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You are here: Home / 2014 / Archives for November 2014

Archives for November 2014

Justice after 13 years: 8 Muslim youths accused of links with SIMI acquitted by Kurla court

November 22, 2014 by Nasheman

Tanvir Ahmed Ansari. Photo: YouTube Screenshot

Tanvir Ahmed Ansari. Photo: YouTube Screenshot

Mumbai: Eight persons, accused of having links with the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), were today acquitted by a local court for lack of evidence.

Those acquitted by the metropolitan magistrate’s court in suburban Kurla include Ehtesham Siddiqui and Tanvir Ahmed Ansari, who are also facing a trial in the July 2006 Mumbai train blasts case.

“The court acquitted all the eight accused after I argued that there was no evidence,” said their lawyer, advocate Sharif Sheikh.

He said Mumbai police had begun a crackdown throughout the city against SIMI on September 27, 2011, the day it was banned by the Centre under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

“Police raided an office in Kurla and claimed to have found some literature, photo of Osama bin Laden besides other material,” Sheikh said.

However, the court granted bail to all the accused as the copy of the notification in the official gazette had not reached the state home department on the day of ban.

Sheikh said that few minutes after all the eight accused were granted bail, police arrested them for allegedly shouting anti-national slogans in the court premises.

When the case came up for hearing, he argued that on the day of their arrest there was no notification, hence their arrest was bad in law.

“In the slogan-shouting case, police had produced only policemen as witnesses while no advocates or litigants were brought as witnesses,” said Sheikh.

The court acquitted all the eight persons in both the cases.

Filed Under: India, Indian Muslims Tagged With: Advocate Sharif Sheikh, Ehtesham Siddiqui, SIMI, Students Islamic Movement of India, Tanvir Ahmed Ansari, UAPA, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act

Karnataka-cadre IPS officer Rupal Kumar Dutta to lead 2G probe

November 22, 2014 by Nasheman

cbi_headquater

Bengaluru: The Central Bureau of Investigation has appointed Rupal Kumar Dutta, additional director, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to head the 2G spectrum scam probe. The decision came after Supreme Court’s order asking the CBI chief Ranjit Sinha to recuse from 2G scam investigation and prosecution.

Sinha attended the office on Friday, even though the demand for his resignation and suspension, even from some of his predecessors grew louder after the SC decision.

A 1981-batch IPS officer from the Karnataka cadre, Dutta is the overall in-charge of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of the agency which is probing the 2G cases.

“As per the directions of the Supreme Court of India, Director CBI has recused himself from the investigation and prosecution of the case relating to 2G spectrum allocation. As directed, RKDutta, Additional Director, who is the senior-most officer of the investigating team in the case, will henceforth be overall in-charge of the case,” read the CBI statement issued on Friday evening.

SC bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu on Thursday refused to pass an elaborate order on the issue, stating that it would “tarnish” the “image and reputation” of the premier investigating agency.

The SC order has also put a question mark on Sinha’s continuation as the agency chief. Sources in the Home ministry stated that the best option for Sinha is to go on leave on his own, so that government may not have to initiate any action for his replacement. He is retiring on December 2, this year.

A panel including Home secretary, the secretary of the Department of personnel and the Chief vigilance commissioner recommended name of Sinha as the agency chief in 2012 after which he was appointed by the Prime minister.

Interestingly, the then opposition leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley had opposed the appointment and written a strong letter to Prime minister Manmohan Singh. “We must record our strong disappointment and disapproval of this act of the government,” the letter read.

After the enactment of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act in January this year the provisions of the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946, which governs the functioning of the investigation agency, were changed including the requirement of consultation with the outgoing CBI director in the selection process.

According to the Lokpal Act, the selection of the CBI chief has to be done by a committee headed by the Prime minister, and comprising the LoP in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India or a Supreme Court judge nominated by him as members. As of now there is no recognized LoP in Lok Sabha.

Now, BJP led NDA government, which has largely remained silent on the issue may have to amend the act during the winter session of the parliament starting on November 24.

Dutta, a BTech from IIT Kanpur and MBA from Swinburne University in Australia, has held several important positions in anti-corruption, training and other divisions/zones of the CBI from 1988 to 1996 and 2000 to 2006.

He has also held the posts of Joint Director, DIG and SP. He has been associated with the investigation of a number of sensitive cases, including those entrusted to the Centre Bureau of Investigation by the Supreme Court and high courts that have ended in conviction of the accused persons.

Dutta has held various positions in Karnataka as Superintendent of Police (Karwar and Davangere), DIG Intelligence, Security Vigilance and Northern Range and IG North Eastern Range.

He has also served as Additional Director General of Police (Law & Order) and also as ADGP in Karnataka Lokayukta. Dutta has been awarded the President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service.

Filed Under: India Tagged With: 2G Scam, 2G spectrum scam, CBI, Central Bureau of Investigation, Ranjit Sinha, Rupal Kumar Dutta, Supreme court

Tunisian wins Muslim beauty pageant, calls for free Palestine

November 22, 2014 by Nasheman

Computer scientist Fatma Ben Guefrache was announced the winner and received a prize which includes a gold watch, a gold dinar, and mini pilgrimage to Mecca.

Winner of the 2014 World Muslimah Awards Fatma Ben Guefrache (C) of Tunisia walks with children during the grand final in Yogyakarta. (Photo: AFP/Adek Berry)

Winner of the 2014 World Muslimah Awards Fatma Ben Guefrache (C) of Tunisia walks with children during the grand final in Yogyakarta. (Photo: AFP/Adek Berry)

by Channel News Asia

Prambanan: A Tunisian woman called for a free Palestine as she won a pageant exclusively for Muslims in Indonesia on Friday (Nov 21), seen as a riposte to Western beauty contests.

Eighteen finalists, who include a doctor and a computer scientist, paraded in glittering dresses against the backdrop of world-renowned ancient temples for the contest in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country.

Computer scientist Fatma Ben Guefrache was announced the winner and received a prize which includes a gold watch, a gold dinar, and mini pilgrimage to Mecca. “May almighty Allah help me in this mission, and free Palestine, please, please, free Palestine and the Syrian people,” the tearful 25-year-old woman said.

The 18 finalists were required to wear the Muslim headscarf and judged not only on their appearance, but also on how well they recite verses from the Koran and their views on Islam in the modern world. “We want to see that they understand everything about the Islamic way of life – from what they eat, what they wear, how they live their lives,” said Jameyah Sheriff, one of the organisers.

The World Muslimah Award first drew global attention in 2013 when organisers presented it as a peaceful protest to Miss World, which was taking place around the same time on the resort island of Bali.

While it remains popular in some countries, British-run Miss World has faced frequent accusations that it is degrading to women, and a round in which contestants pose in bikinis has been a lightning rod for criticism.

In an effort to appease hardliners, Miss World organisers axed the bikini round for the Bali edition, but the event still sparked demonstrations from Islamic radicals who dubbed it a “whore contest”.

Headscarves not scary

British contestant Dina Torkia said she hoped this year’s World Muslimah Award would not only provide a contrast to Western beauty pageants, but would also dispel prejudices against Islam. “I think the most important thing is to show that we are really normal girls, we are not married to terrorists. This scarf on my head isn’t scary,” she told AFP.

However the 2014 pageant has faced challenges, with seven finalists dropping out and others struggling with Indonesia’s complex bureaucracy to obtain visas. Most who pulled out did so because their families did not want them to travel alone, Sheriff said.

The Indian contestant missed her initial flight as she was being questioned by officials who were suspicious of a woman travelling alone and wearing a headscarf, although she managed to get on a plane later.

Others have gone to great lengths to take part in the fourth edition of the event, with Masturah Jamil quitting her teaching job in Singapore after her employer would not give her time off to participate.

Organisers hope to present positive role models for Islamic women around the world and the contestants, who are aged between 18 and 27, include a newly qualified doctor from Bangladesh.

But not everyone was enjoying the final rounds, with Britain’s Torkia saying her initial optimism had turned into disappointment. “I came into this competition hoping that I would leave with my faith increased, but so far it’s been a lot about promotion and media and looking nice,” she said.

Friday’s finale caps a lengthy process, which included an online audition followed by two weeks of events in Indonesia. During their time in Indonesia, contestants have visited orphanages and nursing homes, and had their pictures taken at Borobudur, a famous Buddhist temple close to Yogyakarta, Java’s cultural heartland.

The finale takes place on a stage against the backdrop of Prambanan, a ninth-century complex of Hindu temples on the island of Java that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Hosting the event at a Hindu site was a conscious decision to show that Muslims are accepting of other religions, organisers said.

AFP/ec

Filed Under: Muslim World Tagged With: Beauty Contest, Fatma Ben Guefrache, Indonesia, World Muslimah Award

No party may get majority in J&K, BJP to emerge on top in Jharkhand: surveys

November 22, 2014 by Nasheman

BJP

New Delhi: No party may get a clear majority in the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections, an opinion poll by a news channel has claimed while two other surveys on Jharkhand polls show that BJP is likely to emerge on top in the state.

As per the opinion poll conducted by Hindi channel – News Nation India – in Jammu and Kashmir, none of the political parties is likely to get a clear majority.

The survey by the channel projected that PDP is likely to get 31-36 seats and emerge on top in J & K, followed by BJP with 23-28 seats in the 87-strong assembly.

It gives ruling National Conference 7-11 seats and Congress 8-12 seats.

In Jharkhand, the same channel’s opinion poll predicts that BJP may get majority in the 81-member assembly with 42-46 seats followed by JMM 14 to 18 seats.

Another opinion poll, by ABP News-Nielsen projected that BJP and its allies LJP-AJSU are likely to get around 37 seats in Jharkhand, short of the majority-mark.

BJP on its own is likely to get around 30 seats in the state while Congress, RJD and JD(U) are together likely to get 23 seats, the opinion poll projected.

As per the ABP News-Nielsen opinion poll, more than 80 percent of respondents have rated the performance of PM Narendra Modi as very good or good.

(PTI)

Filed Under: India Tagged With: BJP, Congress, Elections, Jammu, Jharkhand, Kashmir, Narendra Modi, National Conference

The sounds of Interstellar

November 21, 2014 by Nasheman

interstellar

A look at the sound design of Interstellar, including some of the cool rigs they built to record sounds for the movie, including a truck driving through a corn field, sand hitting the outside of a car, and robots walking.

(via devour)

Filed Under: Cabinet of Curiosities Tagged With: Christopher Nolan, Film, Interstellar, Movie

SC notice on BJP plea on its foreign funding

November 21, 2014 by Nasheman

BJP

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Friday issued notice to the central government and the election commission on a BJP plea challenging the Delhi High Court order that the contribution to its coffers by the Indian subsidiary of an overseas-based company amounted to foreign contribution.

An apex court bench headed by Chief Justice H.L. Dattu while issuing notice on Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) plea, tagged it with an earlier Congress plea on the same issue.

The Delhi High Court had ruled that the funding for the Congress and the BJP by the Indian subsidiary of an overseas company amounted to foreign contribution which is prohibited and has urged the Election Commission (EC) and the central government to proceed against them.

(IANS)

Filed Under: India Tagged With: BJP, Foreign Funding, H L Dattu, Supreme court

U.S troops will deploy to Iraq without congressional approval: Pentagon

November 21, 2014 by Nasheman

This Department of Defense photo shows US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey as he addresses questions from US military members during a town hall meeting in Baghdad, Iraq, November 15, 2014. AFP/DOD/ D. Myles Cullen

This Department of Defense photo shows US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey as he addresses questions from US military members during a town hall meeting in Baghdad, Iraq, November 15, 2014. AFP/DOD/ D. Myles Cullen

by Al-Akhbar

Some of the 1,500 new US troops authorized to “advise and train” Iraqi forces in their fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants will be deployed in Iraq within the next few weeks without waiting for Congress to fund the mission, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said leading elements of the US force would begin moving to Iraq in the coming weeks, even if Congress has not yet acted on a $5.6 billion supplemental request to fund the expanded fight against the militants who overran northwestern Iraq earlier this year.

Large swathes of land in Iraq have become ISIS strongholds as the extremist group, which declared a “caliphate” in the territory it seized in Iraq and Syria, drove Iraq’s army – the recipient of $25 billion in US training and funding since the 2003 invasion – to collapse.

Late October, the Pentagon revised its estimate of the cost of the US air war in Iraq and Syria, saying the price tag for the campaign against ISIS comes to about $8.3 million a day.

Since US airstrikes began on August 8, the campaign – which has involved about 6,600 sorties by US and allied aircraft – has cost the US $580 million, said Pentagon spokesman Commander Bill Urban.

In addition, the campaign, which has so far failed to stop ISIS from advancing, has also cost the Iraqi government $260 million.

Officials initially indicated they needed to get lawmakers to approve the funding for the troops deployment before the Pentagon could start the mission, but General Lloyd Austin, the head of US troops in the Middle East, recommended starting the effort using resources already available to him.

“The commander … can reallocate resources inside his theater as he deems fit. So he is going to .. try to get a jump start on this program,” Kirby told reporters, adding that congressional approval of the $5.6 billion was still needed to carry out the “more robust program.”

The Pentagon’s announcement came just days after US officials said some 50 troops had been sent to Ain al-Asad air base in Anbar province in Iraq to establish an operation to “advise and train” Iraqi troops.

Kirby said Austin thought that starting the expanded mission sent a message both to Iraqis and other coalition partners.

“It sends an important signal … about how seriously we’re taking this,” Kirby said. “The sooner we get started, the sooner Iraqi units will improve … and the sooner we’ll get coalition contributions to that particular mission.”

US President Barack Obama, who was elected in 2008 largely due to his promises to exit Middle Eastern military entanglements – especially in Iraq – and avoiding new ones, announced plans last week to double the number of American troops in Iraq, approving an additional 1,500 forces to establish sites to “train” nine Iraqi military brigades and three Kurdish peshmerga brigades.

The move came almost three years after US troops completed their withdrawal from Iraq after a nine year occupation that left the country in turmoil.

Iraq ranked first out of 162 countries on the Global Terrorism Index, the Australia and US-based Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) said in a report published Tuesday, giving the country a score of 10 out of 10.

According to the report, 80 percent of the lives lost to terrorist attacks in 2013 occurred in just five countries – Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria.

The influx in terrorist attacks raises questions about the effectiveness of the US “War on Terror” launched by the Bush administration after the 9/11 attacks, which included the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The campaign failed to eliminate or even reduce terrorism, as the report showed a steady increase in the death toll over the last 14 years, from 3,361 in 2000 to 11,133 in 2012 and 17,958 in 2013.

On the contrary, the campaign in general and the US invasion of Iraq in particular served as a recruitment tool for terrorist groups, such as ISIS, as figures show that terrorism rose precipitously in Iraq since 2003.

Kirby indicated additional US troops would begin deploying to Iraq before the end of the year.

“You’re going to start to see initial elements of the 1,500 or so additional start to flow in the next few weeks,” he said. “I think certainly by the end of the calendar year you’re going to see a much more robust presence, not just by the United States doing this but by coalition partners as well.”

Some 3,500 US troops are believed to be on Iraqi land.

ISIS claims Erbil suicide bombing

The US-led anti-ISIS campaign has so far failed to stop ISIS from gaining ground, thus drawing criticism from many sides, including the president of the Iraqi Kurdistan autonomous region, Massoud Barzani.

On Wednesday, following a suicide bombing that hit the usually secure capital of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, Barzani accused Western countries of not providing enough heavy weapons to help peshmerga forces deliver a “decisive blow” against ISIS militants.

Later on Thursday, ISIS claimed responsibility of the suicide attack in an online statement.

“We breached all the security checkpoints of the agent Kurdistan government and reached the heart of the city of Erbil,” the statement said.

It identified the bomber as Abdul-Rahman al-Kurdi, indicating that he was an ethnic Kurd.

The bomber struck the main checkpoint on the way to the provincial government headquarters in the northern city just before noon on Wednesday, killing four people and wounding more than two dozen.

The bombing was the worst attack to hit Erbil since September 29, 2013, when militants struck the headquarters of the Asayesh security forces in the city, killing seven people and wounding more than 60.

In that attack, the Asayesh said a suicide bomber detonated explosives at the entrance to their headquarters, after which they killed four more would-be bombers before a fifth blew up an ambulance rigged with explosives.

Kurdish peshmerga forces joined the battle against ISIS in August after the extremist group targeted ethnic and religious minorities, took control of the country’s largest dam and moved within striking distance of Erbil, where many Western expatriates, including oil industry and aid workers are based.

(Al-Akhbar, Reuters, AFP)

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Iraq, IS, ISIL, ISIS, Islamic State, Pentagon, Syria, United States, USA

Madras High Court quashes cases against 1000 PFI activists

November 21, 2014 by Nasheman

Madras High Court

Chennai: Madras High Court has quashed cases of rioting, attempt to murder and unlawful assembly registered against more than 1,000 members of Popular Front of India (PFI) in connection with a clash with police during a rally taken out in Ramanathapuram district in February this year.

Madras HC Justice G M Akbar Ali, in a petition filed by 19 persons named in the cases, said it would be a farce to slap unlawful assembly charges on the petitioners after having allowed the rally.

The PFI workers had clashed with police when the latter objected to alleged deviation in the route of the ‘unity march’ taken out by the organisation on its foundation day.

Cases were registered against 1,000 unknown persons besides these 19 petitioners.

“There are more number of injured on the organiser’s side than police side,” the judge said, adding police personnnel had suffered only minor injuries and were treated as out-patients.

Holding that no useful purpose would be served in probing the FIR against 1,000 unnamed persons and the 19 others, the judge quashed the entire case.

Filed Under: India, Indian Muslims Tagged With: G M Akbar Ali, Madras High Court, PFI, Popular Front of India

'Resist Surveillance': Human Rights groups launch tool to detect Spyware

November 21, 2014 by Nasheman

Detekt finds traces of ‘dangerous and sophisticated’ technology used by repressive governments against journalists and human rights defenders, Amnesty International says

Amnesty International's new tool can detect government spyware programs, the human rights group says. (Photo: Electronic Frontier Foundation/flickr/cc)

Amnesty International’s new tool can detect government spyware programs, the human rights group says. (Photo: Electronic Frontier Foundation/flickr/cc)

by Nadia Prupis, Common Dreams

Amnesty International released a free program on Wednesday that scans computers for surveillance software that is often used by governments to spy on journalists, human rights lawyers, political organizers, and other activists—technology that has been discovered to be in use in countries around the world.

“Governments are increasingly using dangerous and sophisticated technology that allows them to read activists and journalists’ private emails and remotely turn on their computer’s camera or microphone to secretly record their activities. They use the technology in a cowardly attempt to prevent abuses from being exposed,” said Marek Marczynski, Head of Military, Security and Police at Amnesty International.

The tool, aptly named Detekt, scans PC computers for programs like FinSpy, also known as FinFisher. Both are products of Gamma International, a German-UK company that may have lied about its associations with a number of oppressive Middle Eastern regimes, according to a recent investigation.

One such regime was the Bahraini government, which had used FinFisher to spy on prominent lawyers, politicians, and journalists during the Arab Spring revolutionary movement in 2011. FinFisher can be used to read emails, monitor Skype conversations, extract files from hard drives, and remotely operate a target’s computer microphone and webcam.

As Amnesty notes, there have been few attempts to safeguard against these kinds of invasive programs. Until now.

Detekt “represents a strike back against governments who are using information obtained through surveillance to arbitrarily detain, illegally arrest and even torture human rights defenders and journalists,” added Marczynski.

Because Detekt cannot remove or delete any infections it finds, its recommendations are simple: disconnect from the internet and seek expert assistance from a different computer.

“If Detekt indicates signs of infection, you should assume that your computer has been compromised and is no longer safe for use,” the website states.

The tool was developed by security researcher Claudio Guarnieri. Amnesty is launching it in partnership with Digitale Gesellschaft, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Privacy International.

“These spying tools are marketed on their ability to get round your bog-standard anti-virus,” Tanya O’Carroll, an adviser on technology and human rights at Amnesty International, told the BBC. “It’s easier to name the countries that are not using these spying tools than those that are.”

Filed Under: Human Rights Tagged With: Amnesty International, Big Brother, NSA, Rights, Surveillance

UN resolution on Iran mockery of justice

November 21, 2014 by Nasheman

United Nations

by Ismail Salami

The not-very-independent UN body has made a mockery of justice by soldering a resolution on the so-called human rights violations in Iran.

The farce becomes more markedly absurd when you consider the plethora of human rights abuses going unpunished in the world with the UN laying a lid of ignorance on these blatant violations.

Late Tuesday, the United Nations voted to slam “Iranian human rights abuses”, singling it out for “executing upwards of 1,000 political opponents and prisoners in the past year”.

Iran has strongly lambasted the UN resolution, saying that “the UN’s legal mechanisms have turned into a tool in the hands of the West.”

The irony of the resolution is that the measure was initially drafted by Canada which has itself a disgracing history of human rights abuse against the aborigines in the country. Further to that, Ottawa has constantly and vehemently thrown its full-throated support behind Tel Aviv in its inconceivably ruthless crimes against the people of Palestine.

In July 2014, when Gaza was being pounded by Israeli bombs and the Palestinian women and children were consequently incinerated and brutally slaughtered, when human rights were being trampled in its most pernicious forms, Canadian government brazenly backed the Israeli regime and instead rubbed salt in Palestinian wounds. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a statement and said, “The indiscriminate rocket attacks from Gaza on Israel are terrorist acts, for which there is no justification…. Failure by the international community to condemn these reprehensible actions would encourage these terrorists to continue their appalling actions. Canada calls on its allies and partners to recognize that these terrorist acts are unacceptable and that solidarity with Israel is the best way of stopping the conflict. Canada is unequivocally behind Israel.”

Yes, Canada is unequivocally and cravenly behind Israel. These are strange times. Those who are harbingers of terror and atrocity become the emblems of innocence and the downtrodden people of Gaza become terrorists. These remarks by Mr. Harper only relegate him to a very lowly level of humanity and leave no room for his exoneration from complicity in the crimes perpetrated at the hands of the Israeli regime against the Gazans.

Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran has even voiced his praise for Canada’s determining role in conducing to this mockery of justice about Iran, saying, “Canada’s leadership in this regard is highly appreciated.”

In May 2014, Canadian Liberal MP Irwin Cotler who served as the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada from 2003 until 2006 embarked on a series of programs known as Iran Accountability Weeks in which they heard “testimonies highlighting Iranian political prisoners and other victims of Iranian human rights abuses.” Among those who testified was the notorious terrorist MKO leader Maryam Rajavi accompanied by a UN rights official and pundits from a hawkish American think tank.

Interestingly, Mr. Shaheed was a participant in the event. Although he says he asked his name to be withdrawn from the panel, there is barely an iota of truth in it as in his report on Iran. The sheer presence of Maryam Rajavi in the anti-Iran mudslinging campaign sheds light on the very nature of the UN-released resolution against Iran.

Besides, it is not a closed book to anyone that Irwin Cotler is a fervent advocate of Tel Aviv and his insistence on having Rajavi on the anti-Iran panel reveals the dirty hands behind the report. So, the pieces of the puzzle come together to make a meaningful whole in this regard.

Over the past three decades, the MKO has initiated a series of deadly attacks on Iran and the Iranian population and has so far assassinated 12000 Iranians including the nuclear scientists. It is interesting to note that the assassinations of prominent Iranian characters including the politicians and scientists are basically conducted in cahoots with Israeli Kidon, the assassination unit within Mossad.

In 1986, the MKO headquarters were transferred to Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war and Saddam took them under his wings and funded them financially and militarily to fight against Iran. Long listed as a terrorist organization by the international community, the cult was delisted on September 28, 2012 by the US Secretary of State as an extension of their adage that a terrorist in need is a friend indeed.

Some of their sabotaging activities are as follows:

  • The series of mortar attacks and hit-and-run raids during 2000 and 2001 against Iranian government buildings; one of these killed Iran’s chief of staff
  • The 2000 mortar attack on President Mohammad Khatami’s palace in Tehran
  • The February 2000 “Operation Great Bahman,” during which MEK launched 12 attacks against Iran
  • The 1999 assassination of the deputy chief of Iran’s armed forces general staff, Ali Sayyad Shirazi
  • The 1998 assassination of the director of Iran’s prison system, Asadollah Lajevardi
  • The 1992 near-simultaneous attacks on Iranian embassies and institutions in 13 countries
  • Assistance to Saddam Hussein’s suppression of the 1991 Iraqi Shiite and Kurdish uprisings
  • The 1981 bombing of the offices of the Islamic Republic Party and of Premier Mohammad-Javad Bahonar, which killed some 70 high-ranking Iranian officials, including President Mohammad-Ali Rajaei and Bahonar Support for the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran by Iranian revolutionaries
  • The 1970s killings of U.S. military personnel and civilians working on defense projects in Tehran

Viewed from an entirely different angle, the measure very bizarrely coincides with the nuclear talks between Iran and the world six world powers and the November 24 deadline. So, the move may be seen as a last-ditch effort by pro-Israeli lobbies to proceed with their scenario of Iranophobia on the one hand and to sabotage the nuclear talks and bring them to standstill on the other hand.

The UN consciously or unconsciously plays in the hands of the pro-Israeli pressure groups in Canada and only puts on an ugly show of duplicity in imposing a ruling against the Islamic Republic.

Dr. Ismail Salami is an Iranian writer, Middle East expert, Iranologist and lexicographer. He writes extensively on the US and Middle East issues and his articles have been translated into a number of languages.

Filed Under: Muslim World Tagged With: Iran, UN, United Nations

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