Iran Beats Mourners

From the Wall Street Journal:

DUBAI -- Iranian security forces clashed with mourners in the city of Isfahan on Wednesday, according to opposition Web sites, signaling a possible hardening by Tehran in its response to protests following the death of a dissident cleric.

Security forces beat back crowds with batons in Isfahan, about 200 miles southeast of Tehran, after mourners gathered at a central mosque for a memorial service for Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, opposition sites and news agencies reported. Mr. Montazeri, an architect of the Islamic Republic, fell out with the conservative clerical establishment in the late 1980s and had been a critic of the government ever since.

During the six months of protests that followed contested presidential elections in June, he became a spiritual guide for the opposition movement. News of his death over the weekend sent mourners to the holy city of Qom, where he had lived. Protesters turned the memorial into antigovernment demonstrations.

Protesters also were expected to try to use this week's Ashura commemorations of one of Shiite Islam's most revered figures, as an excuse to demonstrate. The commemoration culminates on Sunday.

Since Mr. Montazeri's death, there have been isolated reports of skirmishes, but not the sort of bloody clashes between police and demonstrators that marked earlier protests. Early Wednesday, however, Iranian police chief Esmail Ahmadi-Moqadam warned opposition supporters of confrontation if they continued "illegal" activities, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported.

According to several opposition Web sites, mourners gathered at the Seyyed mosque in Isfahan, where a memorial service had been scheduled. Basij plainclothes militia forces, police and other security forces surrounded the area near the mosque and main streets. When security forces tried to disperse the crowd, clashes erupted.

According to the Web site of one opposition leader, former presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, prominent religious scholar Hojat Al-Islam Masoud Adib was arrested while giving a speech near the mosque. Other opposition sites reported that around 50 other people were arrested in Isfahan.

Because of restrictions against reporting unauthorized gatherings, it was impossible to verify those accounts.

The Associated Press, citing an eyewitness in Isfahan, reported the crowd was attacked by baton-wielding riot police, who clubbed people on the head and shoulders, injuring dozens.

"I saw at least two people with blood pouring down their face after being beaten by the Basijis," the eyewitness told the AP.

Separately, a daughter of Osama bin Laden has taken refuge in the Saudi Embassy in Tehran after eluding guards who have held her and five siblings under house arrest for eight years, Saudi-owned pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported Wednesday, according to the AP. It has long been believed that Iran has held a number of Mr. bin Laden's children since they fled Afghanistan following the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

Report: Iranian Police Shoot Dead 2 Relatives in Public Square

From the Hartford Courant:

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Police have shot dead two relatives of convicts during a melee that erupted at a public execution in southern Iran.

The state-owned Iran daily says the relatives, who came to watch the hanging of two convicts, started a scuffle, prompting the police to open fire.

The paper's report on Thursday says 27 other people were injured in the melee.

It says the incident took place on Tuesday afternoon in the town of Sirjan, some 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) south of Tehran, where the two convicts were hanged for armed robbery.

The men were initially to be hanged on Tuesday morning, but a similar scuffle disrupted that execution.

Murder, rape, armed robbery, kidnapping and drug trafficking are crimes punishable with the death penalty in Iran.

Runaway Teen Christian Convert Is Getting Her Christmas Cards

From Fox 55:

Try as they might, Rifqa Bary's parents can't keep her from reading her first Christmas cards.

The Ohio girl, who ran away to Florida because she said she feared her father would kill her for converting from Islam to Christianity — only to be sent back to Ohio by a Florida judge — remains in the care of a county children's services agency where she has been receiving "quite a lot" of Christmas cards from well-wishers across the country, according to one of her attorneys.

John Stemberger said an attorney for Bary's parents filed a motion earlier this month seeking to ban the 17-year-old from receiving outside messages, including Christmas cards. But Rifqa is receiving the cards nonetheless, he said.

"In the end, she's getting the Christmas cards," Sternberger told FoxNews.com. "They're just making sure there's no white powder or anything in them."

Bary, who will turn 18 in August, is scheduled to appear Tuesday morning in Ohio's Franklin County Juvenile Court. She may take the stand and could learn if she'll be declared an independent, paving the way for her to live as she chooses.

"If she's declared an independent, that'd be a victory," Stemberger said. "The essence of this case is a girl who converted and is getting increased hostility from the people who should be loving her the most. It's the reason she ran."

Bary, of New Albany, Ohio, has said she feared her father would harm or kill her for converting away from Islam, a claim her father, Mohamed Bary, vigorously denies. A Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation found no credible threats to the girl.

Bary, who fled to Florida in July, was sent back to her home state last month. Police used phone and Internet records to track her to the Rev. Blake Lorenze, pastor of the Orlando, Fla.-based Global Revolution Church and whom Bary met in a prayer group on Facebook, according to authorities. Bary's phone and Internet usage are now being closely monitored, per a judge's ruling.

Attempts to reach Omar Tarazi, an attorney for Bary's parents, were unsuccessful early Tuesday. Speaking earlier to FoxNews.com, he said a court-issued gag order prevented him from discussing the hearing.

Earlier this month, Franklin County Juvenile Magistrate Mary Goodrich ordered the state to supervise Bary's telephone and Internet use at the request of the county children's services agency.

The girl's parents supported the restrictions, saying through their attorney they were concerned about her interacting with adults over the Internet.

"As you know, there's a lot of danger and concern about that with children," Tarazi said.

Kort Gatterdam, an attorney representing the girl, opposed the request, saying problems were caused by a conflict between the girl and her parents, not the Internet.

"We're making some assumptions, without evidence in the record, that she has done something improper talking to people on Facebook. There's no evidence of that," Gatterdam told the judge. "If the goal here is normalcy and reunification or whatever, this is not the way to go."

Pakistani Christians Fearful this Christmas

From the Associated Press via Yahoo News:

GOJRA, Pakistan – Christmas in Gojra, where a tent camp houses Christians who lost their homes to a rampaging Muslim mob, will be celebrated not with decorations and cheer but with fear of another attack.

Those living in the canvas shelters after the worst violence against minorities in Pakistan this year left them homeless say they are still regularly harassed: Rocks are thrown at their camp at night, and they've been threatened by cell phone text messages promising a "special Christmas present."

"Last year I celebrated Christmas full of joy," said Irfan Masih, cradling his young son near one of the open ditches of the tent camp that has been his home for nearly five months. But now "the fear that we may again be attacked is in our hearts.

"They are threatening us, (saying) 'We will again attack you and will not let you out of homes, we will burn you inside this time,'" he said.

It was the fires that most traumatized Gojra's Christian Colony, a neighborhood in the heart of this Punjabi city about 220 miles (350 kilometers) southwest of Islamabad. In early August, hundreds of Muslims tore through the dirt streets, looting and torching homes as panicked residents tried to flee and thick black smoke rose into the air.

Eight Christians died — seven of them from one family trapped in a burning home.

"We are going to celebrate Christmas in sorrow because the whole family is hurt by this," said Almas Hameed, whose father was shot dead during the riots. His wife, two of his children and members of his brother's family all burned to death.

The attack, which officials said was incited by a banned radical Islamist group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, followed rumors that Christians had torn pages of a Quran, a sacrilegious act for Muslims. The ensuing violence drew condemnation from the Pope and Pakistan's prime minister, and highlighted how religious extremism has left the country's minority groups increasingly vulnerable.

Christians — Protestants and Catholics among them — make up less than 5 percent of Muslim-majority Pakistan's 175 million people.

Christians say more than 100 homes were burned and looted in Gojra and the nearby village of Korian. While many homes have been rebuilt using state money, dozens of families are still living in tents, waiting for construction on their houses to finish.

Both those who have moved back into their homes and the ones still in the camp say they are still regularly threatened — phone calls telling them to stop pressing for those responsible to be convicted, or else; armed men turning up at their homes; text messages on their cell phones promising a "special Christmas present;" rocks thrown at the tents in the night.

"When we sleep at night the fear never leaves our heart," said Safia Riaz, a 30-year-old whose father died of a heart attack during the riots. The violence "has stuck in our minds. Tension remains — God forbid that it will happen again."

Strict security was being put into place during Christmas, said police officer Mohammed Tahir of the Faisalabad regional police headquarters, who rejected claims that authorities were unable to protect the minority.

On Thursday, a suicide bomber struck near government buildings and a church in the northwestern city of Peshawar, though the attack appeared unrelated to Christmas Eve. Five people died. Authorities said the target was unclear. Although a Catholic church was nearby, the bomber had been walking away from it. Another bombing outside a Shiite shrine on the outskirts of Islamabad killed a young girl.

Security has been ramped up across the country anyway, as this year Christmas falls during the Islamic month of Muharram, which is often marred by bombings and fighting between Pakistan's Sunni Muslims and its Shiite minority.

But Gojra's Christians have little faith in the police, who were accused of standing by during the worst of August's violence.

"The police already didn't save us before," said Ashar Faras, a 33-year-old who works as a chef in an Islamabad guesthouse.

Pastor Safraz Sagar, a local clergyman who also lost his home in the riots, believes there is little authorities can do. "They are trying to protect us, but I think that when the terrorists want to harm us, they will."

Many complain they see no justice, noting that there have been no convictions of anyone involved in the rioting. They say those who led the mob are well-known in the town, but are left untouched.

Extremists have increasingly targeted minority religious groups in Pakistan. Minority Rights Group International, a watchdog organization, lists Pakistan as seventh on the list of 10 most dangerous countries for minorities, after Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Myanmar and Congo.

The government stressed Thursday that it is committed to minority rights.

"Today, more than ever, we need to rediscover the path of peaceful coexistence," Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said in a Christmas message, adding that the government is "committed to working for the progress and prosperity of the minorities."

But in Gojra, few feel festive.

Bishop John Samuel, the region's senior clergyman, said Christmas services would still be held.

However, "people are afraid because of this incident also because of this tussle, this tension," he said.

"And also people are afraid from terrorism."

Pakistan Court Rejects Asylum Petition on Basis of Jihad for 5 American Muslims

From Times of India:

LAHORE: A Pakistani court today dismissed a petition seeking asylum in the name of 'holy war' for five American Muslim youths recently arrested in the country for allegedly planning terror attacks, saying that it was not the duty of the judiciary to define 'jihad'.

The Lahore High Court dismissed the petition filed by Khalid Khwaja, a former Inter-Services Intelligence official now associated with a rights organisation.

In his petition, Khwaja had contended that the youths came to Pakistan for 'jihad' (holy war) and since this was not a crime, their detention is illegal.

Lahore High Court Chief Justice Khwaja Mohammad Sharif, who heard the petition, observed that it was not the duty of the court to define 'jihad'. The judge did not comment further and dismissed the petition.

Khwaja also asked the court to direct authorities to grant the youths asylum in Pakistan as the US administration might "not spare them".

He claimed the accused are innocent of any wrongdoing, either through their actions or intentions.

"They are being suspected of a crime they never committed nor ever intended to commit. In such a case, the US constitution protects all its citizens of wrongful accusations and wrongful imprisonment.

We must have faith in our system of laws that they will seek out truth and deliver justice," Khwaja said in his petition.

Iranian Speaker Downplays Differences Among Islamic Leaderships, Declares that Israelis (Jews) Are Ultimate Enemies

Thanks to Jihad Watch for initially posting this.

So much for peace.

From Washington TV:

Washington, 23 December (WashingtonTV)--Iran's parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, on Wednesday played down any differences between the Islamic Republic and Egypt and reiterated Tehran's opposition to arch-enemy Israel.

Speaking in Tehran at the end of a three-day visit to Egypt, Larijani accused Israel of opposing cooperation between Tehran and Cairo.

"Although there are differences of opinions in some areas among Islamic countries, the point is that the main enemy is the Zionist regime," he said, according to the official ISNA news agency.

Relations between Iran and Egypt have soured over disputes on a number of regional and international issues, including Israel's three-week offensive in the Gaza Strip last January.

Cairo has accused Tehran of trying to dominate the region through its alliances with the Palestinian militant group, Hamas, and Lebanon's Hezbollah.

Egypt and Jordan are the only Arab states to have a peace treaty with Israel.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran's strategy is to use all the forces of the world of Islam and to generate general participation in combating the Zionist regime," Larijani told reporters in Tehran....

Iran to try 3 Americans who crossed Iraqi border

Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch correctly points out that U.S. President Barack Obama's overtures in this case have been very strange. Obama seems to believe he needs to flatter to mullah-backed regime when in reality scorn is appropriate.

From Yahoo News:

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran said Monday a court will try three Americans who wandered across the border from Iraq last July and became ensnared in an increasingly bitter standoff with the West over Tehran's nuclear program.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki did not say when the trial would begin or even what the Americans were charged with, other than that they had "suspicious aims." Last month, Iran's chief prosecutor said they were accused of spying.

"They will be tried by Iran's judiciary system and verdicts will be issued," Mottaki told a news conference. He said the three were still being interrogated.

In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the Iranian move was "totally unfounded" and appealed anew to authorities to release the Americans.

"We consider this a totally unfounded charge," she told reporters. "There is no basis for it. The three young people who were detained by the Iranians have absolutely no connection with any kind of action against the Iranian state or government."

"In fact, they were out hiking and unfortunately, apparently, allegedly, walked across an unmarked boundary," she said. "We appeal to the Iranian leadership to release these three young people and free them as soon as possible."

The three, Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27, — all graduates of the University of California at Berkeley — had been trekking in Iraq's northern Kurdistan region when they accidentally crossed into Iran, according to their relatives. The trio were arrested on July 31.

All three families declined to comment on Monday's announcement.

The case recalls that of American-Iranian journalist Roxanna Saberi, who was arrested in Iran in January and convicted of espionage and sentenced to eight years in prison. She was freed on appeal in May after heavy pressure from the U.S. — and several months later, the U.S. military released five Iranians it had held for more than two years.

The accusations against the three Americans could be a first step in a similar move by Iran to put them on trial and convict them, then arrange their release, aiming to get concessions.

There is precedent, however, for the release of foreigners without any apparent conditions. Canadian-Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari of Newsweek was released on bail and allowed to leave the country in October after being detained in Iran's post-election crackdown and tried in televised court proceedings.

Iran also swiftly released five British sailors on Dec. 2 after their yacht strayed into Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf.

In an interview with The Associated Press in September, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad noted that while the Americans had broken the law by crossing into Iran, he would ask the judiciary to expedite the process and to "look at the case with maximum leniency."

The three Americans have been held in Iran's Evin prison, where Swiss diplomats have visited them twice and said they are healthy. Because the U.S. and Iran do not have direct diplomatic relations, the Swiss Embassy maintains an American interests section.

Bauer and Shourd had been living in Damascus, Syria, where he was studying Arabic and she was teaching English, and both did freelance journalism or writing online. Friends have described them as passionate adventurers interested in the Middle East and human rights.

Fattal, who spent three years with a group dedicated to sustainable farming near Cottage Grove, Ore., had been overseas since January as a teaching assistant with the International Honors Program.

Hoping to prove that they were simply vacationing, the families released videos taken just two days before their detention, showing the three backpackers dancing and joking in an unfinished cinder block building they came across in Kurdistan's mountains. In one video, Fattal performed an impromptu rap about Iraq.

The case came at a time of rising tension between Iran and the West over Iran's nuclear capabilities and whether it was developing an atomic weapon.

The U.S. and its allies have given Tehran until the end of the year to accept a U.N.-drafted plan under which Iran would send most of its low-enriched uranium abroad. Iran, which denies it intends to build a weapon, has countered with an alternate proposal to keep the material inside its territory — a scenario deemed unacceptable to the U.S.

Ahmadinejad noted last month that the United States was holding several Iranian citizens, raising concern that his government might be seeking to use the Americans in a deal.

In particular, he drew a link to the trial in the U.S. of Amir Hossein Ardebili, an Iranian who was sentenced to five years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to plotting to ship sensitive U.S. military technology to Iran.

According to court papers, Ardebili worked as a procurement agent for the Iranian government and acquired thousands of components, including military aircraft parts, night vision devices, communications equipment and Kevlar body armor. U.S. authorities targeted him in 2004 after he contacted an undercover storefront set up in Philadelphia to investigate illegal arms trafficking.

Iran is also concerned about Shahram Amiri, a nuclear scientist who disappeared on a pilgrimage to Mecca and Ali Reza Asghari, a former Defense Ministry official who vanished while in Turkey.

Iran has accused U.S. and Western intelligence agencies of being involved in the disappearance of both men. There was speculation, however, that the two had defected and gave the West information on Iran's nuclear program.

Pakistan Nixes Going After Taliban

From UPI:

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama's administration has spared no effort to publicly laud the vital role of Pakistan for the success of its Afghanistan strategy, but what is happening behind the scene tells a different story.

Pakistan, going by recent reports, is making no secret of its resentment of U.S. policy, which in essence wants its military to do more to crack down on the Taliban and other militants using its territory as sanctuaries to launch attacks against U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

That was in evidence last week when the Pakistani military refused to go along with a U.S. demand it go after Taliban commander Siraj Haqqani, who uses his North Waziristan hideout in Pakistan to plan attacks by his warriors across the border.

The Pakistani military argued it is already heavily involved in a counterinsurgency campaign in South Waziristan and that its resources cannot be further extended into North Waziristan. But the criticism against Pakistan is that its two-month old South Waziristan campaign has only targeted domestic militants who threaten the country's security and not against the Afghan Taliban using its territory as sanctuaries. The offensive also has only helped many of the militant leaders to escape to North Waziristan and other areas.

A senior Pakistani security official told The Times of London any confrontation with Haqqani could create more problems for the army and that "we cannot fight on so many fronts."

The Obama administration wants Pakistan, set to receive $1.5 billion of U.S. civilian aid a year for five years, to dismantle the Taliban sanctuaries in return for a long-term strategic bilateral partnership.

U.S. officials also say that besides Haqqani, top Taliban leaders including Mullah Mohammed Omar are using Quetta, capital of Pakistan's Baluchistan province, as their base, and that the United States may decide to go after these militants on its own through expanded Predator drone strikes if Pakistan doesn't cooperate.

As for Haqqani, The Times of London reported, American intelligence officials suspect Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence military spy agency uses him for its interests in Afghanistan.

A New York Times report, quoting officials, said Pakistanis feel the U.S. demand would go against the need to position their country in Afghanistan in any regional rearrangement that might involve its main rival India as well as Russia, China and Iran once America begins to draw down its troops starting in July 2011 under the Obama strategy. In that scenario, the support of Haqqani and his fighters who control substantial regions of Afghanistan would be vital.

"If America walks away, Pakistan is very worried that it will have India on its eastern border and India on its western border in Afghanistan," Tariq Fatemi, former Pakistani ambassador to the United States, told The New York Times.

The need to dismantle the Taliban and al-Qaida sanctuaries in Pakistan was stressed by Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, during his recent visit to Afghanistan.

Noting the insurgency in Afghanistan has grown "more violent, more pervasive and more sophisticated," Mullen told reporters in Kabul: "I remain deeply concerned by the growing level of collusion between the Afghan Taliban and al-Qaida and other extremist groups taking refuge across the border in Pakistan.

"Getting at this network, which is now more entrenched, will be a far more difficult task than it was just one year ago."

Pakistan's resentment of U.S. AFPAK policy is also manifesting in other unlikely areas.

In what is seen as harassment, U.S. officials told The New York Times the Pakistani military and intelligence services are yet to clear visas for more than 100 Americans and that they are subjecting U.S. diplomatic vehicles to constant searches in major Pakistani cities. These problems have impacted personnel including development experts, junior-level diplomats and others, thereby affecting aid and other programs.

Pakistani officials did not deny the problems but blamed them on Americans taking photographs in sensitive areas or showing a lack of understanding of divisions within Pakistan about the United States. A U.S. Embassy official said the report on the photography incident was false.

"Unfortunately, the Americans are arrogant," a Pakistani security official said. "They think of themselves as omnipotent. That's how they come across."

CNN quoted U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood as saying that the delay in granting visas has raised enough official concern and been taken up at "very senior levels" in the Pakistani government.

These developments come on top of other issues currently affecting U.S.-Pakistan relations. Among them are the recent arrests in Pakistan of five young Muslim Americans on suspicion of seeking to pursue jihadist training in that country and the cases of David C. Headley and Tahawwur Hussein Rana.

Headley, a Pakistan-raised U.S. national, was arrested in Chicago in October and is accused of conspiring with an extremist Islamic group in Pakistan to plot attacks in Denmark and India. Rana, identified by U.S. authorities as a Pakistani native and a Canadian citizen, is now in jail in Chicago as a terrorism suspect.