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Iran frees more detainees of ethnic unrest (Adds paper's new charges)

Ahvaz, April 21, IRNA
Unrest-Iran
Judiciary officials released Wednesday night 155 people arrested following ethnic troubles in this southwestern Iranian city, the city's prosecutor said Thursday.

He said a total of 333 people had been detained in the unrest which broke out last Friday after a letter attributed to a former vice president called for diluting ethnic Arab majority in the region.

"Given that some of the families of the detainees have come up to pay bail and place surety, we think more of the accused will be released in the next 48 hours," Iraj Amirkhani said, adding most of the detainees aged below 20 years.

"All of these people have been arrested at the scene of the troubles for destroying public property," he added.

Iranian officials have scrambled to denounce the letter, attributed to former Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi, as fake.

Abtahi himself has denied having written such a letter.

"Anyone who reads the letter will realize that such a decision ... cannot be implemented in Iran," he said, adding "I have never had the prerogative to order a change of demographic composition." Certain neighborhoods of Ahvaz witnessed clashes between police and ethnic Arabs last Friday night, in which several state buildings, including banks and police cars were damaged.

Iran's Culture Ministry ordered Monday the temporary closure of the Al-Jazeera bureau in Tehran, pending a probe into the possible actions of the Arabic television channel to provoke subversive elements in the troubles.

The secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Hassan Rowhani, highlighted the role of 'foreign elements' in the unrest, saying, "The Al-Jazeera channel was also involved in the troubles and was among the instigators of the incident."
He said Intelligence Ministry had launched an investigation to identify 'certain individuals and groups that have played a role in this problem as well as the instigators' of the unrest.

An Iranian newspaper Thursday further accused Al-Jazeera of distortion, reporting that the channel had put the fictitious name of 'Arabistan' in parentheses before Ahvaz on its website.

"In its latest provocative actions aimed at disturbing calm in Iran and creating tensions as well as escalating troubles in Khuzestan, the Qatari television channel Al-Jazeera has placed a malicious article against Iran on its website," the daily Hambastegi said on its front-page lead headline.

"This news website has already ridiculed the Iranian government and nation for defending the historical identity of the Persian Gulf through an insulting animation," the paper went on to say.

The paper was referring to an animation run on Al-Jazeera's website, which ridiculed an overwhelming Iranian outcry after the US magazine National Geographic put the name 'Arabian Gulf' in parentheses before the Persian Gulf in its atlas.

Although the magazine accepted to publish a correction in its later issue, outrage against Al-Jazeera continued, with two non-government organizations calling it a 'British-Zionist outfit'.

Iran had pledged to follow up through legal channels distortion of Persian Gulf, a name internationally attributed to the waters on its southern shores.

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::IRNA No.048 21/04/2005 18:04 --End