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Worldwide protests
against Teheran regime
AMSTERDAM: Thousands of peo-
ple around the world held protests
to denounce rights abuses in Iran
following contested presidential
elections and express support for
opponents of hardline President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Some of the biggest rallies on
Saturday – the last day of a three-
day “Iran Global Day of Action”
staged in 85 cities worldwide – took
place in Amsterdam, London and
Stockholm, with more than 4,000
alone taking to the streets of the
Swedish capital.
Among the 1,000 people in
Amsterdam was Iran’s Nobel Peace
laureate Shirin Ebadi who led the
crowd in chanting: “We want to live
in peace. Long live peace”.
In London, where more than
a thousand gathered outside the
Iranian embassy, organisers also
spoke of supporting Iranians
protesting against Ahmadinejad’s
disputed re-election.
“This is symbolic, it’s a global day
of solidarity,” said Potkin Azarmehr,
one of the organisers. “We need to
make sure the government pays a
price for the way they’re treating
the people in Iran.”
Following charges of fraud in
the June 12 presidential election,
Teheran became the scene of mass
street protests that shook the pillars
of the Islamic republic.
Iranian official reports say at
least 20 people died and more
than 1,000 were arrested in
demonstrations. Dozens of re-
formist leaders, journalists and
human rights activists have
also been jailed in the wake of
the election that the opposition
says was rigged.
Chanting “Freedom ...
Now,” hundreds of demon-
strators marched in New York
demanding the release of all
political prisoners and democ-
racy in Iran.
A crowd estimated at 600 by
police and at 2,000 by the organisers
waved green flags symbolising Iran’s
Green movement supporting opposi-
tion leader and defeated presidential
candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi.
They filed past Iran’s UN mission
and read out a message from Iranian
human rights activist and Nobel lau-
reate Ebadi urging all nations to sup-
port “the freedom fighters who stand
for the democratic institutions”.
“Done this way, the sapling of
democracy will bear the flower of
freedom,” the message said.
In a park in Tokyo’s busy Shibuya
district, demonstrators carried a
placard declaring: “Ahmadinejad is
not Iran’s president.”
In Paris, a rally of 600 people,
mostly Iranians, denounced the “elec-
toral coup d’etat” in Iran. Many wore
green in support of Mousavi who was
Ahmadinejad’s closest rival.
Others carried pictures of a
young Iranian woman, Neda
Agha-Soltan, who
was shot dead
during a dem-
onstration and
has become a
symbol of the
opposition’s
struggle.
“ W e
want the
United Nations to intervene, an
inquiry into the systematic human
rights violations in Iran,” said the
group United for Iran.
In Melbourne, one of the five Aus-
tralian cities where protests took place,
about 50 members of the Iranian com-
munity waved their homeland’s flag
and banners reading “Stop Torture”
and “Iran election was a fraud”.
Demonstrations also took place
in Berlin, Copenhagen, Vienna and
Geneva, where protesters gathered
outside the United Nations’ European
headquarters.
In Vienna, the International
Campaign for Human Rights in Iran
urged companies such as Siemens
and Nokia which do business in Iran
to put pressure on Teheran.
Iranian opposition leaders Mousavi,
Mehdi Karroubi and Khatami on
Saturday urged the country’s clerics
to intervene to help stop the spread of
“oppression” by the authorities.
Meanwhile, Iranian news agencies
reported yesterday that Ahmadinejad
had sacked four ministers.
Those sacked are Culture and
Islamic Guidance Minister Moham-
mad-Hossein Saffar-Harandi, Labour
and Social Affairs Minister Moham-
mad Jahromi, Health Minister Kam-
ran Baqeri Lankarani and Intelligence
Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni
Ejeie, the local news networks said.
No reasons were given for the
dismissals. –AFP
briefs
Magnitude 5.4 quake
rattles Taiwan
TAIPEI: An earthquake with a magni-
tude of 5.4 rocked Taiwan yesterday,
the Seismology Centre said, but there
were no immediate reports of casual-
ties or damage. The moderate quake
could be felt islandwide, according to
the centre.
It hit at 9am (same time in Malaysia),
with an epicentre 37km southeast of
the central Mingchien township at a
depth of 13km, the centre said. Taiwan
is regularly hit by earthquakes because
the island lies near the junction of two
tectonic plates. – AFP
Sarkozy falls ill,
rushed to hospital
PARIS: France’s President Nicolas
Sarkozy was rushed to hospital
yesterday after suffering a “minor”
nervous complaint while jogging
at his woodland weekend retreat
outside Paris, officials said.
The 54-year-old leader was
seen immediately by a doctor and
underwent medical tests, a state-
Thousands celebrate
Thaksin’s birthday
BANGKOK: Thousands of supporters
of Thailand’s fugitive former premier
Thaksin Shinawatra gathered at tem-
ples across the country yesterday to
celebrate his 60th birthday, police
said. Around 60 temples were ex-
pected to hold Buddhist ceremonies
in his honour, with the largest taking
place at Kaew Fah temple in central
Nonthaburi province.
“More than 10,000 people have
gathered at the temple since morn-
ing,” said Police Colonel Songsak
Soisuwan.
“We have around 100 police offic-
ers taking care of security. So far the
situation is peaceful,” he said.
Thaksin, who is living abroad to
escape a jail term for corruption, was
expected to make a phone-in address
to his followers later in the day.
He also marked the occasion by
launching accounts on the social
networking websites Twitter and Fa-
cebook, according to Thaksin’s close
aide and former lawyer Noppadon
Pattama.
“It’s another channel for Thaksin
to communicate with his supporters.
ment from the Elysee Palace said.
One of the president’s aides said
Sarkozy was taken to the Val de Grace
military hospital, after a problem re-
lated to his vagus nerve – which helps
the body regulate its heart rate – that
doctors “considered minor”. – AFP
Gunmen attack
Karzai’s running mate
KABUL: A controversial running mate
of President Hamid Karzai escaped un-
scathed after a gun and rocket attack hit
his convoy yesterday in northern Afghani-
stan, weeks ahead of key elections.
Dozens of vehicles accompanying
vice-presidential candidate Moham-
med Qasim Fahim were travelling in
northern Kunduz province – which has
seen soaring Taliban-linked attacks
– when an unknown number of gun-
men ambushed the convoy.
Karzai’s campaign office labelled the
attack an assassination attempt, and
said that the campaign cameraman
was injured as a hail of bullets hit the
motorcade. Security and government
officials said no one was hurt. – AFP
Qantas jet loses air
pressure during flight
SYDNEY: A Qantas jet flying from
New Zealand to Australia was
forced to turn around when the
theSun | MONDAY JULY 27 2009
Demon–
strators
march to
the United
Nations
building in
New York
in a show
of solidarity
with Iranian
people on
Saturday.
AFPPIX
They can sign up to wish him happy
birthday or monitor his movements,”
Noppadon said.
Since Thaksin was ousted in a
coup in September 2006, Thai soci-
ety has been wracked by divisions
between his “Red Shirt” supporters
among the largely rural poor, and
the powerful Bangkok cliques in the
palace, military and bureaucracy.
The opponents of Thaksin, known
as “Yellow Shirts”, staged protests
last year that led to a nine-day block-
ade of Bangkok’s airports and left
more than 300,000 visitors stranded,
badly denting the kingdom’s tourist-
friendly image.
The “Red Shirts” stormed a key
Asian summit in the Thai resort of
Pattaya on April 11, forcing its cancel-
lation, before rampaging through the
capital, leaving two people dead and
123 injured. Prime Minister Abhisit
Vejjajiva declared emergency rule
and protesters clashed with security
forces in Bangkok over two days,
but finally dispersed after troops
surrounded them and threatened to
move them by force. – AFP
cabin started to lose air pressure,
the airline said in a statement. The
Australian carrier has an excellent
safety record but has come under
scrutiny over the past year after
its aircraft experienced a series of
technical problems in flight.
Qantas said Saturday’s incident
involved a Boeing 737-400 ascend-
ing out of Auckland en route to
Brisbane. At 7,500m it developed
a “subtle pressurisation problem”,
the airline said. The aircraft landed
and all 91 passengers disembarked
safely. – Reuters
Scholar agrees to a
beer with Obama, cop
WASHINGTON: A prominent black Har-
vard University scholar has accepted an
invitation to have a beer with President
Barack Obama and the white police
officer who arrested him in a racially
charged case. Professor Henry Louis
Gates said Saturday he was willing to
have a peace-making beer with Obama
and Cambridge, Massachusetts, police
Sgt James Crowley.
Gates was arrested last week at his
home after a neighbour called police to
say that a man was breaking into the
house. Obama said Cambridge police
had “acted stupidly,” prompting an out-
cry from police groups and a resulting
media blitz. – Reuters