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Friday, May 9, 2008 Volume 12 Number 87
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| next issue  NOTE TO READERS:
RFE/RL announces with regret that due to financial constraints, this will be the last issue of "RFE/RL Newsline." In late June, RFE/RL will launch a redesigned English-language website (http://www.rferl.org) that will continue to cover developments in our broadcast region. Southwestern Asia And The Middle East
AFGHAN CIVILIANS, FOREIGN TROOPS KILLED IN KHOST PROVINCETwo adults and one child died in explosions in the eastern Afghan province of Khost, bordering Pakistan, on May 7, AFP reported. Khost deputy police chief Colonel Mohammad Yaqoub said that a roadside bomb destroyed the car of a provincial police administrator, killing him and his driver. Hours later, a bomb exploded inside a home in Khost city, apparently during the assembly of explosives for a planned car bombing, killing a child and wounding at least three others, according to Khost police spokesman Wazir Padshah. In a separate incident in Khost Province on May 7, two NATO soldiers and a civilian were killed by a bomb on a routine patrol, according to a NATO statement. Their nationalities were not reported. In Kandahar city on May 7, a Canadian soldier was killed and another wounded in a gun battle with insurgents that began during a foot patrol, the Canadian military reported. Also in Kandahar Province, U.S. Marines and British troops captured "enemy strong points and defensive positions" in Garmser district near the Pakistani border, according to a military statement. And in Laghman Province, a police officer and four civilians were killed when farmers who police said were linked to "armed opposition groups" resisted antinarcotics forces trying to destroy their illegal crops, provincial government spokesman Wakil Atak said. AT PRINCE WANTS TALIBAN BROUGHT INTO AFGHAN GOVERNMENT A grandson of the late former king Mohammad Zaher has said that Afghanistan should set up a transitional government that includes members of the Taliban once President Hamid Karzai's term ends next year, Reuters reported on May 7. Prince Mostafa Zaher, 44, who lived for three decades in exile in the West, heads a department overseeing conservation issues in Karzai's government. Although the royal family is not officially involved in politics, it is often seen as a symbol of national unity. "We are in the middle of a crisis at this very second, and the situation is getting worse," Zaher told journalists, calling for decisiveness and vision in the Afghan leadership. Karzai and the royal family are Pashtuns, but Karzai's government has faced complaints that Pashtuns are underrepresented in the government. Most Taliban militants are also Pashtuns. Zaher said the transitional administration he envisages would include members of the current government, along with members of the Taliban and other insurgent groups. "We have had enough of the war and fratricide. The Taliban are also the sons of this country," said Zaher. "You do not make peace with your friends. You make peace with those who are against you. This is an intra-Afghan plan and we hope to bring on board all dissatisfied people," he said. Zaher denies having any political ambitions, but does not rule out the possibility of taking a political role if he wins the people's support. AT NATO APPOINTS NEW CIVILIAN REPRESENTATIVE IN AFGHANISTAN NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on May 8 appointed Fernando Gentilini of Italy as NATO'S senior civilian representative in Afghanistan, Xinhua reported. Gentilini, 46, has had a long career in the Italian Foreign Ministry. The senior civilian representative officially represents the political leadership of NATO in Kabul and provides a direct channel of communication to the NATO headquarters in Brussels and the North Atlantic Council. He also works closely with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, the United Nations, and other coordinating bodies established by the international community and the Afghan government. Gentilini replaces Daan Everts of the Netherlands who served as NATO's second senior civilian representative in Afghanistan from August 2006 to December 2007, and another Dutchman, Maurits R. Jochems, who this year has served as the acting senior civilian representative. AT INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY ADOPTS NEW TACTICS ON IRAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM The 5+1 powers -- the permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany -- may try a "face to face appeal" to persuade Iran to accept their most recent package of incentives, intended to curb its contested nuclear program, AP reported on May 7 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," May 5, 2008). Those six countries recently upgraded their 2006 package of incentives for Iran intended to persuade it to abandon its nuclear fuel-making activities. Iran insists it has the right and the need to produce its own nuclear fuel for future power stations, and denies accusations that it would use nuclear technology to make weapons. AP quoted unnamed Western officials as saying that envoys from the 5+1 powers (but not including the United States) will deliver the proposals to Iran, either in Tehran or elsewhere, though details were not given. Iran's ambassador in London, Rasul Movahedian, told "The Guardian" on May 7 that Iran will present its own proposals on its nuclear program and "all aspects of our relationship" before the end of the next week. He said Iran insists on its right to make nuclear fuel, but hinted that Tehran may accept extensive checks of its installations by the International Atomic Energy Agency to alleviate foreign governments' concerns. Movahedian said members of the 5+1 group have received preliminary versions of Iran's proposals and responded positively. But "The Guardian's" website on May 8 quoted an unnamed Russian official, apparently familiar with the proposals, as saying that Iran is proposing to have "regional cooperation and other incentives, but carry on doing what they're doing with uranium. That's not going to fly." Iran's ambassador in Japan, Abbas Araqchi, confirmed to IRNA on May 9 that "there is no place for uranium enrichment suspension" in Iran's proposals. VS IRANIAN MINISTRY OBJECTS TO COURT RULING ON TERRORISTS Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini on May 8 criticized a British court ruling removing the designation "terrorist" from the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), a left-wing militant group opposed to Iran's government, Radio Farda reported, citing agency reports. Hosseini said there is clear evidence of the group's "extensive activities" against Iranian officials and civilians, and that the ruling, which he called politically motivated and baseless, will "promote terrorism and violence," IRNA reported. The Court of Appeals in London ruled on May 7 that there are no "valid grounds" for overturning an earlier ruling in favor of the People's Mujahedin Organization of Iran -- another name used by the MKO -- and that the group is not a terrorist organization in the context of Britain's 2000 Terrorism Act (see "RFE/RL Newsline," December 17, 2007). The ruling was a setback for the Home Office, which appealed against the earlier ruling and sought to preserve the terrorist designation. The group has carried out bombings in Iran since the 1979 revolution, and engaged in some guerrilla activities against Western interests in the 1970s under Iran's Western-oriented monarchy. It is considered a terrorist group by Iran, the United States, and the EU. The Iranian Embassy in London stated on May 7 that the ruling does not absolve the British government from its duties in fighting terrorism. It added that it has discredited the United Kingdom's claims to be a peaceful state and enemy of terrorism, Radio Farda reported. One of the group's leaders, Mariam Rajavi, welcomed the ruling on May 7 in an interview with Reuters. VS IRAN ARRESTS BOMBING SUSPECTS Iranian officials reported on May 7 that suspects in the April 12 bombing of a mosque in Shiraz, southern Iran, have been arrested, Radio Farda reported on May 8 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," April 15 and 17, 2008). The announcements contradicted earlier official conclusions that the mosque explosion was an accident. Interior Minister Mostafa Purmohammadi said the suspected bombers were "self-styled royalists" and supporters of states "that claim to defend human rights and the rights of nations, and to fight terrorism," Radio Farda reported. Iranian Intelligence Minister Gholamhussein Mohseni-Ejei said the same day that six people were arrested in connection with the bombing, and the person he described as the main perpetrator was apprehended when he or she sought to leave the country and was "armed at the time of his arrest." Mohseni-Ejei said the main culprit has ties to Britain and the United States, which, he said, have failed to curb the militant's activities. He said the suspects include an agent with links to foreign powers, and that state officials found cyanide pills, weapons, ammunition and explosives during the arrests. The bombing in Shiraz killed 12 people and injured some 200. VS IRAN HANGS FOUR FOR MURDER The authorities at Tehran's Evin prison hanged four men convicted of murder on May 7, AFP reported the following day, citing the daily "Etemad-i Melli." The convicts' crimes, which took place as far back as 2002, arose out of financial or marital disputes, or in connection with robberies, AFP reported. The news agency reported that at least 90 executions have taken place in Iran this year, and put the number of executions in 2007 at 317, and 177 in 2006. VS U.S. DENIES REPORTED ARREST OF AL-QAEDA 'WAR MINISTER'... U.S. military officials on May 9 denied reports that Iraqi forces in Mosul on May 8 arrested Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, a.k.a. Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the so-called minister of war for the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq. "Neither coalition forces nor Iraqi security forces detained or killed Abu Ayyub al-Masri. This guy had a similar name," U.S. military spokeswoman Peggy Kageleiry said. Major General Abd al-Karim Khalaf, the director of operations at the Iraqi Interior Ministry, told state-run Al-Iraqiyah television on May 8 that an informant who he described as close to al-Muhajir alerted local police to al-Muhajir's whereabouts. "The house in which [al-Muhajir] was present was stormed and the criminal arrested. After the preliminary interrogation, he confessed that he is Abu Hamzah al-Muhajir, commander of the Al-Qaeda organization," Khalaf said. In a May 9 interview with Al-Sharqiyah television, Ninawa Governor Durayd Kashmula said al-Muhajir was asleep in the house when it was stormed by Iraqi and U.S. forces. Kashmula added that al-Muhajir is in U.S. custody and undergoing interrogation and DNA tests to confirm his identity. KR ...AS NEWS CHANNEL REPORTS IDENTITY OF AL-QAEDA HEAD Al-Arabiyah television reported on May 7 that a police chief in Hadithah has revealed the identity of the head of the Islamic State of Iraq, known as Abu Umar al-Baghdadi, who replaced Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi as the organization's leader in October 2006 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," October 16, 2006). The Hadithah police chief, who was not identified by name, told the news channel: "Through intelligence information, it was revealed that [al-Baghdadi] is Hamid Dawud Muhammad Khalil al-Zawi. He was an officer in the [former Iraqi] security agencies but was dismissed for being a hardliner. We are currently pursuing him, and he is now moving between Baghdad, Mosul, Kirkuk, and the Makhmur area" between Irbil and Mosul. The police chief said al-Zawi is a prominent figure from the Al-Haqlaniyah subdistrict in Al-Anbar Governorate. Al-Arabiyah reported that al-Zawi was a prayer leader at a mosque in nearby Hadithah for some time. KR IRAQI TRIBAL LEADER SAYS SYRIA AIDS GUNMEN Ahmad Abu Rishah, chairman of the Al-Anbar Awakening Movement, has accused Syria of aiding gunmen who have attacked security forces in Al-Anbar Governorate, Al-Arabiyah television reported on May 7. Abu Rishah said gunmen killed two military officers and nine policemen in Al-Qa'im before fleeing across the border into Syria. "We have become impatient with these crimes that the [Syrian security] apparatus is committing. I call on the Syrian regime to reconsider the situation and to be a good neighbor," Abu Rishah told the news channel. Asked why the Syrian security services would target Iraqi security forces, he said: "Most leaders of Al-Qaeda were members of the Syrian [security] apparatus. We have enough evidence and information about their involvement. It was discovered after criminals were arrested when [Al-Anbar security] operations began against Al-Qaeda that the majority of them were Syrians." Abu Rishah said the central government is aware of this information, adding: "We have even informed them that the Syrian regime has advanced five kilometers into Iraqi territory." He accused Syria of aiding Iran during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, and playing a role in the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri, saying, "it is not new for Syrian intelligence to do such things in Arab countries." KR IRAQI GOVERNMENT CLOSES DOWN SHI'ITE CLERIC'S RADIO STATION Government forces closed down the radio station run by Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on May 8, the Aswat Al-Iraq website reported. The station's manager, Abid Abu Zahra, said a U.S. and Iraqi joint security force closed down the Al-Ahad station on the orders of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. "This step made by the government is a dangerous measure that deprives people of the voice that represents their pains," he said. Abu Zahra said the station, set up in Baghdad in 2006, does not incite violence, but rather calls for peace. He also responded to apparent government claims that the station occupies state-owned property, saying that the premises were rented 10 years ago from a trade union. "The station will employ peaceful methods and will resort to the judiciary and parliament to settle the issue," Abu Zahra added. The website reported that Sadrist lawmakers held a press conference in Baghdad on May 8 to demand the station be reopened. Lawmaker Fawzi Akram called the closure an unprecedented step in pressuring media outlets, while parliamentarian Salih al-Ukayli told reporters: "The raid operation is a clear message to media personnel to silence the truth." U.S. military spokesman Abd al-Latif Rayyan denied U.S. participation in the radio station's closure. KR
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