Archive for month: August, 2014

Leading Iranian female filmmaker Rakhshan Bani-Etemad has condemned the United States and Europe’s sanctions against Iran during her speech at Venice film festival.

Bani-Etemad, who partook in the 71st International Venice Film Festival in Italy, criticizes the imposed sanctions during a press conference for her latest film Tales.

“Children with cancer and those who are suffering from very severe diseases like multiple sclerosis are the main target of the sanctions,” she said.

Bani-Etemad’s latest creation Tales is to contend for the Golden Lion Award with some 20 other productions at the Main section of the festival.

Tales is composed of seven short episodes, in which Bani-Etemad reveals the fate of some of the main characters in her previous films like The Blue-Veiled, Under the Skin of the City and Mainline.

The film along with 18 other participants of the Main section will experience their international premiere at this year’s edition of the event.

Best-known for addressing social problems in her films, Bani-Etemad has directed numerous feature-length and short films as well as documentaries, which have garnered many international and national awards.

“The characters in my films are real, [from among] the people whom I might meet every day,” she had earlier stated.

Widely considered as Iran’s premier female director, Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, has won numerous international awards and received an Honorary Degree for her contribution to World Cinema and the Iranian culture and society from London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

She started her career in 1986 with Off-Limits and made an international breakthrough with The Blue-Veiled, which won her the Bronze Leopard of the 48th Locarno Film Festival.

The 71st annual Venice Film Festival kicked off in Venice, Italy, on August 27 and will run until September 6, 2014.

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Iran’s foreign minister says new sanctions imposed by Washington on Tehran in some cases violate the agreement between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 group of world powers.

Mohammad Javad Zarif said during a Sunday joint press conference with Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja in Tehran that the measure taken by the United States is unconstructive and in contrast with the spirit of the Geneva agreement.

The Iranian foreign minister added that Tehran believes that such measures would make it more difficult to reach a final comprehensive deal with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China – plus Germany.

The Finnish foreign minister, for his part, expressed hope that all obstacles to a comprehensive nuclear deal are removed.

On Friday, Washington imposed sanctions on over 25 Iranian individuals and companies, including shipping firms, oil companies, airlines and six banks.

The sanctions come as Iran and the six countries are in talks to reach a final agreement aimed at resolving the standoff over Tehran’s civilian nuclear work.

The two sides signed a historic interim deal in the Swiss city of Geneva in November 2013. The agreement entered into force on January 20 and expired six months later. In July, Iran and the six countries agreed to extend their negotiations until November 24 in a bid to work out a final accord.

The next round of talks between Iran and the six countries will be held in New York in September.

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The Pakistani government says it is trying to re-open negotiations with opposition groups following the death of two anti-government protesters in fierce clashes with security forces in the capital.

On Sunday, Information Minister Pervez Rashid says Islamabad remained open to restart talks with the opposition to end the recent crisis peacefully.

The remarks came after two people were killed and more than 400 others injured after police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters outside the parliament building and the official residence of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

“The government did not initiate the clashes. They turned violent and tried to enter sensitive government buildings, which are the symbol of the state. They wanted their demands to be met at gunpoint but still, our doors are open for talks,” Rashid also said.

Clashes erupted on Saturday, with witnesses saying that scores of demonstrators carrying hammers and iron rods broke down a fence outside the parliament building and entered the parking area and the lawns.

Pakistani opposition leader Imran Khan, who heads the Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party, and cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri, the head of Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), have been leading daily protest rallies in the capital Islamabad since August 14.

The two opposition figures have pledged to remain peaceful and called on Pakistani security forces not to use force against the demonstrators. They have also called for the resignation of the country’s premier over alleged fraud in last year’s general election.

Also on Saturday, Khan told his supporters that he will continue fighting until “a real independence for Pakistan” is secured.

“Sharif brothers have a lust for power. They are not sincere with the people or the country. We will get their resignations and put them in jails,” he also said.

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British secret service MI6 has been accused of aiding Nepal’s authorities in the torture of Maoist rebels during the South Asian country’s civil war.

The accusations were made by author Thomas Bell in his new book Kathmandu citing sources in the Nepalese security establishment on Britain’s involvement in the country’s decade long civil war.

Bell said British authorities funded a four-year intelligence operation in Nepal in 2002 that financed safe houses and provided training in surveillance and counter-insurgency tactics to Nepal’s army and spy agency, the National Investigation Department (NID).

The British agency “also sent a small number of British officers to Nepal, around four or five — some tied to the embassy, others operating separately,” said Bell.

According to Bell, the British officers trained Nepalese authorities on how to place bugs, penetrate rebel networks and groom informers.

The sources said “British aid greatly strengthened” NID’s performance, which led to dozens of arrests, of which a number “were tortured and disappeared.”

One of the sources, a Nepalese general with close knowledge of the operation, argued that there was no doubt that British authorities realized that some of those detained would be tortured and killed. 

Furthermore, Bell said that a senior Western official told him that the operation was cleared by Britain’s Foreign Office.

Bell said the findings revealed that “while calling for an end to abuses… the British were secretly giving very significant help in arresting targets whom they knew were very likely to be tortured.”

Tejshree Thapa, senior researcher at the Asia division of Human Rights Watch, commented on the book’s findings saying, “Nepal’s army was known by 2002 to be an abusive force, responsible for… summary executions, torture, custodial detentions,” adding, “To support such an army is tantamount to entrenching and encouraging abuse and impunity.”

Nepal’s civil war between the government and Maoists lasted between 1996 and 2006 and left more than 16,000 people killed.

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Iran’s automobile production has witnessed a sharp growth of over 73 percent in the first five months of the current Persian calendar year (started March 21).

During the period, Iranian automakers SAIPA, Iran Khodro, Pars Khodro and Modiran Khodro manufactured over 404,000 cars, marking a 73.4-percent growth compared with the same period last year.

Iran is the second manufacture of automobiles and automotive parts in the Middle East after Turkey and car industry is the second most active in the country after oil and gas.

Following the West’s sanctions against Iran over its nuclear energy program, the Iranian auto industry suffered a partial decline and major international automakers operating in Iran were forced to leave the country.
 
However, after the partial suspension of sanctions in the wake of Iran’s interim nuclear deal with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China – plus Germany in Geneva in November 2013, the industry witnessed a gradual growth and giant foreign auto manufacturers, including Peugeot and Renault, expressed keenness to return to the Iranian market.

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