حزب مردم بلوچستان  Balochistan People’s Party  بلوچستانءِ اُستمانءِ گــَل

Iran: Kurdish human rights defenders at risk

Iranian Kurdish journalist and human rights defender Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand, head of the Human Rights Organization of Kurdistan (HROK) (http://www.rmmk.net/enindex.aspx), is reportedly being ill-treated in detention. Amnesty International fears that this ill-treatment may be intended to force board members of the HROK to present themselves to security officials, thereby risking arrest and the closure of the KHRO, and is calling on the Iranian authorities to halt any such ill-treatment immediately.

Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand has been detained since 1 July 2007 in Section 209 of Tehran’s Evin Prison. Although he is believed not to have been formally charged, in mid-July he reportedly said that he was being accused of "acting against national security," "propaganda against the system" and "cooperating with groups opposed to the system." He also complained of poor detention conditions and that whenever he was interrogated he was blindfolded and bound hand and foot, His lawyer, Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, has not been allowed to meet with him and contact with his family has been limited.

Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand is said to suffer from high blood pressure, a skin disorder and a kidney complaint, the nature of which is not known to Amnesty International. He reportedly needs to be able to urinate frequently and failure to do so adversely affects his kidneys. He has been told that if he wants to go to the toilet, he must seek formal permission in writing.

Under current Iranian law, no one is required to present themselves before police or other security forces without first receiving a written summons. However, Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand has also been told that if the three board members of the HROK currently at liberty present themselves voluntarily to the Ministry of Intelligence in Sanandaj, he will be permitted to go to the toilet whenever he needs to. In response, Mohammad Sadiq Kaboudvand is believed to have insisted that the KHRO is an independent, human rights organisation and that ‘we will simply not go away and we will continue our humanitarian works.’ Amnesty International fears that if board members of the HROK present themselves for interview at the Sanandaj offices of the Ministry of Intelligence, they risk arrest and the HROK will effectively be closed.

The HROK was founded by Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand and others in April 2005 and currently has around 100 members. The authorities have never granted the HROK’s request for official recognition as an NGO. A fourth board member, Ajlal Qavami, is in prison in Sanandaj in connection with another case relating to his work as a journalist.

The ill treatment of Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand and the associated attempt to pressure board members of the HROK contravene international human rights standards which the Iranian authorities have committed to uphold, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The repeated harassment and imprisonment of human rights defenders by the Iranian authorities, however, calls into question their willingness to observe basic principles of respect for human dignity. The government should ensure that human rights defenders are able to carry out their important work – which has been recognised in the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders - in a climate of respect and in accordance with human rights standards.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Kurds, who are one of Iran’s many ethnic groups, live mainly in the west and north-west of the country, in the province of Kurdistan and neighbouring provinces bordering Kurdish areas of Turkey and Iraq. For many years, Kurdish organizations such as the Kurdistan People’s Democratic Party (KDPI) and Komala carried out armed opposition to the Islamic Republic of Iran, although more recently they have abandoned armed opposition in favour of a federal solution. The Iranian authorities continue to face armed opposition mainly from the Kurdistan Independent Life Party (PJAK), which reportedly began operations in 2004. The Iranian authorities have accused foreign governments of fomenting unrest among Iran’s ethnic minorities.

Mohamad Sadiq Kabudvand was arrested on 1 July at his place of work in Tehran by security officers in plain clothes, the day the publication ban on his newspaper, Payam-e Mardom-e Kordestan (Kurdistan People’s Message), reportedly expired. He is facing a one-year prison sentence in connection with articles published in this newspaper, but his current detention does not appear to be connected with this.

To take action on behalf of Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand, please refer to our Urgent Action http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE130812007?open&of=ENG-IRN and follow up http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGMDE130912007?open&of=ENG-IRN
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PPP to talk with Baloch nationalist parties: Raeesani

Staff Report

KARACHI: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has decided to arrange an interaction between PPP Chairwoman Benazir Bhutto and Balochistan nationalist parties.

“We have an interaction with nationalist leaders in Balochistan and we’ll progress further,” Sardar Lashkari Raeesani, president of the PPP Balochistan chapter told the Daily Times at Karachi Press Club on Thursday.

He said he had recommended to the party leadership that the PPP’s think-tank should visit Balochistan and hold dialogue with nationalist leaders, adding that he was trying to arrange the dialogue in November.

“Finally, there will be a direct interaction between Bhutto and the nationalists,” he said, but was not certain on the timeframe of the moot.

Jehangir Badr, secretary general of the PPP, said, “The PPP has a clear policy about the provincial autonomy and the party’s Balochistan chapter has initiated interaction with nationalist parties there.”

He denied the impression that the PPP Punjab chapter had differences on some issues with other provincial chapters. “The Punjab chapter’s policy always remained identical with the policies of the other provincial chapters, including the controversial Kalabagh Dam project,” he added.

Lashkari Raeesani said that the PPP Balochistan chapter also opposed the Kalabagh Dam project and the construction of cantonments in Balochistan. He said the government’s apprehensions about terrorism in the PPP’s rallies were nothing but a plot to discourage the people from attending the rallies.

To a reporter’s question that should not the PPP be blamed for any mishap in its rallies it wanted to hold despite terror fears, Jehangir said, “Our lives were also dear to us and PPP leaders were also a target.”

He said Bhutto would address the people in Rawalpindi on November 9. Jehangir said the PPP never accepted the chief of army staff as president, and it held dialogue with the government to compel the chief of army staff (COAS) to resign from his seat.

He said, “It’s a historical fact that the PPP has never compromised with dictators.”

PPP still follows CoD: He said the PPP had not deviated from the Charter of Democracy (CoD) it singed with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. He said former premier Nawaz Sharif made the PPP dysfunctional in the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) after he formed the All Parties Democratic Movement. “We are not intolerant. We want all the democratic forces to move in one direction for restoration of true democracy.”

PPP Azad Jammu and Kashmir leaders alleged that the Punjab chief minister and the PML’s top leaders were involved in the embezzlement of earthquake relief funds.
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Arrests in Sistan-Baluchestan

http://www.dawn.com/2007/11/02/top15.htm

QUETTA, Nov 1: Iranian security forces launched a crackdown in the port city of Chahbar in Sistan-Baluchestan and arrested a large of number of people after armed men kidnapped the chairman of the port authority.

Reports from Sistan-Baluchestan said that militants of Jundullah, an extremist organisation active in that region, had kidnapped the official on Monday.

However, Jundullah has not claimed responsibility for the abduction.

Reports reaching from across the border said that more security personnel had been deployed in Chahbar and a search operation had been launched to find the abducted official.

A group of Iranian youths, who crossed into Gwadar and Jewani to escape the operation, said that hundreds of people had been arrested in Chahbar by the Iranian security forces.

They said Iranian forces had also raided several villages along the border and taken into custody scores of Baloch youths. They said the crackdown had caused panic among people.

In September, Jundullah militants kidnapped 21 truck drivers and port workers in Chahbar and brought them to the Pakistan. The Pakistani security forces had got them freed. Correspondent

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Pakistan's Musharraf imposes emergency rule

By Kamran Haider ; 03-11-2007 ; reuters.com

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency rule on Saturday, deploying troops and sacking a top judge in a bid to reassert his flagging authority against political rivals and Islamist militants.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan's internal security has deteriorated sharply in recent months with a wave of suicide attacks by al Qaeda-inspired militants, including one that killed 139 people.

State-run Pakistan Television said Musharraf had suspended the constitution and declared an emergency, ending weeks of speculation that the general who seized power in a 1999 coup might impose emergency rule or martial law.

The United States, which sees Musharraf as a crucial ally against al Qaeda in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan, had earlier urged him to resist taking any authoritarian measures.

Witnesses said troops were deployed at Pakistan Television and radio stations, and most phone lines were down. Other troops sealed off the thoroughfare where the presidency building, the National Assembly and the Supreme Court are located.

Television channels said that Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, whose earlier dismissal in March marked the beginning of a slide in Musharraf's popularity, had been told that his services were "no longer required".

Chaudhry had been reinstated in July.

Musharraf had been awaiting a Supreme Court ruling on whether he was eligible to run for re-election last month while still army chief. The court had said on Friday it would reconvene on Monday and try to finish the case quickly.
Chaudhry and eight other judges refused to endorse the provisional constitutional order issued by the president.

Aitzaz Ahsan, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, told reporters at his home he was being arrested.

"One man has taken the entire nation hostage ... Time has come for General Musharraf to go," he said. Fellow lawyers shouted "Go Musharraf Go" as Ahsan was taken away by police.

The move is expected to put off parliamentary elections due in January, although Pakistan Television said that the cabinet, national and provincial assemblies would continue to function.

A senior security official told Reuters that Musharraf would seek approval for the move from the cabinet later, after which there were expectations he would address the nation.

The cabinet was due to start meeting at 7 pm (1400 GMT).

BHUTTO RETURNING FROM DUBAI

Before the announcement on emergency rule, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had told journalists traveling with her to Turkey that Washington opposed any authoritarian measures and wanted elections to go ahead.

"I think it would be quite obvious that the United States would not be supportive of extra-constitutional means," Rice said. "Pakistan needs to prepare for and hold free and fair elections."
Musharraf had said he would quit as army chief if he was given a second term, and he had allowed opposition leader Benazir Bhutto back into Pakistan to lead her party into the national elections.

A suicide bombing killed 139 people on Oct 19 when thousands of supporters flocked to the streets to welcome Bhutto when she returned to Karachi from eight years of self-imposed exile. She had flown to Dubai on Thursday.

Bhutto's husband Asif Ali Zardari said she was already on a flight back to Pakistan from Dubai. He described Musharraf's move as "definitely not pleasant news".

"We're hoping to build institutions, not destroy them."

Exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, deposed by Musharraf in the 1999 coup, described his decision to invoke emergency powers as a form of martial law.

"We are heading towards a chaotic situation, heading towards anarchy," Sharif told Indian news channel CNN-IBN in an interview replayed by Dawn Television in Pakistan.

Musharraf's troubles began in March when he suspended Supreme Court Justice Chaudhry on allegations of misconduct.

Critics accused him of trying to put pressure on the court not to block his re-election and Musharraf's popularity plummeted as lawyers rallied to support the top judge.

In July, after a week-long siege, Musharraf ordered troops to storm the Red Mosque in Islamabad to crush a Taliban-style movement based there.
At least 105 people were killed in the raid and a wave of deadly militant attacks and suicide bombings followed.

(Additional reporting by Simon Cameron-Moore, Simon Gardner and Zeeshan Haider)
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Baloch leaders reject emergency

04-11-2007 ; Shahzada Zulfiqar

QUETTA - A number of politicians belonging to Balochistan rejected the enforcement of emergency in the country and declared it disastrous for both people and the country.

National Party Secretary General Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo said that it was not an emergency rather was Martial Law that was imposed by Pervez Musharraf to prolong his ‘misrule’.

He said that on the one hand Constitution was held in abeyance and a PCO was issued and Judges were given oath under the PCO. He said that all these extra- Constitutional steps were made under the cover of emergency in the country that was in fact a Martial Law.

He said that the imposition of Martial law in the country would not be acceptable to all political parties and democratic forces.

Acting President of Balochistan National Party Dr Jahanzaib said that the enforcement of emergency, suspending the Constitution and forcing the judges to take oath under PCO were the indications of bad omen for the country and its people.

He said that Balochistan was already under dictatorial rule, violating human rights and making all extra-constitutional measures.

He said that the enforcement of emergency in the country was the destruction of all institutions and the nation and declared that his party would continue to struggle alongwith other democratic forces, lawyers and human rights organisations for the restoration of democracy and Constitution in its original form.

Balochistan National Party’s former MNA Abdur Rauf Mengal and ex-MPA Mohammad Akbar Mengal were also arrested in District Khuzdar and sent to jail.

He said that General Musharraf imposed himself on the nation as illegal and unconstitutional President and the court was expectedly going against his nefarious designs.

He said that there was still time for the rulers to withdraw all their unconstitutional and illegal measures and the army should go to barracks and intelligence agencies should stop to interfere into political affairs of the country while Parliament should be full empowered after free and fair general elections under an interim govt comprising those judges who refused to take oath under PCO for prosperous Pakistan.

National party leader Jan Mohammad Buledi said that the proclamation of emergency was in fact to suppress political forces and judiciary in the country. He said that the illegal and unconstitutional rulers wanted to prolong their misrule in the country. He said that what reasons mentioned for proclamation of emergency, had been prevailing in the country for the last many years.

He said that the political and democratic forces would not accept the emergency and would raise strong voice against it along with civil society.

http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/nov-2007/4/index13.php
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Iranians on Interpol wanted list

NOVEMBER 08, 2007

Interpol has issued wanted notices for five Iranians and one Lebanese national in connection with the bombing of a Jewish centre in Argentina over a decade ago.

At least 85 people were killed and more than 200 wounded in the deadly attack in Buenos Aires, the Argentine capital, on July 18, 1994.

Despite heavy diplomatic pressure from Iran, delegates at the Interpol annual general assembly in Morocco voted by 66 per cent, in favour of issuing "Red Notices" that seek the extradition of wanted people.

Last year, Argentina had issued international arrest warrants for Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former Iranian president, seven other Iranians, and a former member of Hezbollah, on charges of masterminding the attack.

Iranian claim

Interpol said in March it would issue its own wanted notices against six of the nine, leaving out Rafsanjani.

Iran has denied any link to the bombing and says that Interpol risks being dragged away from police work into the realm of politics.

The Iranian government blames the United States and Israel for trying to implicate the country in the attack.

In a statement after the vote, Jackie Selebi, the Interpol president, said Argentina and Iran had been treated fairly and impartially.

But an Iranian official has criticised the move.

"It is a political vote and not acceptable for us," an Iranian delegate who asked not to be named, told Reuters news agency.

"The testimony is not credible."

The delegate also said Argentina had been told to produce new evidence to back up the arrest notices but had not done so.

The wanted notices were issued for Ali Fallahijan, Mohsen Rabbani, Ahmad Reza Asghari, Ahmad Vahidi, Mohsen Rezai and Imad Fayez Moughnieh, a Hezbollah fighter, who is also wanted for his alleged role in an attack on US forces in Lebanon in 1983.

Iran would review the situation and determine how to react, the delegate said.

Warrants welcomed

Meanwhile, Argentine officials welcomed the vote.

"This step confirms the international community's majority support for helping the Argentine justice system solve this terrible crime," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

In Buenos Aires, the judge in charge of the bombing case said the decision was a success for Argentina, but acknowledged the Iranians could only be arrested if they left their country.

"I understand that the majority of them are in Iran and they will not be leaving Iran," Rodolfo Canicoba Corral, a federal judge, told local television.

The cat-and-mouse diplomacy took another turn in August when an Iranian court sent Argentina summons for five Argentines, accusing them of "actions against the security of the Islamic Republic".

Interpol issued over 2,800 red notices last year.

The notices seek the arrest of a wanted person with a view to extradition but do not force a country to arrest suspects.

http://english.aljazeera.net/
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U.S. military says finding more Iranian arms in Iraq

By Paul Tait

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The quantity of Iranian bomb-making components being found in Iraq is increasing despite a fall in attacks and 20 Iranian-trained agents are still operating south of Baghdad, a top U.S. general said on Sunday.

Extensive Iranian influence in Iraq remained evident, said Major-General Rick Lynch, despite signs of a possible easing of tensions between Washington and Tehran over security in Iraq.

"Iranian influence is dominant at many levels," said Lynch, whose area of command extends from Baghdad's southern suburbs south through Sunni Arab insurgent strongholds to the major Shi'ite cities of Kerbala and Najaf.

Lynch said his troops were chasing 20 "targets" he identified as Iraqi Shi'ites who were agents for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps's (IRGC) elite Qods Force.

"They were trained in Iran and they're conducting operations in our battle space," Lynch told reporters. "They're Iraqis but they're IRGC surrogates and they're still out there."

Lynch said in August that military intelligence suggested there were about 50 IRGC troops in southern Iraq training Shi'ite militias in the use of mortars and rockets.

His latest comments came despite an apparent softening of rhetoric by U.S. officials in Baghdad towards Iran.

Washington accuses Tehran of arming, training and funding Shi'ite militias in Iraq, charges Iran denies, but U.S. ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker late last month noted several positive developments in Iran's involvement in Iraq.
These included a sharp drop in mortar attacks on Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, many blamed on Shi'ite militias using Iranian weapons, and the Mehdi Army militia ceasefire ordered in August by Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

On Friday, the U.S. military released nine Iranians, including two it accused of links to the Qods Force.

Falls in U.S. military and Iraqi civilian casualties in the past two months have been attributed to a "surge" of 30,000 extra U.S. troops, which was completed in mid-June, and tribal sheikhs organizing "concerned citizens" into local police units.

Lynch said there had been a 59 percent fall in roadside bomb attacks in his area including "explosively formed penetrators" -- arming-piercing bombs known as EFPs -- since July 1.

"The number of EFP attacks are on the decline but the number of EFP munitions we're finding has indeed increased," he said.

"We've come across weapons caches with large numbers of EFP components all traceable back to Iran based on tool markings."

Lynch said he did not know whether these components were being found more often because more were coming in or whether his troops were conducting more searches.

He said he was also troubled by the number of Iranian rockets being found. In two recent cases, he said, 46 Iranian rockets were found ready and aimed at a U.S. operating base and several more were discovered near a U.S. patrol post.
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Ethnic Sunni Baloch cleric Kuda Baxsh Eslaamdust is arrested

Taftaan news ; 10-11-2007

Thursday 08th of November 2007 an ethnic Sunni Baloch cleric Kuda Baxsh Eslaamdust a Sermon from port city of Chabahar in Balochistan is arrested by Etelahaat (intelligence services) and till now his whereabouts is unknown.
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Iran upholds death sentence against Kurd

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer
Sat Nov 10, 5:22 PM ET

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's Supreme Court has upheld a death sentence against a Kurdish journalist accused of offering to provide the United States with information on Kurds in Iran, his lawyer said Saturday.

The ruling against Adnan Hasanpour, 27, upheld his original convictions in July for taking up arms against the ruling Islamic establishment, having unauthorized contacts with foreigners and helping several Iranian dissidents illegally escape abroad, said attorney Saleh Nikbakht.

Hasanpour, who was arrested last December, allegedly offered to provide a U.S. State Department official with information on Kurdish issues in Iran, an act that was interpreted as spying.

The Supreme Court ruled against Hasanpour last month, but Nikbakht said he was informed of the verdict only last week.

Nikbakht denied his client ever took up arms against the Iranian government. He said Hasanpour at one point confessed to authorities that he passed military information to Kurdish opposition groups in Iran, but later withdrew the confession in court.

"This is an unfair, unjustifiable verdict," Nikbakht told The Associated Press.

Hasanpour wrote for Asou, a local magazine covering Kurdish issues until it was banned in August 2005. He also worked for foreign news media including Voice of America and Radio Farda, another U.S.-funded radio station.

The Paris-based media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders condemned the Supreme Court's ruling.

"We appeal to the international community to take every possible action to get this journalist released," the organization said Friday. "This sentence should be taken very seriously as Iran has already executed more than 300 people since the start of the year."

Iran, Turkey, Syria and Iraq all have large Kurdish populations near their common borders, and the governments are concerned about Kurdish nationalism. The Kurds have sometimes been called the world's largest nation without an independent state.