[FREE IRAN Project] In The Spirit Of Cyrus The Great

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Saudi government jail three liberals for demanding constitutional reforms.

Meanwhile, Hundreds of Syrians rallied outside the feared state security court to call for freedom and an end to the 42-year old emergency law.




And finally,Kuwaiti parliament approved a bill today, which allows women to vote in elections.







Kuwaitis rally in support of women political rights in front of the parliament in Kuwait City. A historic amendment to the conservative Gulf emirate's election law voted today gave women the right to vote and stand in elections, the historic bill's vote count was 35 in favor, and 23 against, and one abstention the vote that had met some fierce resistance.

posted by Azad @ 8:20 PM 1 comments
Flushed


Newsweek says Koran desecration report is wrong.

posted by Azad @ 8:15 PM 0 comments
Iranian court clears pollster.
TEHERAN — The Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of a prominent pollster for selling classified information to foreign intelligence agencies, his lawyer said yesterday.

Pro-reform activist Abbas Abdi was convicted in February 2003 and was serving an eight-year prison sentence.

Lawyer Saleh Nikbakht said the Supreme Court overturned the conviction on May 2.

Abdi, a senior member of the Islamic Iran Participation Front, Iran’s largest reformist party, was jailed in November 2002 after conducting a poll showing strong public support for dialogue with the US

Nikbakht said the Supreme Court decided that surveying was not an example of passing classified information.

Abdi and two other leading pollsters angered Iran’s hardline clerics after their poll reported that 74 per cent of Teheran residents surveyed supported relations with the US.

posted by Azad @ 5:25 PM 0 comments

Thousands of Egypt's judges to boycott elections.
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Egyptian judges, long stripped of their independence by President Hosni Mubarak's regime, decided yesterday to boycott supervising an upcoming referendum and presidential election, the latest sign of discontent over the government's limited democratic reforms.

One judge broke down in tears of joy at Friday's emotional gathering as a speaker called on the long dormant judiciary to push harder for change.

"When a judge says he won't supervise the election, he's saying he won't participate in fraud. Would you say that?" veteran judge Mahmmoud Reda al-Khudairi asked the audience, which shouted back: "Yes, yes,yes!"

A judges' boycott would undermine the credibility of what the government has touted as a major democratic step: the opening of the September elections to multiple candidates.

While the judges met, hundreds of pro-government and opposition protesters faced off nearby. "Down, down with Hosni Mubarak!" chanted about 500 members of the opposition Kifaya movement gathered at the journalists union.

An equal number of pro-government demonstrators -- who Kifaya activists said had been paid to show up -- banners reading "Yes to Mubarak" and chanted, "Traitors, get out of here!" Some threw stones at the union building, smashing its glass gates and injuring one Kifaya member.

The judges' stance also highlights how reform demands -- for years made only by isolated groups -- have gathered steam. Though some judges have long complained they are not given enough independence, overt defiance would have been unthinkable in the past.

Judges have the role of supervising elections, checking the count and candidate lists and monitoring at polling stations. But critics say their presence is no protection since the Interior Ministry officials transport the ballot boxes afterward. Past elections have been plagued with vote-rigging and intimidation at the polls.

Around 2,500 of Egypt's 8,000 judges attended Friday's gathering of the Judges' Club General Assembly. When a vote was called on whether to boycott the elections, nearly the entire audience stood.

The assembly approved boycotting both the presidential election and the referendum unless judicial laws are reformed to ensure judges' independence and give them full control over elections.

The May 25 referendum seeks approval of the constitutional amendment to open the election to multiple candidates. Egypt's parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed the amendment.

Under new laws, the September election will be supervised from start to finish by an electoral commission, but only half of its members are judges. The other half are chosen by the ruling party-dominated parliament.

The judges are demanding it be made up completely of judges. They also want changes to ensure their salaries are no longer paid by the Justice Ministry, a system many feel restricts their independence.

The judges said they would meet again during the first week of September to see if their demands have been met.

The assembly decision is not binding for judges, and it was not clear whether all of Egypt's judges would join the boycott.

Parliament Speaker Fathi Sorour and Kamal el-Shazli, the state minister for parliamentary affairs -- both ruling party stalwarts who would have to deal with any changes in election and judiciary laws -- declined to comment on the boycott call.

Although this September's presidential polls will be the first in which multiple candidates can run, opposition groups contend that the reforms are a farce because they give the ruling party a say over which independent candidates will be allowed. Reformers also argue that a truly free election is impossible given the president's domination of the media.

Mubarak, who has been president for 24 years, surprised the nation earlier this year by saying he would allow opponents to run in the next election. Previously, Mubarak was repeatedly re-elected in yes-no referendums in which he was the only candidate.

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Demonstrators from Kifaya, ' Enough' , movement shout anti - Mubarak slogans as they flash V signs and hold 'Kifaya' labels, while supporters from the Egyptian National Democratic Party ' NDP' shout pro- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak slogans, background. Supporters and opponents of President Hosni Mubarak held rival demonstrations Friday, facing off against each other amid a heavy ring of anti-riot police in a downtown Cairo square.

posted by Azad @ 7:01 AM 0 comments
Fresh Uzbek Protests After Day Of Violence

Prague, 14 May 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Hundreds of protesters have reconvened in the Uzbek city of Andijon, after a day of deadly clashes with security forces. It's unclear how many people died after troops fired on protesters yesterday, with the government saying nine were killed in earlier violence, while reports say the total death toll may be much higher. Meanwhile, reports say hundreds of people have gathered at the border with Kyrgyzstan.

The protesters include relatives of those injured and killed in Andijon yesterday. They angrily condemned security forces for firing on women and children.

RFE/RL correspondent Sadriddin Ashurov, who was in the city, said people were searching for bodies.

"I am walking near the regional administration building right now, there are a lot of people from Andijon gathering there," Ashurov reported. "They express their strongest discontent. They talk about yesterday's events, about shooting peaceful people, including children and women, they say they [government troops] did not show mercy to anyone. People are bringing bodies, corpses to the statue of [Uzbek poet] Bobur. They are putting bodies wrapped in bedsheets in a row next to the statue."

It's unclear how many people have died in Andijon, which is now sealed off by Uzbek security forces.

In international reactions, the European Union yesterday blamed the conflict on Karimov's government. It said it had not paid what it called "sufficient attention" to the country's problems with human rights, the rule of law, and poverty. But the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has so far declined to comment. The OSCE representative in Vienna told RFE/RL yesterday that the organization's office in Tashkent was monitoring the situation.

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Local residents look at the bodies of the victims from on display at the central square in the Uzbek town of Andijan.

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A local resident covers the dead body of a local protester.

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Men carry a body of the victim to the funeral ceremony at the central square in Andijan.

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A man shouts as others dig graves for the dead bodies of local protesters.

Protests outside Uzbek embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

(RFE/RL) Dozens of students and other young human rights activists demonstrated in front of the Uzbek Embassy in Bishkek, demanding that the Uzbek government provide democratic rights to the citizens.

One young activist said that the main thing is to democratize Uzbek society.

Unrest in Uzbek-Kyrgyz border town of Kara-Suu

RFE/RL's Uzbek Service correspondent Elmurad Yusupaliev was in Kara-suu on the border with Kyrgyzstan. "This morning several thousand people gathered outside the city mayor's office in the town of Kara-suu of Andijon region of Uzbekistan," he reported. "They stormed the building. They have also beaten several employees of the city administration up. They took the city mayor hostage. I was right there on the Uzbek territory watching these myself. They forced the city mayor to climb on the building's roof and said he should criticize Karimov's policy. They said, 'Otherwise, we won't let you come down.' Meanwhile, policemen ran away. So did the border guards."


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