Tuesday, February 10th 2009
30 Years of Islamic Republic = 30 Years of Terror
STOP THE BOMB criticizes Raiffeisen’s involvement in Iran and warns of belittling Chatami
STOP THE BOMB, a non-partisan coalition against conducting business with Iran, seizes on a recent report published in the “Wall Street Journal” stating that Raiffeisen Zentralbank has absorbed transactions of key European banks that had shut down their operations in Iran. STOP THE BOMB spokeswoman Simone Dinah Hartmann protests: “If it is true that Raiffeisen takes over Iran based transactions of other banks, this constitutes an active circumvention of all efforts made toward a policy of effective sanctions – a line of action that businesses like Siemens or OMV have been known for in the past.” Four days ago Ali Larijani, chairman of the Iranian parliament, has provided new proof for the necessity of sanctions against the Iranian regime, which celebrates the anniversary of the Islamic revolution today. At the security conference in Munich, he defended President Ahmadinejad’s denial of the Holocaust.
Regarding the announcement of Mohammed Chatami’s candidacy for the Iranian presidential elections, Stephan Grigat, scientific associate of STOP THE BOMB, issues a commentary in today’s Die Presse, stressing that the regime’s secret nuclear program – an existential threat to Israel – had been continued throughout the eight-year presidency of allegedly “moderate” Chatami. The former president also defended the French Holocaust denier Garaudy, adhered to supporting the Lebanese Hizbullah and warranted the death penalty for homosexuals.
Hiwa Bahrami of the Democratic Party Kurdistan Iran, which is part of the coalition STOP THE BOMB, points to revealing continuities in Iran: “30 years of Islamic republic stand for 30 years of terror within and outside of Iran. The persecution of the Kurds and other minorities continued even under Chatami’s rule.”