24/2/12
IRAN guide
23/2/12
Iran orders hanging of Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani
BERLIN – Despite the international outrage over the incarceration and slated death penalty for Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, Iran’s judiciary has issued orders to hang the dissident Christian.
Jay Sekulow, the chief counsel for the Washington-based American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ), said on Wednesday, “We are hearing reports from our contacts in Iran that the execution orders for Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani may have been issued.”
Nadarkhani, now 34, was arrested in 2009 for questioning the compulsory Islamic education of his children and for seeking to register a home-based church. He was sentenced to death in 2010.
The ACLJ has closely monitored the case and has previously translated Iranian legal documents.
Sekulow added, “It is unclear whether Pastor Youcef would have a right of appeal from the execution order. We know that the head of Iran’s Judiciary, Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani, must approve publicly held executions, but only a small percentage of executions are held in public – most executions in Iran are conducted in secret.”
There has been a dramatic increase of executions in the Islamic Republic over the last month, Sekulow said.
US President Barack Obama, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and the governments of Germany, Britain and France, have called on the Iranian government to release Nadarkhani.
Rep. Joseph Pitts (R-Pennsylvania) drafted a resolution in Congress demanding the immediate release of Nadarkhani and that the apostasy charge be immediately expunged from the record.
“Iran has become more isolated because of their drive for nuclear weapons, and the fundamentalist government has stepped up persecution of religious minorities to deflect criticism. The persecuted are their own citizens, whose only crime is practicing their faith,” Pitts told FoxNews.com.
Small demonstrations across Germany have demanded that Iran not execute Nadarkhani. In September, 400 protesters showed up in front of the Iranian Consulate in Hamburg. Since October, there has been a vigil every week in the northern port city to protest against the pastor’s imprisonment.
Groups in Frankfurt and Berlin have also demonstrated.
A large event is slated for Easter in Hamburg in an effort to influence the Iranian authorities. A petition for action has collected 23,000 signatures calling for Iran to release the Evangelical pastor.
ACLJ has launched a “Tweet for Youcef social media campaign।” Such activities are “growing exponentially as Pastor Youcef’s situation has become more dire,” the organization said.
3/2/12
2/2/12
Better late than never
For the UN secretary general the military capacity of Hezbollah is not acceptable - for Israel, as for any other nation faced by a similar terrorist threat, it is intolerable.
By Moshe Arens Tags: Israel terrorism Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah Ban Ki-moon UNFor a change, here is good news from Beirut. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon made news during his recent visit. "I am deeply concerned about the military capacity of Hezbollah and the lack of progress in disarmament," he told a news conference in Beirut after meeting Lebanese leaders. "All these arms outside of the authorized state authority, it's not acceptable," he declared.
It's about time somebody made things clear to the लेबनेसे।
The response of Hezbollah's leader Hasan Nassrallah could have been predicted. "We are pleased by your concern," he said, addressing the UN secretary general. "We want you, the U.S. and Israel to be concerned ... Hezbollah will not relinquish its weapons."
Nassrallah should know that we are all really concerned, and what's more we intend to do something about it.
The weapons in question are tens of thousands of ballistic missiles in addition to all sorts of additional modern weaponry that have been supplied to Hezbollah over the years by Iran and shipped to Lebanon via Syria, and are not under the authority of the Lebanese government. They are deployed all over Lebanon and aimed at Israel. The range of the ballistic missiles in the Hezbollah inventory is sufficient to cover all of Israel and rain destruction on Israel's civilian population. They are terror weapons in the hands of a terrorist organization.
For the UN secretary general this situation is not acceptable - for Israel, as for any other nation faced by a similar terrorist threat, it is intolerable. For a number of years now Israel has been faced by the Hezbollah missile threat from Lebanon, and that threat has been growing from year to year. It is a ticking time bomb threatening stability in the Middle East, and in addition it is a violation of Lebanese sovereignty.
But the Lebanese should not forget that it also represents a threat to the physical existence of Lebanon and the people of Lebanon. The Hezbollah missiles are deployed throughout Lebanon and have been deliberately emplaced in the midst of Lebanon's civilian population centers, in the vicinity of schools, mosques and hospitals. They will be launched against Israel whenever Nassrallah so decides, or the order is given in Teheran. They are a protective shield for Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Like the deployment of Soviet missiles in Cuba in 1962 that brought about the Cuban missile crisis and the removal of these missiles, the Hezbollah missiles will have to be removed. When the time comes for Israel to neutralize this missile threat - and that time will come sooner or later if the missiles are not dismantled - there is bound to result wholesale destruction all over Lebanon. Hezbollah's missiles are a suicidal invitation to the destruction of Lebanon.
However, it is clear that the Lebanese government and the Lebanese army are not capable of pursuing Lebanon's national interest by overpowering the Hezbollah militia and forcing the dismantlement of the missiles, which pose so great a threat to Lebanon itself. So the time bomb keeps ticking away.
Of course, it is preferable that the removal of the Hezbollah missiles in Lebanon be accomplished by diplomatic action rather than by military measures. The Lebanese government should be encouraged to insist on demonstrating its sovereign rights in all of Lebanon and order Hezbollah to remove the missiles. Any assistance that it would require should be provided. The international community should make it clear that the deployment of these missiles is a violation of Lebanese sovereignty and constitutes a danger to peace in the region.
For too long has there been a conspiracy of silence about the deployment of these missiles in Lebanon. The statement made by the UN secretary general on his recent visit to Beirut has come just in time. The issue should be taken up at the UN Security Council, and the necessary diplomatic action should be taken by the U.S. and the countries of Europe and Asia. The Hezbollah missiles represent a threat to peace in the area. Ban Ki-moon has finally sounded the alarm. Better late than never.