KUWAIT CITY (AFP) -Iran warned on Sunday that it would strike US military bases in neighbouring Gulf states if they were used as staging posts to attack the Islamic republic over its nuclear programme.

"We rule out the possibility that our neighbours... will allow the United States to use their territory in attacking Iran," Iranian parliament speaker Gholam Ali Hadad Adel told reporters during an official visit to Kuwait.

"But if this actually happens, we will be forced to defend ourselves... We will target those bases or points" used to attack Iran, he said.

Adel said that some Gulf states, which he did not name, had assured Tehran that they would not allow their territory to be used in the event of an attack on Iran.

"Yes. Some countries in the region did," he said when asked if Gulf countries had given such assurances.

"Parliaments in some of these countries have even called for not allowing the United States to use its bases to attack Iran," said Adel, adding that this issue had not been discussed with Kuwaiti officials.

The Iranian speaker also said that Gulf states had now "learned many lessons from the US invasion of Iraq," in March 2003, and that "officials in the region are not likely to link their fate with US mistakes."

Earlier, Iranian deputy interior minister in charge of security issues Mohammad Baqer Zolghadr warned in Tehran that all US military bases in the Middle East were in range of Iranian missiles.

Iran has an array of medium-range missiles and claims that its longer-range Shahab-3 missile has a reach of 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) which would put US bases on the Arabian peninsula within reach.

Washington has always said it wants to resolve the nuclear crisis through diplomacy, but has never ruled out using military action to bring Tehran to heel.

The Observer - A British company has been closed down after being caught in an apparent attempt to sell black-market weapons-grade uranium to Iran and Sudan, The Observer can reveal.

Anti-terrorist officers and MI6 are now investigating a wider British-based plot allegedly to supply Iran with material for use in a nuclear weapons programme. One person has already been charged with attempting to proliferate 'weapons of mass destruction'.

During the 20-month investigation, which also involved MI5 and Customs and Excise, a group of Britons was tracked as they obtained weapons-grade uranium from the black market in Russia. Investigators believe it was intended for export to Sudan and on to Iran.

A number of Britons, who are understood to have links with Islamic terrorists abroad, remain under surveillance. Investigators believe they have uncovered the first proof that al-Qaeda supporters have been actively engaged in developing an atomic capability. The British company, whose identity is known to The Observer but cannot be disclosed for legal reasons, has been wound up.
A Customs and Excise spokesman said: 'We continue to investigate allegations related to the supply of components for nuclear programmes including related activities of British nationals.'

It is not clear whether all of those involved in the alleged nuclear conspiracy were aware of the uranium's ultimate destination or of any intended use.

British agents believe Russian black-market uranium was destined for Sudan, described as a 'trans-shipment' point. The alleged plot, however, was disrupted in early 2006, before the nuclear material reached its final destination.

Roger Berry, chairman of Parliament's Quadripartite Committee, which monitors arms exports, said: 'With the collapse of the Soviet Union there was always the question over not just uranium but where other WMD components were going and how this could be controlled. Real credit must go to the enforcement authorities that they have disrupted this. The really worrying aspect is that if one company is involved, are there others out there?'

Politically, the allegations hold potentially huge ramifications for diplomatic relations between the West and Tehran. Already, tensions are running high between Iran, the US and the European Union over the true extent of Iran's nuclear ambitions. Iran refuses to suspend its nuclear programme in the face of mounting pressure, arguing its intent is entirely peaceful and solely aimed at producing power for civilian use.

Investigators are understood to have evidence that Iran was to receive the uranium to help develop a nuclear weapons capability. 'They may argue that the material is for civilian use but it does seem an extremely odd way to procure uranium,' said Berry.

Alleged evidence of Sudan's role will concern British security services. The East African state has long been suspected of offering a haven for Islamist terrorists and has been accused of harbouring figures including Osama bin Laden who, during the mid-Nineties, set up a number of al-Qaeda training camps in the country.

Details of the plot arrive against a backdrop of increasing co-operation between Sudan and Iran on defence issues, although the level of involvement, if any, of the governments in Khartoum and Tehran in the alleged nuclear plot is unclear.

However, circumstantial evidence suggesting that elements within both countries might be colluding on military matters has been mounting in recent months. A Sudanese delegation visited Iran's uranium conversion facility in February, while the East African country reportedly recently signed a mutual defence co-operation pact with Iran, allowing Tehran to deploy ballistic missiles in Sudan.

An Iraqi court is to deliver its verdict in the genocide and war crimes trial of six former aides to Saddam Hussein, including his cousin "Chemical Ali", on June 24.

Ali Hassan al-Majid and other former aides are on trial for their roles in the 1988 Anfal (Spoils of War) campaign against Kurds that prosecutors say killed up to 180,000 people.

Prosecutors have demanded the death penalty for al-Majid, once one of the most feared men in Iraq.

But the prosecution has come in for new criticism over a new video showing a senior Anfal trial official celebrating when Saddam was hanged.

Munqith al-Faroon, who was appointed by the government to oversee the prosecution's case, was pictured celebrating alongside armed men following the former Iraqi leader's hanging.

In the video, al-Faroon is pictured being carried by armed men while waving and chanting in triumph.

According to Najib al-Nuaimi, Qatari lawyer and a member of Saddam's defence team, the new images are proof that those still awaiting verdicts in the Anfal trial aren't being treated fairly.

Al-Nuaimi said: "This is one of the reasons why our lawyers could not continue on al-Anfal case - because they know exactly what's going on.

"That the prosecutor, and even the judges, are part of an ethnic trial and hatred ... it's not independent at all."

Mustard Gas

Mohammed al-Uraibi, the chief judge, said on Sunday that verdicts against all six would be delivered on June 24.

He made the announcement at the final session in the trial on Sunday, which lasted only a few minutes.

Kurds, who make up about 20 per cent of the population, have long sought justice for the attacks.

Their mountainous northern region is still haunted by the devastating seven-month military operation in which mustard gas and nerve agents were used to clear villages.

Al-Majid, who acquired the moniker Chemical Ali for his alleged use of chemical weapons, said during the trial he ordered troops to execute all Kurds who ignored orders to leave their villages, but said he had nothing to apologise for.

The defendants have said Anfal had legitimate military targets - Kurdish fighters who had sided with Iran during the last stage of the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war.

Charges against Saddam himself in the Anfal trial lapsed when he was hanged on December 30 last year for crimes against humanity in a separate case.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

by Jerome Bernard

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States on Friday voiced concern over the current unrest at the Iraqi-Turkish border, after recently warning Ankara against any cross-border military action in pursuit of Kurdish rebels.

"We hope there is no unilateral military action taken on the other side of the Iraqi border," US Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Turkey when he was visiting Singapore on June 3.

"The Turks have a genuine concern with Kurdish terrorism that takes place on Turkish soil," Gates said, adding that the United states was working with Ankara to resolve the problem.

US concerns appeared to materialize a few days later, although reports of a major Turkish offensive in northern Iraq were promptly denied by Ankara, Washington and even by the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

"A Turkish-PKK war in Iraq must be avoided at all costs," Heritage Foundation analyst and former US deputy defense secretary Peter Brookes said in a June 4 New York Post op-ed piece.

"Turkey could send troops into Iraq any day now ... This is the last thing we - or the Iraqis - need. Preventing it must be a top priority of America, Iraq and Europe," he added.

Turkey says the PKK, whose 22-year insurgency in eastern and southeastern Turkey has claimed more than 37,000 lives so far, is acting under the protection of Iraqi Kurds allied to the United States.

Violence increased with the spring thaw as rebels hiding in the rugged mountains of the region launched attacks on security forces while others infiltrated Turkey from their northern Iraqi bases, effectively ending a unilateral cease-fire the PKK proclaimed in October 2006.

Turkey launched several cross-border operations into Iraq in the 1990s, but failed to dislodge rebels based there.

It maintains a 1,500-strong presence several kilometres (miles) inside Iraqi territory to prevent the PKK infiltrating along the mountainous, 384-km (240-mile) border.

Ankara continues to pressure the United States and Iraq to act against the PKK and maintains its threat of taking action itself if they fail to do so.

To address its concerns, the United States in August 2006 appointed former NATO commander, retired general Joseph Ralston, special US envoy to coordinate Turkish-Iraqi talks about the PKK.

Gates on Sunday said Ralston was in constant contact with Turkish officials.

Former US ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke last year recommended that US troops be deployed in the Kurdish region of Iraq.

Since the US occupation of Iraq in 2003, Turkey's cross-border incursions against rebel Kurds have decreased in size and scope.

The situation could be reversed and worsen, however, if oil-rich Kirkouk south of Iraq's Kurdistan, decides to join the Kurdish region in a referendum scheduled for this year, raising Turkish fears it might sow the seeds of an independent Kurdish state.

In the United States, the Iraq Study Group Report, co-chaired by former secretary of state James Baker and former lawmaker Lee Hamilton, said a referendum on the future of Kirkuk would be "explosive" and should be delayed.

"The risks of further violence sparked by a Kirkuk referendum are great," said the report.

Despite all the danger signs, a Turkish military invasion of northern Iraq appears unlikely for now, some observers said.

"Turkey is unlikely to buck its American ally. That would embarrass the United States and be seen as a broad indictment of its Iraq policy," wrote The New York Times this week.

ISTANBUL, Turkey — Turkish artillery shelled suspected Kurdish rebel positions across the border in northern Iraq, Iraqi Kurd officials said Friday, and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Turkey that it risked expanding regional tensions with any "robust" move of troops into Iraq.

Turkey has been building up its forces along the border with Iraq and its leaders are debating whether to stage a major incursion to pursue separatist rebels who cross over from bases in Iraq to attack Turkish targets. Such an operation could ignite a wider conflict involving Iraqi Kurds, and draw in its NATO ally, the United States.

Rice, speaking in New York to a panel of journalists and editors from The Associated Press, said it's "not good for anybody for a robust move across the border." She described it as "not good for Iraq and not good for Turkey."

The statement by Rice suggested that Washington has acknowledged that Turkey might conduct limited incursions across the rugged frontier against the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party, also known as PKK.

Iran has also clashed with Iranian Kurd fighters who have bases in remote, mountainous areas of northern Iraq, and Iranian forces reportedly participated in the overnight shelling.

Source:AP

By NASSER KARIMI

Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran confirmed Friday for the first time that it is holding an Iranian-American peace activist, the fourth dual citizen it has detained in recent months, according to a semiofficial news agency.

Ali Shakeri of Lake Forest, Calif., was being held on security-related charges and investigated by the security department of the Tehran prosecutor's office, the Iranian Student News Agency reported. It provided no source for the information and calls to Iranian judicial officials were not immediately returned Friday, a weekend day in the Islamic country.

ISNA said in a four-sentence report on its Web site that Shakeri had been detained ``some time ago.''

It was not immediately clear if he was being represented by a lawyer.

ISNA was the only Iranian news agency to report that Shakeri was being held. The news agency, which is informally affiliated with Iran's Higher Education Ministry, is often used by Iranian officials for leaking information and testing public opinion reaction to sensitive cases.

The State Department had said Shakeri, a founding board member of the University of California, Irvine, Center for Citizen Peace building - who was supposed to have left Iran for Europe on May 13 but never arrived at his destination - was being held at a notorious prison in Tehran.

Iranian Foreign Ministry and judicial officials have confirmed the detention on accusations of espionage of three other Iranian-Americans held in Iran: scholar Haleh Esfandiari, who is the director of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; Kian Tajbakhsh, an urban planning consultant with George Soros' Open Society Institute; and journalist Parnaz Azima, who works for U.S. funded-Radio Farda.

The three have been charged with endangering Iran's national security and espionage, according to a judiciary spokesman. It was not immediately known if Shakeri also was charged.

All were in Iran visiting family members or engaged in professional work, according to the State Department and their relatives and employers.

President Bush had demanded that Iran ``immediately and unconditionally'' release the four and has denied that they were spying for the United States. Family, colleagues and employers also have denied the allegations.

Bush's remarks drew sharp criticism from Iranian officials. Earlier this week, Iran accused Bush of interfering in the country's internal affairs.

Iran in recent weeks has escalated accusations against the U.S., saying it had uncovered spy rings organized by the U.S. and its Western allies.

The State Department has warned U.S. citizens against traveling to Iran, accusing Iranian authorities of a ``disturbing pattern'' of harassment of Iranian-Americans.

The U.S. has also expressed concern about former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who disappeared in Iran while on private business there in March.

Five Iranian officials were detained in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil by U.S. troops in January. The U.S. military has said the Iranians are suspected of links to a network supplying arms to Iraqi insurgents - an accusation that Iran has denied.

Turkey has been building up its forces along the border with Iraq, and its leaders are debating whether to stage a major incursion to pursue separatist rebels who cross over from bases in Iraq to attack Turkish targets. Such an operation could ignite a wider conflict involving Iraqi Kurds, and disrupt Turkey's ties with its NATO ally, the United States.

Iran has also clashed with Iranian Kurd fighters who have bases in remote, mountainous areas of northern Iraq.

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, or PUK, the party of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, reported the Turkish and Iranian shelling on its website. Turkish military authorities at the General Staff in Ankara were not immediately available for comment.

Iranian officials in Tehran could not immediately be reached for comment late Friday. Iranian media contained no reports on any shelling, and usually wait several days to report such incidents.

The PU.K. said artillery shells overnight hit some areas in the Sidikan area in Irbil province, where the borders of Turkey, Iran and Iraq converge, and that nine villages were affected. It was unclear whether there was any degree of coordination among Turkish and Iranian gunners.

"Huge damage was inflicted on the area," the PU.K. said, citing what it described as an unidentified "source" in the area. "The source said that residents have left their houses, fearing for their lives."

Lt. Ahmed Karim of the Iraqi border guards force told The Associated Press that seven Turkish shells landed on a forest near Sakta village in the Batous area, but no casualties were reported.

A senior official in the Kurdistan Democratic Party, the party of the region's leader Massoud Barzani, confirmed there had been Turkish shelling of Iraqi territory, but declined to give details.

"The situation is unclear and we do not have details about the shelling," said the official, Sarbest Yazkin.

Turkey's military command on Friday declared its "unshakable determination" to defeat Kurdish rebels, and a fourth soldier died of injuries from a bomb in a new Turkish security zone north of the Iraq border.

The roadside bombing Thursday night, blamed on Kurdish separatists, came the day after Turkish security officials and an Iraqi Kurdish official said Turkish soldiers had crossed into Iraq in pursuit of rebels based there. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul denied such a raid took place.

Turkish forces have sometimes conducted so-called hot pursuits of Kurdish rebels just across the border, but rarely announce such operations. Turkey has restricted access to large swathes of border territory where its force buildup is occurring. A major incursion would have greater political ramifications than a so-called hot pursuit, and Turkish leaders say it would require parliamentary approval.

The Turkish officials who spoke to The Associated Press about Wednesday's raid did so on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. One of them said the 600 commandos who took part in the hot pursuit returned to Turkey by the end of the day.

An Iraqi Kurd official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Turkish soldiers had crossed the border on Wednesday in pursuit of guerrillas hours after the military said rebels had fired from across the frontier near the Turkish border town of Cukurca.

Some Iraqi government officials also denied the report of the raid, and U.S. officials said they could not confirm it.

Turkish leaders say the guerrillas cross into Turkey to stage attacks in their recently escalated fight to win autonomy for southeastern Turkey, where ethnic Kurds make up much of the population.

In a statement on its website, the military's general staff vowed to fight the rebels and called on all Turks to stand together "to resist in the face of these terrorist actions."

"The Turkish Armed Forces have an unshakable determination in fighting terrorism and it is a solid truth that it will give the necessary answer to such attacks," it said.

U.S. officials have argued against a major Turkish incursion into northern Iraq, one of the few spots of relative stability in the country. Some think Turkey may hope its military buildup will push the United States and Iraqi Kurds to crack down on the separatists and head off a Turkish offensive.

The military on Wednesday announced new "temporary security zones" along the Iraq border. It said the zones would be in place until Sept. 9, but gave no other information.

Turkish media said the areas would be closed to civilian plane flights, and that additional security measures would be implemented in the zones and entry would be restricted.

Newspapers said the areas are in Sirnak, Siirt and Hakkari provinces. Sirnak and Hakkari are next to the border, while Siirt is north of the frontier.

Source:usatoday.com

NCRI - In recent weeks 4 prisoners lost their lives suspiciously in Gohardasht prison in Karaj.

On June 6th, the State-owned Etemad newspaper reported: “a 28 year old young man by the name of Gholamreza who was awaiting execution in Rajaeishahr prison died Saturday afternoon. Gholamreza is the 4th prisoner who has died in Rajaeishahr prison in recent weeks.”

On numerous occasions the clerical regime has murdered defenseless detainees in notorious prisons announcing illness or suicide as cause of death.

By Diala Saadeh

DUBAI, June 8 (Reuters) - Cyclone Gonu left the coast of Oman and swept out into a major oil shipping route towards Iran on Friday, killing at least 32 people and leaving a trail of destruction that halted oil and gas exports for a fourth day.

The Omani official news agency said winds from Gonu, that is now classified as a Category One hurricane, were moderate and sea waves were about two metres (six feet) high.

Officials said the hurricane damaged main roads and bridges connecting the eastern provinces with the capital Muscat and caused floods and landslides across all regions.

Omani police said rescue teams, using helicopters, searched for missing people and evacuated residents from valleys near Muscat. The Omani official news agency said at least 32 people had been killed.

In Muscat's centre streets were turned into turbulent rivers, trees uprooted and power lines severed. Cars were left piled on top of each other, stuck in rubble and mud.

One witness said he had to take his children to the rooftop of his three-storey house to flee the rising water.

Gonu peaked as a maximum-force Category Five hurricane on Tuesday and faded to a Category One hurricane on Wednesday. Apart from the 32 dead, at least 30 people were missing, Omani news agency said.

Three people were killed in southern Iran on Thursday while people within 300 metres (yards) of the coast in Hormozgan province had been evacuated, Iran state television said.

State media said roads and houses in Iran's southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan had been damaged and many coastal areas were cut off by flooding.

CHECKS ON PIPELINES

Oman started carrying out tests on pipelines in Mina al Fahal, the country's only terminal for its 650,000 barrels per day crude exports, after a three-day closure due to Cyclone Gonu, a shipping source said earlier.

"They are carrying out tests for pipelines to see if they are in order, to check if they could start operating again," he said.

Petroleum Development Oman said on Thursday that operations and facilities had escaped damage.

PDO, a majority state-owned firm, produces most of Oman's crude. PDO expects its output to decline by around 20,000 bpd this year to between 560,000 and 570,000.

The storm had raised fears of a disruption to exports from the Middle East, which pumps over a quarter of the world's oil, pushing prices to around $71 a barrel on Thursday.

The main liquefied natural gas terminal at Sur, which was badly hit, was not operating either, a shipper said. Sur terminal handles 10 million tonnes per year of such gas.

Sohar refinery and port reopened and these facilities were working as well as before the storm, the company said.

Further north, the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) port of Fujairah, one of the world's largest ship refuelling centres, reopened on Thursday morning after closing on Wednesday.

Oman's weather centre, which has been keeping records since 1890, says Gonu could be the strongest storm to reach Oman's coast since 1977 though meteorologists say milder tropical storms are common in the region from mid-May to the end of June.

But whereas the 1977 storm took an inland trajectory toward rural areas, Gonu moved along Oman's heavily-populated coast, sweeping its main cities, industrial areas and ports.

The Guardian

Respectful comments on the president's blog are in sharp contrast to the censorship of ordinary web users in the Islamic republic, reports Saeed Kamali Dehghan from Tehran

Want to start a blog in Iran? Then you'll have to register it with the government - which has recently begun to require that all bloggers register at samandehi.ir, a site established by the ministry of culture of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government.

All you need do is give your personal information, including your blog's username and password - otherwise it will be filtered and blocked so that nobody in Iran, and perhaps outside too, will be able to access it. This has led to an outcry among many Iranian bloggers who consider the net an independent and free forum for expression.

You might think that's only going to inconvenience a few people - but you'd be wrong: Iran has nearly a million bloggers, around 10% of whom are active, according to Mehdi Boutorabi, manager of the Persianblog free blog hosting service.

His company, the first such service founded in Iran, now hosts more than 780,000 Persian blogs; and the blog search engine Technorati now lists Farsi, Iran's native language, among the top 10 languages used online.

And not everyone is going along. Parastoo Dokouhaki, a renowned blogger who writes on womens' rights, has put a banner on her blog at parastood.ir which reads: "I will not register my site!" (It's been made available for others to copy).

Government clampdowns

Consequently, her blog is filtered in Iran. Many bloggers who have fallen foul of the government clampdowns have subsequently put the same banner in their web pages.

But censorship isn't just for blogs. Most of Iran's reformist newspapers have been shut down, rooftop satellite dishes are banned, books are censored and relationships between boys and girls are limited. Yet blogs also play a major - even growing - role in modern Iranian society. This is why almost all the leading candidates for Iran's last presidential election ran their own blogs.

Acknowledging the influence of blogging in Iran, President Ahmadinejad launched his own blog last year even while his government cracked down on bloggers. The president's blog is available in Farsi, English, French and Arabic; he is aiming at an international audience.

What has the president got to say? "I am sorry to say that the American people are kept in an absolute censorship concerning the outside world by their government," he wrote in March.

"I am certain if the American people know where and on what, their tax money is spent, even the strong supporters of the government would not stand it and rush to the street to show their opposition in regard to that issue," he went on, responding to a letter apparently from an American mother claiming her son was forcibly taken and sent to Iraq.

In response, comments seem to be unfailingly positive and respectful: "Do you think we could all live together peacefully in this world if the Americans stopped aggressive interference in other countries?" asks one apparently English commenter.

Blogging's influence in Iran is undeniable. Recently, when Seyed Reza Shokrollahi found that his friend Yaghoub Yadali, an Iranian writer, had been held illegally in jail for 40 days, he blogged it (at khabgard.com); he got 5,000 hits. The next day the link had been spread through the Iranian blogosphere and into newspapers' headlines. Finally, the government was forced to release him.

Space for dissent

Blogging in Iran is not confined to particular groups. Even clergymen and hardliners who once viewed it as an "opposition" activity today have blogs of their own - along with gays and lesbians, who have their own communities online.

"In Iran there is no place to talk about your homosexuality except in your blog. Now I have hundreds of Iranian gay friends who are bloggers. When I read about their feelings in their blogs I'm healed that I'm not alone in the country," says one Iranian gay blogger writing at hamzaaad.blogspot.com.

And blogs also give a space for dissent - as happened when the British sailors were taken captive earlier this year. "Fifteen British sailors were captured, so what? Then sanctions are increased, Iran Industrial Ministry prohibited, domestic banks' relations with foreigners ceased, we were condemned in UN and the next vessel came to the Persian Gulf again in result of that," wrote Omid Valinasab, an Iranian blogger at iwishpolitic.blogfa.com, denouncing the government for the detainment.

But the biggest problem most Iranian bloggers face is filtering. Using a search engine in Iran usually means being confronted again and again with a screen saying: "Dear customer, access to this site is forbidden."

And this happens not when searching for sex, but using a phrase like "les livres" (books). The first time, it can be surprising. But persist, and you'll hit the wall of internet filtering again and again for words such as "stocking", "honey" and "teen".

Are French books forbidden? Well, some are, but in this case it seems you have to blame the close orthography of the French article to the word "lesbian".

Breeding innovation

But it's not just searches that can disappear behind the wall. The prizewinning novelist Reza Ghassemi, now based in France, woke up one morning and found his site (rezaghassemi.org) of the past six years simply banned.

From getting more than 6,000 hits per day, the post-filter number was around 300. He didn't know who to complain to, or why; only later did others remind him - and in the end persuade him - that the reason was the presence of a file package, titled Eroticism in literature, displayed on his website. The censor had noticed it and cut his site off.

But the move has also demonstrated one of the internet's strengths, and even borne out the way in which necessity breeds innovation. Ghassemi, like many of his colleagues, found that the clampdowns in Iran on the publication of physical books made it wiser to publish his latest novel in the form of an ebook. Bloggers have welcomed it, reviewing it as though it had been published in paper form.

For clever users, filtering sounds pointless: thousands of proxy sites distribute the net's wider content to blogs or emails. But self-censorship is already affecting journalists, writers and intellectuals who fear prosecution.

Whether the bloggers can fare any better remains to be seen; but what's clear is that they are all there, trying, working away at the edges that let the rest of the world creep through to tell Iran what the rest of the world is thinking, saying and doing.

SALAHEDDIN, Iraq (AFP) - The president of Iraq's Kurdish region on Thursday rejected Ankara's declaration that it was ready for dialogue with Iraqi Kurds provided they took measures against Turkish Kurd rebels holed up in the autonomous enclave.

"We do not accept the conditions laid down to deal with the PKK. We have always said that we would help Turkey if it chooses the path of dialogue and we confirm this," Massoud Barzani told a news conference alongside Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, also a Kurd.

"If Turkey's aim is war, we are not prepared to accept these conditions," Barzani added.

The PKK or Kurdistan Workers' Party, branded as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, has fought for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast since 1984 in a conflict that has claimed more than 37,000 lives.

Turkey charges that thousands of PKK rebels have found refuge in northern Iraq where they are able to obtain weapons and explosives to launch attacks across the border.

Ankara accuses Iraqi Kurds of tolerating and even supporting the rebels.

"A Turkish invasion would be first of all an attack on Iraqi sovereignty and then an attack on the Kurds," said Barzani.

Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Levent Bilman said on Wednesday that "we need to see positive signals in order to take steps for dialogue, and by positive signals we mean serious steps against the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party.

"Otherwise, there is no point in holding a dialogue just for the sake of it," Bilman added.

Turkey has long pressed the United States and Iraq to stamp out the PKK presence in the region and has even threatened to carry out a cross-border operation if they fail to do so.

The debate over a possible Turkish military operation into northern Iraq has intensified since a suicide bomb attack last month in Ankara, blamed on the PKK, killed six people and wounded more than 100.

By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA
Associated Press Writer

ISTANBUL, Turkey - A roadside bomb killed three Turkish soldiers and wounded six Thursday in one of several "temporary security zones" that the military had just declared along the Iraq border during its campaign to crush Kurdish separatists.

Authorities blamed the Kurdish rebels for the blast, which came amid increasing activity by Turkish troops along the frontier that has fed concerns the army might stage a large-scale offensive against rebel bases in the predominantly Kurdish region of northern Iraq.

Turkish leaders say guerrillas cross into Turkey to stage attacks in their recently escalated fight to win autonomy for southeastern Turkey, where ethnic Kurds make up much of the population.

The bomb targeted a military vehicle near Siirt, a city 46 miles north of the Iraq border, the governor's office said. It killed three soldiers and wounded six other security personnel, including pro-government village guards, the office said.

Turkey has grown increasingly frustrated with the rise in attacks by the PKK rebel movement, and its leaders have sent more troops to the frontier while publicly raising the possibility of sending the army into northern Iraq.

On Wednesday, the military said it was establishing "temporary security zones" near the border. The declaration came the same day that Turkish security officials and an Iraqi Kurdish official said hundreds of Turkish soldiers crossed the border pursuing guerrillas.

Turkey's foreign minister denied there was a cross-border operation. Turkey is an ally of the United States, and U.S. officials have argued against an attack into Iraq, fearing that might drag its Iraqi Kurdish allies into the conflict.

Some think Turkey may hope its military buildup will push the United States and Iraqi Kurds to crack down on the separatists and head off a Turkish offensive.

The military did not say what it meant by "temporary security zones." Some Turkish media said the areas would be closed to civilian plane flights, but others said additional security measures would be implemented in the zones and entry would be restricted.

In a statement posted on its Web site, the military said the zones would be in place until Sept. 9, but gave no other information.

Newspapers said the areas are in Sirnak, Siirt and Hakkari provinces. Sirnak and Hakkari are next to the border, while Siirt is north of the frontier. All three provinces have been the scene of fighting with Kurdish rebels.

Some Turkish officials have said that if troops stage a major incursion into Iraq, they might set up a buffer zone inside Iraq to try to stop rebel infiltration.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, cautioned Turkey against such an operation and urged cooperation.

"We ask almighty God to lead all of us to the way of dialogue and negotiation to solve all questions," Talabani told reporters Thursday. "There is a tripartite, American-Iraqi-Turkish committee that is responsible for solving these matters."

Speaking as commander in chief of Iraq's military forces, he said the Iraqi government would not accept foreign interference and "will defend by all means its sovereignty and the independence of the nation."

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said an incursion into northern Iraq would require parliamentary approval.

Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, the military chief, said the army was ready for an offensive but the decision was up to political leaders.

"The Turkish soldier is not a bully of the neighborhood," private NTV and CNN-Turk television quoted Buyukanit as saying. "There is need for political directives."

June 07, 2007
Amnesty International
Urgent Action

Esma’il Javadi (m), aged 31, journalist, Ebulfezl Alilu (m), Ramin Sadeghi (m), Azerbaijani cultural and linguistic, Qahreman Qanbarpour (m), rights activists, Adel Allahverdipour (m), Jelil Qanilu, or (new spelling) Ghanilou (m), Safar Ali Kho’ini (m), Ja’far Haqnazari (m).

Jelil Qanilu, or Ghanilou, was reportedly released around 10 days after his arrest in Zenjan on 21 February, but has reportedly now been rearrested. He was among 25 people detained in connection with their participation in events marking International Mother Language Day.

In a 28 May report in the online news service Advar News, Jelil Ghanilou's brother was quoted as saying he had been rearrested at 10pm the previous day.

Amnesty International has no further information about Jelil Ghanilou, who may be a prisoner of conscience, and is concerned for his safety. Secret detention has been shown to facilitate torture and ill-treatment. Prolonged incommunicado detention can in itself be a form of cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.

A statement issued by the National Movement of Azerbaijan – Zenjan (Harakat-e Melli-ye Azerbaijan – Zenjan) on 2 June entitled "Where are Sa’id Metinpour and Jelil Ghanilou?" drew attention to the authorities' failure to provide any information about the men’s whereabouts, especially to their families, and to allegations that the authorities were putting pressure on newspapers in Zenjan, particularly Mardom-e No (New People), which had attempted to report on the arrests, in order to keep these and other arrests secret.

The rearrest of Jelil Ghanilou took place at around the time of a series of demonstrations that started in late May and which have affected most areas where Iranian Azerbaijanis live. The demonstrations were held following the first anniversary of widespread and often spontaneous demonstrations which took place on 22 May 2006 in protest at the publication in a national newspaper of a cartoon which was offensive to many Iranian Azerbaijanis. In the course of the May 2006 demonstrations up to 19 people were reportedly killed and hundreds arrested.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Iranian Azerbaijanis speak a Turkic language and are mainly Shi’a Muslims. The largest minority in Iran, they are believed to make up 25-30 per cent of the population; they live mainly in the north and north-west of the country, and in the capital, Tehran. There is a growing demand from them for greater cultural and linguistic rights, including implementation of their constitutional right to education through the medium of Azerbaijani Turkic. Those who seek to promote Azerbaijani cultural identity and linguistic rights are viewed with suspicion by the authorities.

Article 15 of Iran’s Constitution states that Persian is the official language of Iran and that "official documents, correspondence, and texts, as well as textbooks, must be in this language and script." It adds that "the use of regional and tribal languages in the press and mass media, as well as for teaching of their literature in schools, is allowed in addition to Persian."

International Mother Language Day is an annual event initiated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and is held on 21 February. See: Iran: Ethnic minorities facing new wave of human rights violations, (MDE 13/020/200, 26 February 2007) at http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engMDE130202007?open&of=eng-IRN

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English, Persian, Azerbaijani or your own language:

- expressing concern at the reports that Jelil Ghanilou has been rearrested and is now in secret detention;

- urging the authorities to grant Jelil Ghanilou immediate and regular access to his family and to lawyers of his choice;

- stating that if the reason for his continued detention is solely related to the expression of his conscientiously held beliefs, then he is a prisoner of conscience, and should be released immediately and unconditionally;

- seeking assurances that Jelil Ghanilou is being protected from torture or ill-treatment and that he has access to any medical treatment he may require.

APPEALS TO:

Leader of the Islamic Republic
His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei, The Office of the Supreme Leader
Shoahada Street, Qom, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: info.ir
istiftaa@wilayah.org
Fax: +98 251 774 2228 (mark FAO Office of His Excellency Ayatollah al Udhma Khamenei)
Salutation: Your Excellency

President
His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir
via website: www.president.ir/email
Salutation: Your Excellency

Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Justice Building, Panzdah-Khordad Square, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: +98 21 3390 4986 (please keep trying)
Email: info@dadgostary-tehran.ir (In the subject line write: FAO Ayatollah Shahroudi)
Salutation: Your Excellency

COPIES TO:
Speaker of Parliament
His Excellency Gholamali Haddad Adel
Majles-e Shoura-ye Eslami, Baharestan Square, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: +98 21 3355 6408
Email: hadadadel@majlis.ir

and to diplomatic representatives of Iran accredited to your country.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 19 July 2007.

By SUZAN FRASER
Associated Press Writer

ANKARA, Turkey - Turkey has declared several areas near the border with Iraq to be "temporary security zones" in a sign of increasing activity by the military in its campaign against Kurdish rebels.

The declaration Wednesday came amid a Turkish military buildup on the border, and on the same day as Turkish security officials and an Iraqi Kurdish official said hundreds of Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish guerrillas who launch raids into Turkey. Turkey's foreign minister denied there was a cross-border operation.

The military did not clarify what it meant by "temporary security zones," but some Turkish media reports Thursday said the areas would be off-limits to civilian flights. Others said the zones meant that additional security measures would be implemented, and entry into the regions would be restricted and tightly controlled.

In a statement posted on its Web site, the Turkish military released the coordinates of the areas that would be affected and said the zones would be in place until Sept. 9, but gave no other information.

Newspapers said the coordinates relate to areas of the provinces of Sirnak, Siirt and Hakkari. Sirnak and Hakkari border northern Iraq, while Siirt is farther north of the border. All three provinces have been the scene of fighting with Kurdish rebels.

Three Turkish officials described Wednesday's cross-border operation as a "hot pursuit" raid that was limited in scope, and one of them said troops returned to their bases by the end of the day. Turkey has conducted such brief raids in the past, but the latest incident comes as rebels are escalating attacks in their decades-old fight for autonomy in southeastern Turkey.

The security officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul denied forces had entered Iraq.

In an interview late Wednesday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said an incursion into northern Iraq would require parliamentary approval.

"A parliamentary decision is required, steps would be taken accordingly," Erdogan told Kanal 24 television. "If we are to take a cross-border step, we'll negotiate this with our security forces, and when such a thing is necessary, we'll take it to parliament."

Erdogan and other Turkish leaders have said Turkey is considering a cross-border offensive, and have sent more troops and equipment to the frontier with Iraq. But they want the United States and Iraqi Kurds to act on their appeals for a crackdown on separatist fighters, who raid southeast Turkey after resting, training and resupplying in Iraq.

Meanwhile, the death toll in a suicide attack in the capital last month rose to eight — including the bomber — after another seriously injured victim died in a hospital, doctors said Thursday.

Turkish officials suspect separatist Kurdish rebels, who have been fighting for autonomy since 1984, were behind the rush-hour attack outside a busy shopping mall. The rebel PKK group denied responsibility.

TEHRAN,,(AFP) - Iran summoned the Spanish ambassador to protest the calling in of its envoy to Madrid over the latest anti-Israeli outburst by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Mehr news agency reported on Thursday.

Ahmadinejad provoked a new storm of controversy earlier this week by saying a "countdown" had begun that would end with Lebanese and Palestinian militants destroying Israel.

"Iran is surprised by Spain's reaction to the comments of Dr Ahmadinejad on the Zionist regime and sees it as a hasty action," top foreign ministry official Ebrahim Rahimpour told ambassador Antonio Perez-Hernandez Torra late Wednesday.

Rahimpour, the ministry's pointman for Western Europe, also accused Spain of "double standards" in its policy on the Middle East, saying it condoned Israeli killings of Palestinians while not supporting the Palestinian government.

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos on Monday described Ahmadinejad's comments as "unacceptable.

Spain has "good relations" with Iran but "the response (to these statements) must be firm, categorical and unambiguous on the part of a country like Spain, the European Union and the international community," he said.

The Iranian president sparked outrage abroad shortly after coming to power in 2005 for saying that Israel should be "wiped from the map" and then repeatedly predicting that the Jewish state would disappear.

Last week Spain hosted talks between Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana on the Islamic country's nuclear programme.

NCRI - On Saturday June 2nd more than 5,000 workers of Haft-Tapeh Sugar cane factory in southern province of Khuzistan continued their strike for the 5th straight day.

These workers have not received any wages since March. They said they will gather in other places such as Provincial office and Labor department if they do not receive their salary.

The protesting workers asserted that importing of millions of tons of sugar has caused their product to be preserved in the silos and prevented their retailing and distribution.

Today the workers of Hafte-Tapeh Sugar Cane factory also prevented operation of other departments such as human resources, production and sales.

NCRI - On Friday June 1st during a soccer match in Azadi Stadium, young people attacked and damaged governmental centers and buses.
This protesting act caused traffic congestion on Karaj – Tehran highway and other streets around Azadi Stadium.

The suppressive Security forces attacked the youths and arrested many of them.

On June 2nd the State-owned ILNA newspaper reported: “Fans of soccer game between Pirouzi and Isfahan’s Sepahan teams caused damage of about one billion two hundred seventy five million and four hundred sixty six thousand Rials by attacking 333 buses of Tehran Bus Company.”

NCRI - The mullahs’ henchmen have informed Mr. Hardani, who has spent seven years in prison, that soon he will be executed. In 2005, under international pressure his execution sentence and that of two other prisoners was suspended.

In fear of increasing popular uprisings and growing social unrest, the regime is trying to create an atmosphere of terror by turning to more arbitrary executions and other medieval and brutal punishments.

The Iranian Resistance called on the United Nations Secretary General, High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Human Rights Council, and all international human rights organizations to condemn the systematic human rights violations in Iran. It also called for the urgent measures to save Mr. Hardani’s life.

Iran has seized three Finns in the Persian Gulf, Finnish commercial broadcaster MTV3 reported late on Tuesday.

The Finnish foreign ministry later confirmed the report to the Finnish News Agency (STT).

According to MTV3, the Finns had been fishing near Abu Musa, an island claimed by both Iran and the United Arab Emirates, on 2 June.

Nokia Siemens Networks told STT on Wednesday that all three men were employees of its Dubai unit.

Barry French, a Nokia Siemens spokesman, also confirmed that the men had been seized during a fishing cruise.

Mr French added that the company would not release further information about its employees in order to protect their privacy.

Ilkka Kanerva (cons), the Finnish foreign minister, told MTV3 that it was possible that Iran would free the men on Wednesday.

Esa Hurtig, Finnish chargé d'affaires at the UAE, said efforts to free the men had not progressed owing to two days of public holidays since the incident in Iran. Mr Hurtig, having visited Iran's embassy to the UAE, added the men were in good health.

Heikki Puurunen, the Finnish ambassador to Tehran, told STT he would discuss the freeing of the men with the Iranian foreign ministry on Wednesday. The ambassador added that further information could be expected in the afternoon

Source: NCRI