Regardless of intention behind the President Lula's offer; it is a joyful news

President Lula of Brazil came in rescue of his Taliban friends in Tehran. He this week offered to accept Sakineh Ashtiani, an Iranian woman under a death sentence by stoning for murky adultery charges, as a refugee in his country.

The offer came amid an outrage reaction, expressed by world wide protests, over the Ms Ashtiani's, a mother of two, punishment. The protests forced the Taliban-like regime of Iran to suspend her sentence, at least for now. However, Ms Ashtiani's plight is not over yet. Whether it was the Taliban in the past Afghanistan or their current Shiite brothers in Iran, we all are familiar with their gruesome treatment of women in such situation.

Whether the real intention behind the president's gesture was to relieve his milking cows in Tehran or it was simply a pure humanitarian one remains a mystery to us. Regardless, and so long as it has the potential to save Sakineh's life; it is a joyful news.

Mr. Mosavi, I am going to be kind and only suggest that you have got it wrong!

Mr. Mir Hossein Mosavi, the leader of the Iranian Green Movement, has recently released a brief and expressed his view on new round of sanctions imposed against Iran by both the Security Council and the US. In it, he has given his view on the impact of such sanctions on the ordinary Iranians as well as the Taliban-like regime of Iran. He has also talked about the possibility of using military force as the last resort against the regime in Tehran.

Mr. Mosavi generally condemned the sanctions and suggested that they are only added salt on the wound of millions of already struggling Iranian families. In terms of troubling the regime itself, he suggested that those sanctions have no or little effects. However, this view contradicts the consequences of the austerity measures put in place by the regime to minimise the daily petrol consumption, Iran imports close to %40 of its daily petrol consumption and one of the major US sanctions against the regime is the imported petrol, in Iran over two years ago. At the time Iranian authorities were trying to gauge their vulnerability against such sanctions should they be ever imposed. That experience was a nightmare for the Iranian authorities. In an outburst, Iranians witnessed hundreds of cars queuing behind every single petrol station all around the country. As a result Iranian cities turned into a battle ground between the desperate people and the terrified authorities. Angry Iranians burned down many petrol stations in Iranian cities.

An interesting adding point to all of that is that it had happened a year before the presidential election in Iran. When there was no disputed election. There was no sign of millions of Iranians on streets protesting against the rigged election result. But today is different. For the past 12 months or so, we have seen millions of Iranians that used every occasion to come to streets and protest against the illegitimate Ahmadi Nejad government. We have also seen a terrified regime shuts the country down for days with funniest excuses, just recently because of the Tehran's Bazzar strike, the government announced a 3 days public holidays for hot weather, just to avoid streets protests. Now Mr. Mosavi should explain how he does not see the regime's vulnerability against the petroleum sanction. He only needs to imagine millions of Iranians on streets use the petrol shortage as an excuse to protest against the illegitimate government!

Mr. Mosavi, in his brief, also attacked the use-of-force idea as well. He gave the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as unsuccessful examples. He not only rejected the idea but also went further into the Iran's history and mentioned a so-called coup which had brought down the government of Dr Mohammad Mosadegh, the Prime Minister of Iran at the time, some 56 years ago. That coup has been attributed to the CIA. And the result was to bring back the late king of Iran, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, into power. Now Mr. Mosavi was somewhat suggesting the current military threat made against the regime in Tehran is a reminiscence of that coup. He was assuming that the US is trying to enforce a regime change in Iran.

Nonetheless, what Mr. Mosavi forgot to mention is a single fact that; it is the Taliban in Tehran that since last year election has declared war on the Iranian people and the civilized world. It is the regime that killed young Iranians. It is the regime that used rape as a political tool against young Iranians. It is the regime that tortured young Iranians. It is this regime that has been puring billions of dollars of the Iranian families' money into the belly of the most notorious terrorist organisations in the world for the last 31 years. The money that otherwise must have been spent on the well-being of the Iranian families and their children.

The important point Mr. Mosavi is missing is that the world correctly chose to stand with the people of Iran in their battle against the Taliban in Tehran. Taliban is unacceptable whether it be in Afghanistan Or Iran!

Iran's Taliban do not have much time

United States is tightening the noose around the neck of the main supporter of the world terrorism–the Taliban-like regime of Tehran–to deny it the unthinkable idea of acquiring a nuclear device.

US Congressmen and Senators this week have unanimously passed the belated petroleum sanctions against the regime. The sanctions were long expected however, it has been put on hold many times. The delay has been justified by lessons learned in Afghanistan and Iraq. Such sanctions could potentially be a trigger for yet another conflict, this time possibly involving the whole Middle East region. And because of the significance of apparent repercussions for Washington, it has been forced to first exhaust all diplomatic avenues. Washington gave the regime in Tehran every proper chance to change its course from its hostile position. But a little minority of Islamic fundamentals who took Iran and its people hostage failed to understand the gravity of the situation.

And when prior to the 2009 Presidential election they grossly miscalculated their status in the Iranian society, the society exploded in their face. They badly exposed their vulnerability to the outside world. These siblings of the Afghan Taliban in Tehran were foolish enough to display their illegitimacy in the eyes of the Iranian people. And mainly because of this reason–not to mention the retirement of the US Eastern Europe Missile Defense Shield plan and the recent US-Russia agreement on the reduction of nuclear missiles– the US diplomatic machine had been successful to bring Russia and China on board in the UN Security Council.

So looking at the number of votes in the US Congress and the Senate, 408 and 99 respectively, in favor of the petroleum sanctions–and perhaps more–recently, it signals the time for action. It then would be enough to add a recent joint military exercise by the US, UK and France, and the dispatch of the US aircraft carrier Harry Truman to the Persian Gulf, to comfortably claim that the Taliban regimes will not be tolerated whether it is Afghanistan or; Iran.

Iran's role behind the phony show

The Israeli commandos' attack on the aid flotilla bound for Gaza this week has dominated the media all around the world. But the propaganda surrounding it seems suspicious and the whole front becomes more like a phony show. Questions have been raised about the real motive behind it.

The flotilla was apparently organised by a Turkish Muslim-NGO to supply much needed relief to the Palestinians trapped in Gaza. However, when we saw pictures of arms such as knives, clubs and machetes carried on board of a Turkish ship; it raises valid questions which require clear answers. Who did carry those weapons on board and what would have they anticipated when they did that? What exactly was going through their minds? Were they going to fight? Were they going to war? Were they going to attack any one in this so-called peaceful and humanitarian mission Or; were they going to provoke someone to attack them?

The suspicion grows more when we see the Islamic Regime in Tehran tries to weigh behind this ugly show. The regime involvement is also favored by the fact that it all happened at the time when new series of the Security Council sanctions against it are on its way. The almost-certain possibility of passing the sanctions makes the regime anxious. The new sanctions are potentially fatal to its very existence. One element of new sanctions inter alia is the inspection of the commercial ships bound for Iran. This is critically important and handy for the US when it tries to impose its own petroleum sanction on the regime of Iran. Iran imports close to 40% of its daily petroleum consumption. The livelihood of millions of Iranian families depends on the petrol that goes into their cars' tank every day.

Petrol for the regime is pivotal; it is its Achilles heel. Over two years ago when the US Congress and the Senate started talking about the possibility of imposing sanction on the Iran's petroleum imports, and the regime started a counter measure to limit its daily consumption; streets of the Iranian cities turned into a battle ground between people and the authorities. Now you only need to add the battle of the families' livelihood to those millions of young Iranians, belong to the opposition Green Movement, on streets chanting death to dictators. A tiny imagination is then required to realize the nightmare this regime will have on its hand. It can not survive it.

That was why this regime went to a great extent recently and tried to derail the sanctions. The so-called Tehran-Nuclear-Agreement between Iran, its Muslim neighbour Turkey and its economic-strategic partner, Brazil, has been designed to impress the West and hinder the sanctions. It failed. It was ignored; and the sanctions are still on.

All of these left Iran and its Muslim ally, Turkey, with no choice but to look for other options. One option was to divert the world attention from the danger this regime poses to the world peace and stability. Such diversion could well serve Iran's ill purpose.

1389 Is Here

The Iranian New Year 1389 has arrived. According to Iranian calendar a new year starts at the first day of Spring in Iran. This year started at 4:32am AEST on 21 March.

I wish a happy and prosperous year for all Iranians currently reside out of Iran and of course those inside the country. Above all I wish and am hopeful that the 1389 be the Freedom Year for the Iranian people.

IMPUNITY AND IMMUNITY? PROSECUTING HEADS OF STATE

Last night in Sydney, the Australian Red Cross in conjunction with the school of law of the University of Sydney conducted a seminar on international law. The topic was ‘the prosecution of heads of state’.

The panel members were comprised of associate professor Steven Freeland, associate professor in International Law at the University of Western Sydney; and

Graham Blewitt, the Deputy Chief Prosecutor at the War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague between 1994 and 2004. He was involved in the prosecution of Slobodan Milosevic. Prior to this, he also was the Director of the Nazi War Crimes Unit in Australia; and

Mark Ierace SC, the Senior Public Defender at the NSW Public Defender’s Office, and an expert in International Criminal Law. He was a Senior Trial Attorney at the UN Criminal Tribunal in the ICTY, leading the prosecution in the trial of General Galic. He is a Visiting Fellow in International Criminal Law at UNSW.

The panelists discussed the possibility of the prosecution of heads of state for the crimes committed against humanity and the international law during their terms in office. The political and legal obstacles to achieve this goal were widely discussed.

The issue of the current situation in Iran after the presidential election there has been raised. One of the main concerns was the crimes committed against the Iranian people in the aftermath of the election. Questions have been raised about the responsibility of the Supreme Leader, as the head of the armed forces and their paramilitary divisions, and also the president and his responsibility and control over the police force.

The seminar was informative. The panelists along with the audience were all optimistic for the prospect of the future prosecutions. They were hopeful to see more heads of state indicted by the International Criminal Court for their crimes committed while in office.

WELCOME TO IRAN, A NEW POLICE STATE OF THE MIDDLE EAST

Mohammad Kamranni, a young 18 years old, is the latest victim of the state orchestrated criminal activities in Iran.

Mohammad had sustained horrific injuries while in custody; on 20 July, he died in hospital in Tehran.

In the aftermath of the presidential-election so far, scores of people have been killed, injured and hundreds more detained by the authorities.

Official dead count by the government authorities grossly contradicts the non-official sources, independent sources put the numbers much higher. The authorities, in many cases, have kept families of the victims in dark for days or even weeks.

United Nation and its human rights and judiciary annexes must investigate the crimes committed by the official and/or non-official authorities in the post-presidential-election in Iran. This is the least the international community could do in respecting the young Iranians who have sacrificed their innocent lives for freedom.