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24th May, 97
Vote for Khatami, an Open Defiance of Khamenei -
By voting overwhelmingly in favour of Khatami, Iranian people have exercised what
little choice they had to defy the spiritual leadership.
Ali Khamenei, the spiritual leader of the Islamic Republic and successor to Khomeini,
had endorsed the rival candidate and speaker of the Iranian parliament, Nateq Nuri, but
this only resulted in a sudden surge of support for Khatami amongst the Iranian people
as an obvious protest to the leadership.
An encouraging sign to see, was the involvement of young teenagers helping the Khatami
campaign. Hopefully this new generation will once again become interested in getting
politically involved and changing the destiny of the country.
See Views on the election.
Protests Across European Cities -
There have been protests across all major European cities today, calling for the
release of the Iranian writer Faraj Sarkuhi.
Once again the largest demonstration was in Germany, and the lowest in London.
Shame on Iranians living in London !.
22nd May, 97
Abbas Kiarostami's Success at the Cannes Festival
Kiarostami, who filmed the bleak outskirts of Tehran, Iran, for `The Taste of Cherry,'
was cautious when talking to the Western media about his film after Tehran grudgingly and
at the last moment allowed it at Cannes.
Despite a film that portrays desperate living and appears to poke fun at the Iranian military, `my intention was not, not to talk about Iranian society,' he told a beach club luncheon.
Kiarostami tells the story of Mr. Badii, who is tired of life and looking to hire someone to
bury him alive in a shallow grave. He finds a man willing to help, but who insists on knowing
why he wants to commit suicide in a world full of small pleasures.
`You want to deprive yourself of the taste of the cherry? Then do it!' he defies Badii.
The audience never learns whether Mr. Badii follows through.
Kiarostami denied he was challenging Iran's religious leadership and the Muslim taboo against
discussing suicide. `All religions condemn suicide,' he said, adding, `We as artists are to
develop an idea, not to condemn it.'
21St May, 97
Iranian Terror Network Exposed on the BBC
The BBC Panorama investigative program shown last Monday, proved beyond any doubt the active role of the Iranian government in exporting and carrying out terror across the world.
The program covered an Iranian trail of organising terror and assassination from Japan to Turkey, Bosnia, Norway, Holland, France and Germany.
Germany's role in providing the Iranian government with its powerful base for organising the terrorist activities from its so called 'embassy' in Bonn was severely criticised.
But perhaps Salman Rushdie's question summed it all up. 'What more must the Iranian government do, before Europe decides to take a firm united action against Iran ?!'.
There will also be a program about the Iranian government's terror activities shown on SKY, CNN channel today.
15th May, 97
Villagers digging with shovels and bare hands Monday pulled out a woman alive from the rubble
of her home two days after an earthquake killed about 2,400 people in eastern Iran.
The group of 50 men searching for survivors in the ruins of their mountain hamlet called for silence after hearing faint cries from
under her house flattened by Saturday's quake which measured 7.1 on the Richter scale.
Having located the voice, the men dug slowly and rescued the badly injured middle-aged woman named Maryam after a bulldozer supplied by the provincial relief agency removed some of the heavier debris.
One wonders how many more would have survived had the rescue teams with special heat seeking equipment been allowed to enter Iran.
But the quake did not spare the young in Ardakul near its epicenter. It also injured 6,000 and flattened 200 villages.
Sixty students aged between six and 12 at one school died.