Rooyesh

Iranian Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi has complained to the UN Human Rights Council over the “arbitrary detention” of US-Iranian academic Haleh Esfandiari and asked for her release.”I request that measures be taken that my client be freed as soon as possible and get a fair and open trial,” Ebadi said on Monday in a letter addressed to the council’s arbitrary arrests working group, a copy of which was faxed to AFP. She described Esfandiari’s three-month detention on suspicion of harming national security as a “clear example of arbitrary arrests.”

“My client has been kept in solitary confinement since May 8, is denied visits and deprived from all the rights

“I have asked for a visit with my client several times, which was not accepted and I have not even been allowed to study the case.”

Iran’s judiciary said on Tuesday that the probe was still ongoing into the case of Esfandiari, 68, who heads the Middle East programme at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars.

Last month Iran’s state television aired televised interviews of Esfandiari and another detained US-Iranian, Kian Tajbakhsh, apparently implicating themselves in alleged US efforts to topple Iran’s clerical authorities.

The scholar was arrested following a visit to Tehran to see her ailing mother.

considered for prisoners in the Iranian law,” said Ebadi, a human rights lawyer and 2003 Nobel peace laureate.

Sourse: APF

Iran on Sunday showed off for the first time a new fighter jet said to be modelled on the American F-5 but built using domestic technology, state media reported.The “Azarakhsh” (Lightning) jet — one of the first to be home-produced by Iran — made a successful flight in the central city of Isfahan in a ceremony attended by Defence Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar and other officials.”The success of this domestically developed fighter plane is another example of the technological achievements of our country,” said Isfahan governor Morteza Bakhtiari, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

“At a time when the United States is selling its arms to its allies in the region, our country’s specialists are taking big strides every day towards self-sufficiency in defence,” he added.

The development of the plane was first announced in September last year, when military officials said that it was “comparable” to the US F-5 fighter jet.

Iran has also developed another homemade war plane named “Saegheh” (Thunder) which it has described as similar to the American F-18 fighter jet.

The fly-by in Isfahan appears to have been the first time the Azarakhsh jet has been shown in public.

Many of Iran’s military planes are of American origin and were bought under the pro-US shah ousted by the Islamic revolution in 1979.

The current US embargo means the Iran must work hard to find spare parts to keep its fleet in the air and officials have repeatedly emphasised the importance of moving towards self-sufficiency in defence.

The United States last week announced new military pacts worth 20 billion dollars for Saudi Arabia, 13 billion dollars for Egypt and 30 billion for Israel in a bid to counter Iran’s regional influence.

Iran dismissed the deals as “fruitless” but insisted it was not worried by the moves.

Sourse: AFP

Iran on Sunday reaffirmed it would not consider a suspension of uranium enrichment work under any circumstances, despite continued Western demands for a freeze to the sensitive nuclear activity.Foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said such a move was “not acceptable” and denied that chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani had said in a magazine interview that a suspension was conceivable as an outcome to talks with world powers.

“This is not true. I have spoken to Mr Larijani myself and this (article) was an unwelcome reflection of his comments,” Hosseini told reporters.

“A suspension is not acceptable as a result of talks. Larijani said the issue of suspension is irrational and unacceptable and he has described enrichment as vital.”

Larijani had been reported as telling the German weekly Focus that Iran did not rule out suspending enrichment as an outcome to negotiations, comments which would have marked a subtle shift in Tehran’s position.

UN Security Council powers want Iran to suspend uranium enrichment, which can be used both to make nuclear fuel and nuclear weapons, as proof its nuclear programme is peaceful before any negotiations take place.

Iran however insists its atomic programme is solely aimed at producing energy while enrichment is an integral part of the nuclear fuel cycle which it has every right to use.

Hosseini emphasised that Iran’s nuclear activities were proceeding at their “normal” pace.

“Our nuclear activities have continued and will continue within an organised framework, away from the political propaganda of the media.”

The UN Security Council has already imposed two sets of sanctions on Iran to punish its defiance for refusing to suspend enrichment and is likely to consider a third set of measures if no agreement is reached.

Iran last week allowed a group of UN atomic inspectors to visit the Arak heavy water reactor for the first time in months but Iran and the West remain at loggerheads over the question of enrichment.

Iran’s basketball team won a spot in the Beijing Olympics, defeating Lebanon 74-69 Sunday in the final of the FIBA Asia Championship. Iran, playing in its first Asia Championship final, was the only team from the 16-nation tournament to earn a place in the 2008 Summer Games.Lebanon and South Korea could advance to Beijing through a qualifying tournament in July 2008. Earlier Sunday, South Korea defeated Kazakhstan 80-76 to win the bronze medal.Hamed Ehadadi led Iran with 31 points. Lebanon’s Omar El Turk hit a 3-pointer with 43 seconds left to cut Iran’s lead to 70-68, but Ehadadi’s jump shot with 20 seconds left gave Iran a 72-68 lead.