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Conservative Tehran Mayor Wins Upset Victory in Iran Run-Off
Presidential Election
Italy Judge Orders Arrest of 13 CIA Agents For Illegally
Kidnapping Cleric in Milan
World Tribunal on Iraq Condemns U.S. and Britain, Recognizes
Right of Iraqis to Resist Occupation
Beyond Marriage: A Progressive Gay Rights Agenda
Conservative Tehran Mayor Wins Upset Victory in Iran
Run-Off Presidential Election
Tehran's conservative mayor won an upset victory in Iran's
run-off presidential election on Friday. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
garnered 62 percent of 28 million votes, beating reformist
former-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. We speak with Baruch
College professor Ervand Abrahamian and Norman Solomon of
the Institute for Public Accuracy.
Tehran's conservative mayor won an upset victory in Iran's
run-off presidential election on Friday. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
garnered 62 percent of 28 million votes, beating reformist
former-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
In his first press conference as president-elect, Ahmadinejad
backed up Iran's nuclear program but said he would continue
negotiations with three European nations.
While Rafsanjani said in his campaign that he would work
to improve relations with the United States, Ahmadinejad announced
he would not seek rapprochement.
- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, news conference in Tehran, June
26, 2005.
Ahmadinejad rode to victory on a populist platform appealing
to working people and the many young people affected by Iran's
high rate of unemployment.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld followed up on the early
dismissal of the elections by Secretary of State Condeleezza
Rice and President Bush.
- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, speaking on Fox News,
June 26, 2005.
While Ahmadinejad's victory was overwhelming, there have
been some charges of vote rigging. Reform candidate Mehdi
Karroubi resigned from two high-ranking government posts last
week after supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei refused to
investigate allegations of irregularities. Ahmadinejad also
had help from the Basij Islamist volunteer militia, which
worked to turn out voters.
Reformists are calling the victory a coup for the elite theocracy,
though no one is entirely sure how Ahmadinejad will come down
on civil liberties and women's rights.
He has long worked with some of Iran's country's most conservative
institutions, from the Basij to the Revolutionary Guards.
His victory gives conservatives control of Iran's two highest
elected offices - the presidency and parliament. When he takes
office in August, Ahmedinejad will be Iran's first non-cleric
president for 24 years.
- Ervand Abrahamian, Professor of Middle Eastern and Iranian
history at Baruch College, City University of New York.
He is the author of several books on Iran including "Khomeinism:
Essays on the Islamic Republic" and "The Iranian
Mojahedin."
- Norman Solomon, of the Institute
for Public Accuracy. He was in Tehran, Iran for the
first round of presidential elections. His latest book is
"War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning
Us to Death."
Italy Judge Orders Arrest of 13 CIA Agents For Illegally
Kidnapping Cleric in Milan
The agents are accused of seizing the cleric - without permission
from Italian officials - and then sending him to Egypt where
he was reportedly tortured. This marks the first time a foreign
government has filed criminal charges against US citizens
involved in counter-terrorism work abroad. [includes rush
transcript]
An Italian judge has ordered the arrest of 13 CIA agents
for kidnapping a Muslim cleric off the streets of Milan in
2003 and then transferring him to Egypt where he was reportedly
tortured.
According to the Italian judge, the U.S. agents seized the
man - Hassan Osama Nasr - as he walked from his home to a
local mosque. He was then taken away in a white van to a joint
U.S.-Italian base, then flown to a U.S. base in Germany and
then onto Cairo.
The cleric - who is also known as Abu Omar -- was never charged
with a crime and has never appeared in a court of law.
Once in Egypt, the cleric said he was beaten and given electrical
shocks on his genitals. The kidnapping in Milan was reportedly
done without the knowledge of the Italian government who had
also been tracking Abu Omar with U.S. assistance.
This marks the first time a foreign government has filed
criminal charges against US citizens involved in counter-terrorism
work abroad.
The U.S. describes the practice of extrajudicially seizing
wanted individuals and then transferring them to third countries
as extraordinary rendition.
- Don Van Natta, reporter with The New York Times based
out of London. He wrote an article about the kidnapping
in The Sunday New York Times.
World Tribunal on Iraq Condemns U.S. and Britain,
Recognizes Right of Iraqis to Resist Occupation
The World Tribunal on Iraq wrapped its three-day session
today in Istanbul, Turkey. The tribunal investigated various
issues on Iraq including the legality of the war, the role
of the United Nations, war crimes and the role of the media,
as well as the destruction of the cultural sites and the environment.
We play excerpts of addresses by human rights attorney Barbara
Olshansky and Indian writer Arundhati Roy.
The World Tribunal on Iraq wrapped its three day session
today in Istanbul, Turkey. Torture and rendition was a main
theme of the testimony heard there.
Among the speakers at the tribunal this weekend was human
rights attorney Barbara Olshansky of the Center for Constiutional
Rights. She is author the book, "America's Disappeared:
Secret Imprisonment, Detainees, and the "War on Terror."
- Barbara Olshansky, attorney with the Center for Constitutional
Rights addressing the World Tribunal on Iraq, June 26, 2005.
The gathering was modeled after the International War Crimes
Tribunal that British philosopher Bertrand Russell formed
in 1967 during the Vietnam War. Speakers included Indian writer
Arundhati Roy, former UN Assistant Secretary General Dennis
Halliday, independent journalist Dahr Jamail and others.
This year's gathering was the culminating session of commissions
of inquiry and hearings on the Iraq war held around the world
over the past two years.
The Istanbul Tribunal consisted of three days of hearings
investigating various issues related to the war on Iraq, such
as the legality of the war, the role of the United Nations,
war crimes and the role of the media, as well as the destruction
of the cultural sites and the environment.
A 17-member Jury of Conscience at the Tribunal heard testimonies
from a panel of advocates and witnesses who came from across
the world, including from Iraq, the United States and the
United Kingdom.
The jury delivered its verdict and recommendations at a news
conference this morning. The preliminary verdict read in part,
"Recognizing the right of the Iraqi people to resist
the illegal occupation of their country and to develop independent
institutions, and affirming that the right to resist the occupation
is the right to wage a struggle for self-determination, freedom,
and independence as derived from the Charter of the United
Nations, we the Jury of Conscience declare our solidarity
with the people of Iraq."
We go now to jury chair Arundhati Roy's remarks yesterday,
following testimony from witnesses of the war and occupation.
- Arundhati Roy, Chair of Jury of Conscience, addressing
the World Tribunal on Iraq, June 26, 2005.
Beyond Marriage: A Progressive Gay Rights Agenda
As the religious right puts gay marriage at the center of
national politics, we look at a broader agenda for the progressive
queer rights movement. As the government cuts back on social
spending, the family unit has to pick up the slack and therefore
marriage is enshrined as never before even as fewer households
have access to its benefits. We speak with Richard Kim of
the Nation Magazine.
This past weekend tens of thousands of people took part
in events and parades across the country. The annual pride
parades commemorate the Stonewall uprising of 1969, when gay
and transgendered bar patrons resisted a police raid in New
York. It is widely considered the beginning of the gay rights
movement.
While people celebrated in big cities like New York, San
Francisco, Chicago, Seattle and Atlanta, other smaller cities
also held pride events. 300 people marched in Conway, Arkansas
in the city's second annual pride parade and Muncie, Indiana
held it's first pride parade ever.
But this year's pride commemorations comes as many conservatives
have used the campaign to ban gay marriage as a way to galvanize
it's base. Ballot initiatives banning same-sex marriage easily
passed in all of the eleven states in which they were introduced.
And new anti-gay marriage amendments have been introduced
in as many as fourteen states.
- Richard Kim, writer for the
Nation magazine . His article about gay rights and same-sex
marriage will appear in the forthcoming issue of the Nation.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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