals”;
prosecutions of 35 press editors; seven publications being banned;
books removed from bookshops; refusing to allow the publication of
certain books; 130 cases of disciplinary measures taken against
students; and 21 cases of prosecution or imprisonment of students,
Radio Farda reported. (Vahid Sepehri)
STATE NEWSPAPER RESUMES PUBLICATION. Publication of the “Iran”
newspaper resumed on October 28. “Iran,” which is published by the
official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), was shut down in May
after its publication of a cartoon led to riots in the northwest and
demonstrations by ethnic Azeris elsewhere.
Islamic Culture and Guidance Minister Hussein Safar-Harandi
told state television on October 23 that there would be some changes.
“The way the work is done has been reviewed so that the newspaper
would look more pleasing to readers.” (Bill Samii)
TEHRAN STUDENTS DISCIPLINED, CAMPUS JOURNAL SHUT DOWN. Three students
from Tehran’s Amir Kabir University were summoned to the
university’s disciplinary committee on October 21, while another
was temporarily banned from studying, on charges a university
official said are confidential, ISNA reported on October 23. Mohammad
Salmanpur told ISNA that he, Ibrahim Rahmani, and Saman Khosravi were
summoned to the disciplinary committee, adding that his own charges
related to allegedly disruptive behavior. The same university
confirmed a previous order to ban another student, Abbas Hakimzadeh,
from entering the campus, Hakimzadeh told ISNA. He said the
university also shut down his journal “Vazhe-yi-i No” (New Word). The
head of the student-affairs department at the university, identified
as Ataipur, told ISNA on October 23 that student dossiers are
“entirely confidential” and any disciplinary rulings are for presumed
political or campus-related misconduct. “If any student has been
prevented from entering the university, it must have been in line
with regulations, and if the disciplinary committee has issued an
order, we are not allowed to divulge its contents,” he said. He added
the university does its best to respect students’ rights. (Vahid
Sepehri)
DISSIDENT CRITICIZES EU INDIFFERENCE TO ABUSES. Government critic
Akbar Ganji was in Strasburg on October 24, where he met with EU
parliamentarians and criticized what he called EU tolerance of rights
abuses in Iran so as not to jeopardize commercial interests, Radio
Farda reported. He told the broadcaster that he met with German
Liberal and Greens parliamentarians the same day, and with Angelika
Beir, head of the European Parliament’s Human Rights Committee,
with whom “we discussed the extensive violation of human rights in
Iran.” Ganji also addressed the legislative body and answered
members’ questions, reportedly criticizing the EU for “shutting
their eyes to rights abuses” for the sake of economic interests,
Radio Farda reported. (Vahid Sepehri)
SENIOR IRANIANS CHARGED IN 1994 BOMBING IN BUENOS AIRES. Argentinean
prosecutors have charged leading Iranian statesmen and Lebanon’s
Hizballah militia with the bombing of the AMIA Jewish center in
Buenos Aires in 1994, AFP and AP reported on October 25 (see RFE/RL
Iran Report,” November 10, 2003). Chief prosecutor Alberto Nisman
issued a statement accusing Iranian leaders of planning the bombing
in 1993. Hizballah has close ties to Iran’s government.
Prosecutors have asked a federal judge to issue arrest warrants for
Iran’s then President Ali-Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani and his
intelligence and foreign ministers, Ali Fallahian and Ali-Akbar
Velayati, among other suspects, AP reported.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Husseini on October
26 rejected the charges by “certain Argentinean judicial agents” of
official Iranian involvement in the 1994 AMIA bombing and repeated
the oft-stated Iranian stance, that Iran is a victim of terrorism,
IRNA reported. Iran “is itself a victim of various terrorist
activities and has borne heavy human, material, and moral costs,” he
said. Husseini said previous irregularities in Argentina’s
investigations into the bombing, and the acquittal by a British court
of Iran’s then ambassador in Buenos Aires, Hadi Suleimanpur,
showed ” the claims made about” Iran’s involvement in the bombing
are “baseless.”
The “new publicity,” Husseini said, is “being fanned within
the framework of the political hostility of Zionists” and designed to
sow discord between Iran and Argentina and offset “the anti-Israeli
atmosphere” after recent “violations” against Palestinians and
Lebanese. Husseini said Argentinean officials must “move away from
past mistakes, and make reasoned and firm evidence the basis of any
statement of opinion,” IRNA reported.
Separately, the public prosecutor in Rome asked for a life
sentence at an October 25 court session for a former Iranian diplomat
accused of orchestrating the murder of another former Iranian
diplomat-turned-government-opponent, Radio Farda reported. The court
is examining the 1993 killing of Mohammad Hussein Naqdi, a case in
which diplomat Amir Mansur Bozorgian is a suspect. Neither he nor an
attorney were present at the latest session, Radio Farda reported.
(Vahid Sepehri)
FORMER SECURITY AGENT IN JAIL FOR REVELATIONS ABOUT DISSIDENT
KILLINGS. The Student Committee of Human Rights Reporters of Iran
reports that Intelligence and Security Ministry official Reza Malek
has been held in Tehran’s Evin prison for six years now for
having revealed parts of a report on the murders of dissidents in the
late 1990s by Iranian security agents, Radio Farda reported on
October 26. The group reports that Malek was given a 12-year prison
term for disclosing excerpts of an 80-page report on the killings,
which included the stabbing deaths in their home of prominent critics
Darius and Parvaneh Foruhar. Malek is reportedly in Evin’s
section 209, where political prisoners are kept.
A group of political inmates in the Gohardasht prison in
Karaj, a city outside Tehran, have issued a statement expressing
concern over the condition of prisoners in Evin’s 209th wing,
Radio Farda reported. Their statement reports that unspecified
detainees in the 209th wing are on hunger strike or “in an unsuitable
condition.” It called on the UN Human Rights Council to send
inspectors there, Radio Farda reported. (Vahid Sepehri)
FOREIGN MINISTRY SUMMONS EUROPEAN ENVOYS OVER MEETINGS WITH
TERRORISTS. The Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the ambassadors of
Finland and Belgium on October 25 to express its displeasure at
meetings held in Belgium between parliamentarians and Iranian exiles,
including prominent opponent Mariam Rajavi, ISNA reported. Finland
currently holds the rotating EU Presidency. Rajavi is a self-styled
Iranian president-in-waiting and a leader of the National Council of
Resistance and the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (commonly known as
the MKO or MEK, and which uses a variety of cover names including
People’s Mujahedin of Iran), both part of a left-wing militant
grouping considered terrorists by Iran, the United States, and the
European Union.
Rajavi met with Belgian Senate leader Anne-Marie Lizin on
October 24, while a 20-member delegation with her later met other
senators, AFP reported the same day. The visit was unofficial, but
Tehran had already summoned the Belgian envoy on October 22 to
protest it, AFP reported.
On October 25, Ibrahim Heidarpur, the director-general for
Western European affairs at the Foreign Ministry, said the
Senate’s invitation was unfriendly toward Iran and a gesture of
support for terrorism, ISNA reported. Heidarpur told the envoys that
the EU is applying a “double standard” in its response to terrorism
and that “political games” like this could be “dangerous” for Iran-EU
relations, ISNA reported. (Vahid Sepehri)
SANCTIONS DISCUSSED IN MOSCOW. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice sought support from top Russian officials in Moscow on October
21 regarding the nuclear programs of North Korea and Iran, news
agencies reported. But even before she arrived, Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov repeated his opposition to tough sanctions
against Iran. He told the Kuwaiti news agency KUNA that “any measures
of influence should encourage creating conditions for talks.” Lavrov
added that “we won’t be able to support and will oppose any
attempts to use the Security Council to punish Iran or to use
Iran’s [nuclear] program [as an excuse] to promote the idea of
regime change there.” In addition to discussing North Korea, Rice
appealed to Russia and Georgia to reduce the tension between their
countries.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Husseini said
in Tehran on October 22 that Iran will respond if sanctions are
imposed over its nuclear activities and contrasted Western threats
with what he suggested was Iran’s cooperative approach, ISNA
reported. “If the West chooses sanctions, we too will decide in line
with their choice,” he said, adding that the West’s choice of
“the Security Council path, threats and…resolutions” will have
“regional, international, and global consequences and the West knows
this very well. Meanwhile, we have always stressed dialogue and
negotiations,” ISNA reported.
Husseini said Iran’s calls to form an international
consortium in Iran to produce nuclear fuel — one of the activities
the West wants Iran to stop due to its potential military
applications — are among the confidence-building measures that Iran
has taken, “which should have been encouraged and welcomed by other
states.” Iran proposed talking about a “limited suspension” of
uranium enrichment and related activities if “conditions were fair,”
he said, while rejecting suspension in principle. Husseini asked why
Iran should accept suspension beyond the requirements of the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to which it is a signatory. “We had
duties we have carried out, for which we must enjoy certain rights,”
he said. “They want to deprive us of those rights.”
Senior legislator Alaedin Borujerdi said in Tehran on October
22 that Iran has no option but to “stand firm in the nuclear field,
and the entire system shares this view,” IRNA reported. Borujerdi,
the head of the parliamentary National Security and Foreign Policy
Committee, was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of members of
the three branches of government. He said the nuclear dossier
constitutes a “difficult passage” for Iran. “We have no authority but
to go through this passage. America’s red line is Iran’s
enrichment and that is precisely our red line, and that is the point
causing the challenge. We must either surrender or tolerate difficult
events,” he said.
“The West wants Iran to be a weak and impotent country, but
that will never take place because the government and parliament will
not accept it.” Borujerdi said Iran must “state its case” but
“establish peacefulness in foreign policy,” IRNA reported.
Parliament, he added, has passed three laws to safeguard Iran’s
nuclear rights.
President Mahmud Ahmadinejad said on October 23 in Rey, south
of Tehran, that all Iranians wish to have “the full use of nuclear
energy” and “are standing by their right,” IRNA reported. Iran, he
said, will continue to pursue activities that are “within the
framework of the law and regulations” in contrast to the conduct of
“certain forceful powers” that trample on “justice” and “morality.”
He said he was certain the “nation will stand firm until the last
stage of its goal,” though he urged foreign powers to “let us resolve
problems in an atmosphere of dialogue.”
Also on October 23, Supreme National Security Council
Secretary Ali Larijani suggested Western powers accept the “formulae”
Iran proposed in recent talks between Larijani and EU negotiator
Javier Solana. These include, he said, Western recognition of
Iran’s right to make nuclear fuel and engage in attendant
activities, and the formation of a multinational fuel-making
consortium to reassure the West there are no deviations in Iran’s
program to bomb-making activities, IRNA reported. He was speaking
after a meeting in Tehran with Georgian Foreign Minister Gela
Bezhuashvili. (Patrick Moore, Vahid Sepehri)
GUARDS CORPS EYEING ENEMY MOVEMENTS. Islamic Revolution Guards Corps
(IRGC) commander Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi said in Tehran on
October 22 that Iran’s armed forces “have intelligence dominance
over supra-regional enemies and are precisely observing their
movements,” IRNA reported, citing the IRGC public-relations office.
He said after a troops review that foreign powers have concluded that
the peoples of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Lebanon have learned to resist
“foreign domination” from Iran and its defense against Iraq from
1980-88, and that Iran’s armed forces are “a powerful force,
equipped with advanced, contemporary equipment and technology.”
Iran’s armed forces have a “strategy of comprehensive deterrence
and defense,” he said. (Vahid Sepehri)
AHMADINEJAD DEPLORES ‘AGGRESSIVE’ U.S. ADMINISTRATION.
President Mahmud Ahmadinejad met with Belarusian Foreign Minister
Syarhey Martynau on October 22, stating Iran’s desire for optimal
ties with Belarus and cooperation in energy, industry and defense
sectors, IRNA reported. Ahmadinejad said Iran wishes to work with
“independent” and “friendly” states to break the alleged injustice of
“the existing unipolar system in the world.” The two discussed a
coming visit by President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, although IRNA gave
no date for that trip.
Ahmadinejad said in a speech in Shemiranat, a suburb of
Tehran, on October 23 that “we have no problem with the people of
America, and believe [it] is currently under the sway of an
aggressive government,” ISNA reported. Ahmadinejad was touring and
speaking in Tehran’s environs that day.
He said there are two foreign policy perspectives in the
world presently, “the first perspective is [of] humiliation and
insults to nations” and seeks to curb the progress of nations. The
other perspective, Iran’s, is of religious piety and “respect for
nations and human dignity.” The United States, he said, now
fingerprints visiting Iranians at airports “like criminals,” but Iran
“has not engaged in this policy toward American nationals, and we
believe [they] can easily travel to Iran. Of course if anyone wants
to spy or commit violations, we shall…not permit them to enter,”
ISNA quoted him as saying. He said “we asked parliament” to halt a
proposed bill to fingerprint U.S. visitors. (Vahid Sepehri)
**************************************** *****************
Copyright (c) 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.
The “RFE/RL Iran Report” is a weekly prepared by A. William Samii on
the basis of materials from RFE/RL broadcast services, RFE/RL
Newsline, and other news services. It is distributed every Monday.
Direct comments to A. William Samii at [email protected].
For information on reprints, see:
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Back issues are online at

ANGELS AND ARMENIA ARE SEWER’S MOTIFS
Around Blackhawk: Georgia Lambert
ContraCostaTimes.com and wire service sources
Posted on Sun, Oct. 29, 2006
“‘DID I DO THAT?'” Olga Arabian told me she asks herself that sometimes
when she looks at her handiwork — magnificent cross-stitched beaded
angels, an Orthodox cross in tapestry, hand-stitched quilts, comforters
and pillows with crocheted lace.
The walls of the Blackhawk home in which she and husband Robert have
lived since 1994 are tastefully adorned with framed creations from
years past and present.
I learned about Olga’s talent after receiving a call from her neighbor,
Jim Ashworth. He and his wife, Mary, were out for a walk and were
invited to see Olga’s most recent project, a stunning gold and silver
tapestry Orthodox cross.
“I couldn’t put it down,” said Olga. “I spent 12 hours a day on
it — it took me about four months to complete. I could never do
another one.”
Said Jim, “Olga does the most beautiful kind of high-end needlework.”
After visiting the Arabians’ home, I couldn’t agree more. In spite
of the level of difficulty and the amount of work she put into the
Orthodox cross, she said the series of angels she has completed —
Hope, Universe, Grace, Ice, Autumn, Sea, Millennium and World Peace
angels — is her pride and joy. She is working on another, Celtic
Christmas Angel.
In addition to the painstaking cross-stitching she completes (with
no transfers, just counted cross-stitches), she sews on seed pearls,
beads and tiny gems.
“She’s a real perfectionist,” said Bob. “I assure you that each piece
is as flawless as she could make it.”
I asked her about a sampler that I saw on her wall with foreign
writing. She created the Armenian Sampler about 10 years ago, she
said. It features a scene with grapes, olive trees and Mount Ararat
in the background, with Armenian numbers, the Armenian alphabet and,
in Armenian, the saying, “I am Armenian.”
By popular demand, she made kits of the sampler; hundreds have been
sold through Armenian churches and newsletters, as well as local
charities for fundraising.
I struck gold when I asked Olga and Bob how they met. Their
grandmothers were friends in Armenia at the beginning of the 20th
century. In 1915, when the Turks attacked Armenia and more than a
million people were slain, many Armenians fled for their lives, and
the two women completely lost touch with each other (as well as with
some of their own family members, who were never heard from again).
Bob’s grandmother made it to England, where she worked as a governess
for some years. Olga’s grandmother ended up in the United States.
In 1930, when Bob’s grandmother was visiting a cousin in Detroit,
she recognized her old friend in a grocery store, and discovered they
lived only a few miles apart and had grandchildren of about the same
age — Bob, born in 1929, and Olga, born in 1930.
Family friends all of their lives, Bob and Olga celebrated their
51st anniversary this year — they were married in 1955. They have
10 nephews and nieces and 16 great-nephews and nieces (Olga has made
quilts for all of them!). They purchased their Blackhawk home in 1988,
rented it out once it was completed, and moved here in 1994 from
Detroit when Bob retired from General Motors, where Olga also worked.
Olga began quilting in 1959. She spent four years making her first
quilt, the Cherry Tree, which won an honorable mention when a friend
entered it in the California State Fair in 1963. It was also displayed
recently at the Mission San Jose Outdoor Quilt Show. An Amish quilt
she made, with close to 1,000 pieces, was recently included in a show
at the Museum of San Ramon Valley in Danville.
Each year, Olga prepares about a dozen Christmas trees with
hand-stitched ornaments for the Knights & Daughters of Vartan, an
Armenian fraternal service organization, which are then raffled. She
also makes centerpieces, dolls, holiday figures and artistic desserts
for various charities.
She is president of the Blackhawk Women’s Knit & Stitch group, which
meets monthly, and Bob has been a member of the local Homeowners
Association for many years.
Reach Georgia Lambert c/o the Times, P.O. Box 68, Danville, CA 94526;
at 925-743-2205 or [email protected].

AFTER ELF AND L’OREAL, TEFAL THIRD FRENCH COMPANY NAMED IN BOYCOTT
Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
Oct 29 2006
ANKARA – Turkish Consumers Union named Tefal as the third company to
be brought under the boycott campaign against a new French company
every week following the French Parliament’s decision on October 12,
2006 concerning the so-called Armenian genocide.
Consumers Union had initiated the boycott campaign with Total (Elf)
petroleum retailer in the first week and brought L’oreal under the
boycott in the following week.
Consumers Union Chair Bulent Deniz called on the Turkish consumers
not to buy products by French company Tefal. Deniz said `From today
to the day that the unfortunate decision by the French Parliament
is withdrawn, we are not buying the products by French Tefal and its
subsidiaries Moulinex and Rowenta.’
Deniz expressed his confidence that the boycott against Tefal would
be supported by the consumers, like the Total and L’oreal boycotts
initiated in the first two weeks, and stressed that the boycott would
be decisively maintained until the legislation that criminalizes the
denial of the so-called Armenian genocide is withdrawn.
If the bill becomes law in France, all Turks and French would have to
accept what the Armenians claim about the past. Turks and Armenians
disagree on the 1915 Events. Turkey says about 2 million Turkish and
other Muslim Ottoman citizens were massacred by the Armenian gangs,
while the Armenians name the Armenian killings as genocide. Armenians
rioted against Istanbul and joined the occupying Russian forces. The
communal clashes and war curcumstances caused a great tragedy at
both sides.