UNHCRÕs representative in Iran, Carlos Zaccagnini, addresses Iranian officials during a meeting in Orumieh on Thursday.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ representative in Iran on Thursday praised Iran for hosting millions of foreign refugees.
“The officials of the UNHCR have come twice to Iran and evaluated Iran’s support for refugees as adequate,“ said UNHCR representative, Carlos Zaccagnini, Fars News Agency reported.
In a meeting in the northwestern city of Orumieh between Iranian officials and diplomats from eight European and American countries as well as a number of UN envoys, Zaccagnini called on international bodies to increase their financial aid to the Iranian government for hosting Iraqi and other nationals.
The UN official added that the international body should try to convince the refugees living in Iran to return to their homeland.
Earlier in November, UNHCR Chief Antonio Guterres said Iran had offered far more support to Afghan refugees than the whole of the international community. He hailed Iran over its generosity in hosting “uprooted Afghans“.
Iran has recently donated $560 million to help reconstruct war-battered Afghanistan. This is while the United States, which launched the war against the country, contributed $296 million to help the reconstruction efforts.
According to UNHCR, there are one million registered and a further million unregistered Afghan refugees in Iran. There are also an estimated 54,000 registered Iraqi refugees in Iran now, a large majority of whom are living outside camps, in urban areas.

Conference in Paris
Meanwhile, France invited Iran and a dozen states to a conference on Afghanistan to step up effort to bring peace to the war-shattered country.
The French Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Afghanistan’s neighbors, namely Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, as well as India and China have been invited to the international event slated for December 14, Presstv reported on Thursday.
The meeting comes six months after a donors’ conference in France raised $20 billion for reconstruction in Afghanistan.
The United Nations special representative for Afghanistan Kai Eide, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana as well as representatives of the United States, Britain and Russia will also participate in the meeting.
After seven years of occupation, about 70,000 US and NATO-led troops have failed to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan.

Mujahideen Khalq Organization’s (MKO) terrorists have been released by Finland, despite Interpol’s arrest warrants calling for their extradition to Iran.
Two men were taken into custody upon entering Finland on Sunday and were held until a court on Wednesday ordered their release but required them to stay in the country, Presstv quoted the Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat as saying.
While the Finnish Ministry of Justice will decide on the extradition request, Minister of Justice Tuija Brax said on Thursday Finland would not extradite criminals to countries where they may be sentenced to death.
Helsingin Sanomat has cited the Iranian ambassador in Helsinki as criticizing the release of the two high-ranking MKO members, saying the two should be handed over to Iranian officials to face trial.
“It is very dangerous to let them go even for a short time, as they can flee. The Finns are not used to these kinds of people,“ the daily quoted the Iranian diplomat as saying.
Officials in Helsinki reportedly believe the two men do not pose a threat to Finnish national security and say they have not received an official extradition request.
The release comes amid a major European campaign, spearheaded by Britain, to pressure Tehran.
In a recent move, Britain removed the MKO from its blacklist of terror organizations.
The MKO has committed acts of aggression against both Iranian and Iraqi nationals, and remains banned by the European Union and the United States.
In recent months, high-ranking MKO members have been lobbying governments around the world in the hope of acknowledgement as a legitimate opposition group.
The UK initiative, however, has prompted the European Union to establish relations with the exiled organization now based in Paris. The European Court of First Instance threw its weight behind the MKO on Thursday and annulled its previous decision to freeze its funds.
Evidence has linked the group to the June 1981 bombing of the offices of the Islamic Republic Party, in which more than 72 Iranian officials were killed, including then Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti.

An Iranian official has expressed grave concerns over the human rights situation in France and the wave of Islamophobia in Europe.
The remarks were made by Secretary of Human Rights Headquarters of Iran’s Judiciary Mohammad Javad Larijani in a meeting with French Secretary of State for Human Rights Rama Yade in Paris on Wednesday, IRNA reported.
Urging all countries to avoid taking a selective approach towards the issue of human rights, Larijani condemned double standards adopted by certain states regarding the issue.
Welcoming Yade’s proposal on finding a solution to the issue, he said, “I told her that instead of holding talks via media, it is better to prepare the grounds for face-to-face meetings.“
Criticizing the West’s so-called support for human rights, he stressed that such an attitude would lead to more problems.
Washington and its western allies accuse Iran and other Muslim states of violating human rights, particularly issues concerning women.

Iran and a number of countries have questioned Israel’s human rights record against Palestinians at a United Nations forum in Vienna.
Delegations from Iran, Egypt and Syria on Thursday criticized Israel over “committing systematic violations against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank“, Presstv quoted AFP as saying.
They also condemned the regime’s wall, its detentions of Palestinians and illegal Jewish settlements during the regular review by the UN Human Rights Council.
Iran’s Ambassador Alireza Moayyeri raised concerns that the debate could not sufficiently address the “gross and systematic human rights violations committed (by Israelis) against the Palestinians“.
“These included targeted killings, torture, the demolition of houses and “racist and discriminatory practices“, he said.
Egypt’s Ambassador Hesham Badr also said that the council was not going out of its way to “target Israel“, and Israel has chosen to “ignore its commitments“ under international law.
Western countries in the meeting also urged Israel to lift its blockade on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
The Gaza Strip is experiencing a humanitarian crisis due to the Israeli blockade which has left more than 1.5m Gazans without basic supplies, including food and medicine.
Many UN Security Council resolutions condemning Israeli actions against Palestinians have been defied by Israel. The US, the number one ally of Tel Aviv, has exercised its veto powers to prevent the adoption of 42 anti-Israeli resolutions sought by the council since 1972.
Since 2004, Washington has vetoed three resolutions which called for Tel Aviv to halt its operations in the Gaza Strip--which had been occupied by Israeli forces from 1967 to 1994.
Despite global condemnations, the White House has failed to act to remove a blockade imposed by Israel against the coastal strip.

Collective Punishment
A massive influx of Palestinian refugees swelled Gaza’s population after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. By 1967, the population had grown to about six times its 1948 size. In 1997, 51.8 percent of Gaza’s inhabitants were refugees or their descendants.
The city’s population has continued to increase since that time to 409,680 in 2006, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories. The birth rate is extremely high and the vast majority of Gazans live in poverty and rely on United Nations’ food aid to survive.
While Gaza used to be a Palestinian economic center, this changed significantly during the second Intifada when vast plots of Gazan citrus groves were bulldozed by the Israeli military.
Gaza contains minor industries, including textiles and food processing. A variety of wares are sold in its street bazaars, including carpets, pottery, wicker furniture and cotton clothing; commercial development in the city is minimal.
Gazan industry has been reduced to shambles because of the ongoing economic “collective punishment“ imposed by Israel and EU after the Hamas resistance movement took control of the tiny strip in a democratic election in 2006.
Gazans are no longer able to import materials or export goods, 95 percent of their factories closed since the imposition of collective punishment policies following Israel’s 2005 disengagement.
Seventy-five percent of the population (1.1 million people) are now dependent on handouts from the World Food Programme (WFP) simply to feed their families, the largest single dependent population in the world.
The UN’s food warehouses here are empty.
Israeli troops killed some 531 Palestinian children during their military operations in Gaza and demolished 3,524 homes in the last six years. This has made 25,000 Palestinians homeless.

Gholamhossein Elham

Justice Minister Gholamhossein Elham said the country intends to introduce more effective punishments instead of imprisonment.
“Given the fact that imprisonment is violation of the essence of punishment, Iran could shut down its detention centers,“ Elham said on Thursday, Presstv reported.
“The Iranian judiciary has made considerable efforts to introduce alternative punishments instead of imprisonment,“ he added. Elham said that the move calls for legal reforms that would cede extrajudicial authority to legal practitioners so they can rule in favor of alternatives.
He also said that the government was trying to simulate non-confined circumstances for inmates by increasing prison facilities and providing apprenticeship-training programs for them.
Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Seyyed Mahmoud Shahroudi said in November that popular participation, promotion of culture and creating the superstructure of a modern judicial system are all vital in helping improve the judicial system.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that the relationship between the people and government in an Islamic system is based on religious beliefs.
Ahmadinejad made the remark in a special ceremony to launch an electronic communications system (emergency number 111) for bridging the gap between the people and government in East Azarbaijan province.
The president, accompanied by his Cabinet members, arrived in the northwestern city Tabriz on Wednesday on his 48th provincial tour, IRNA reported.
“Communications between people and officials in an Islamic government is rooted in religious beliefs,“ he said.
Ahmadinejad noted that people put forward their views and it’s the responsibility of officials to listen to them and help resolve their problems.
“The system will provide a suitable opportunity for people to easily get access to the country’s officials. I hope this would lead to a broad-based communication and interaction between the nation and the government in all fields.“

Arrogant Powers
Ahmadinejad also said that bullying powers are unable to confront the Iranian nation.
“If all arrogant powers unite, they are incapable of countering the Iranian nation,“ he said.
“The US economy was on the verge of collapse before waging the war on Iraq (in 2003). The US killed thousands of innocent people under different pretexts, including the 9/11 terrorist operation. But an economy based on cruelty cannot exist very long.“
He added that the efforts of big powers to isolate Iran have failed.
“Today, they confirm that Iran is a big power,“ he said. The president’s visit is taking place on the second round of his tour of different provinces to follow up the implementation of projects approved during the first round.
Ahmadinejad took the initiative of visiting various provinces since he took office in 2005 in order to bring the government closer to ordinary people.

Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani

The interim Friday prayer leader of Tehran said all US administrations and power circles were unfortunately under the influence of Zionist Israelis.
Addressing thousands of worshipers on the campus of Tehran University, Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani discussed recent global developments, IRNA reported.
“As some analysts advise regarding the United States, we need to wait till the new government takes charge,“ he said.
“Some observers argue that the American people’s vote for Mr. Obama gave the message that they are fed up with the policies pursued by Bush and the Republicans, and have taken refuge in the camp of the Democrats.“
Ayatollah Kashani added that the election of “a black president“ has opened a new chapter in the history of America.
He called on Americans to demand that the new government abandon pursuing previous policies.
“According to news, a group of US elites have sent a letter to President-elect Obama, asking him to heed certain points, including trying to create balance in the Middle East and accept the fact that the only main player in the region is Iran,“ he said.
“The US administration has to believe that Iran is a great power and that it is necessary to end its outdated policies of threatening and trying to intimidate us.“
Referring to Iran’s nuclear program, he said the world has reached the conclusion that Iran is not taking military advantage of its nuclear program and the point was mentioned in (the International Atomic Energy) agency’s 14th report, stressing that no deviation has been traced to date in Iran’s activities.“
Pointing to the recent gathering in the Majlis on the 30th anniversary of its establishment, the senior cleric said, “People with various tendencies were present at that gathering, and they were all united, with a single voice, which should have a message for the world.“
Kashani noted that all domestic parties and groups have their own preferences and internal approaches, but when the system’s interests and the final goal is in question, they realize they are all in the same boat, and that is very valuable.
“The world should realize that such tools as sanctions, threats and intimidations are totally outdated today,“ he said.

The Jundollah terrorist cell has killed the whole group of Iranian police officers, who were taken hostage earlier in June.
Sixteen police officers were abducted at a checkpoint in the southeastern city of Saravan in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province on June 12 and transferred the hostages to Pakistan.
Later that month, it claimed killing three of the hostages. The Arabic-language TV channel Al-Arabiya aired footage of the execution of Iranian hostages.
The armed terrorists later threatened that if the Islamic Republic refuses to release its 200 members from Iranian prisons, they would kill the remaining hostages.
Iran’s Fars News Agency reported on Wednesday that the terrorist group has killed the 13remaining hostages.
Jundollah, which operates in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province and Pakistan’s Balochistan which are notorious for clashes between security forces and drug smugglers, has carried out a number of attacks against Iranian civilians as well as high-profile government and security officials.
Earlier in July, Pakistan’s former army chief, Retired General Mirza Aslam Baig, said the outlawed group is the main recipient of US financial and military aid.
Baig said Washington has been providing Jundollah with training facilities to fuel unrest in the area and strain Tehran-Islamabad relations.
ABC news reported in 2007 that the terrorist cell has been “secretly encouraged and advised“ by American officials since 2005.
In another report in July, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh revealed that US Congressional leaders secretly agreed last year to President George W. Bush’s $400-million funding request for a major escalation in covert operations in Iran.
Actions permitted under the secret directive include “the assassination of targeted officials“ along with operations across an extensive geographic area from Lebanon to Afghanistan.
Under the ruling, the US can arm and fund terrorist groups such as the Iraq-based Mujahideen Khalq Organization and Pakistan-based Jundollah militants.
When asked about the report of covert US operations aimed at destabilizing the Islamic Republic, the White House refused to comment.
Rigi, however, described his terrorist cell as a “national movement“ and denied any links to the US.

Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani said the regional Arab countries should be watchful of colonial powers violating their national sovereignties.
“We still remember that on this day in 1997 a number of Haj pilgrims were martyred violently. We also remember how some regional countries made a big mistake by supporting (former Iraqi dictator) Saddam Hussein and offering access to their territories to Americans for establishing military bases,“ added Larijani, who was speaking before the Friday prayer sermons, Mehr News Agency reported.
Larijani noted that recently an Arab leader admitted that his country made a big mistake by giving Saddam $40 billion during the Iraq-imposed war (1980-88).
“However, this country is currently making a big mistake regarding Palestine,“ he said.
“How many times do Arab countries want to repeat the same mistakes? We are currently witnessing that a regional Arab country is being used as a military base for the US ground forces and another as a base for US air force and naval forces.“
Referring to the ongoing financial crisis in the West that has also spread to the East, The speaker said important regional countries that have the advantage of oil resources are constantly being pressured by the US to help that country remove its shortfalls and pay compensation for the financial meltdown.
“But our question is why should Muslim states be provoked by America to make moves against each other. Why should these countries make their territories available to the US for being used as military bases? Why should Muslim countries pay for US mistakes?“ he said.
Larijani emphasized that when Arab countries provide the US with access to their territories as military bases, then they are obliged to pay a high price for their deeds.