Thesun 2009-07-01 Page10 Iran Upholds Ahmadinejad Victory

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theSun

| WEDNESDAY JULY 1 2009

news without borders

Iran upholds Ahmadinejad victory TEHERAN: Iran warned the opposition yesterday that it will tolerate no further protests after the official poll watchdog upheld the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over complaints of fraud. Ahmadinejad hit out at world powers over their response to unrest which has shaken Iran, as Western governments condemned the con-

tinued detention of four British embassy staff in Teheran. Opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi’s camp remained defiant, reiterating a demand for the cancellation of the June 12 vote which unleashed the worst crisis in Iran since the 1979 revolution. But opposition to Ahmadinejad’s victory appeared to be waning as the massive

street protests seen in the immediate aftermath of the election become sporadic gatherings easily dispersed by riot police and the Basij militia. The head of the seminary in Qom – Iran’s clerical nerve centre – called for a sustained crackdown on protests, saying demonstrators were “treading the path of the world’s arrogance”, a term Iranian leaders

use to describe the US. “The regime must confront them,” Ayatollah Morteza Moghtadai said. Ahmadinejad himself said: “We must use all the capacities to break the monopoly of the global powers.” And the official electoral watchdog, the Guardians Council, warned defeated candidates that its decision on

Monday evening to uphold official results giving the incumbent a landslide firstround victory were no longer subject to challenge. “They cannot object or protest in any other way,” council spokesman Abbasali Kadkhodai told reporters. “The Guardians Council is the final authority on the election and we announced

our decision unanimously.” The watchdog had recounted 10% of the ballot boxes in what it described as a “thorough and comprehensive investigation” but the opposition boycotted the process. The US said the partial review would not satisfy critics of the election while Italy warned of possible further sanctions against Iran. – AFP

Honduras isolated over coup, protests turn violent AFPPIX

TEGUCIGALPA: Honduras came under pressure on Monday to reinstate ousted President Manuel Zelaya as many Latin American leaders agreed to withdraw envoys, Washington called his overthrow illegal and street protests turned violent. Police in the Honduran capital fired tear gas at stone-throwing supporters of Zelaya, a leftist who was toppled in an army coup on Sunday and flown to exile in Costa Rica while a caretaker president was sworn in. Some 1,500 protesters, some of them masked and carrying sticks, taunted solders and burned tires just outside the gates of the presidential palace in a face-off with security forces. Zelaya was ousted over his push to extend presidential terms in Central America’s biggest political crisis since the US invasion of Panama in 1989. Honduras had been stable since the end of military rule in the early 1980s. Congress named Roberto Micheletti, a conservative-leaning veteran of Zelaya’s Liberal Party as interim president. Honduras is a major coffee producer, expected

Protesters supporting ousted Zelaya throw stones at soldiers and policemen during clashes near the presidential palace in Tegucigalpa.

to export some 3.22 million 60kg bags in the 2008/09 season, but there were no immediate signs that output or exports were affected as ports and roads remained open. Left-wing Latin American presidents led by Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez said at a meeting in Managua, capital of neighboring Nicaragua, that they would withdraw their ambassadors from Honduras in protest at the coup. Mexican President Felipe Calderon followed suit, as did leaders from Central America, also meeting in Managua, according to a diplomatic source. The Central American leaders also announced a two-day halt in trade. Chavez said he would stop sales of cheap oil

to Honduras, an impoverished coffee, textiles and banana exporter of seven million people which joined his ALBA trade bloc of allies last year under Zelaya. Visibly bolstered by the sea of support for him, Zelaya said he would travel to Honduras tomorrow with Organisation of American States (OAS) chief Jose Miguel Insulza. “I am going to Tegucigalpa on Thursday. The president elected by the people is coming,” Zelaya said. He said he had accepted an offer by Insulza to accompany him but gave no details of how he expected to pull the trip off. Zelaya is also due to address the UN General Assembly in New York and later travel to Washington. – Reuters

South Korea’s first swingers’ club presents legal dilemma Citizen Nades: ‘My England not powderful one’ pg 12

SEOUL: South Korea’s first swingers’ club – where couples can swap partners for sex – has made a roaring debut, leaving police who want to close it down struggling to respond. The club opened earlier this month in Seoul’s prosperous Kangnam District where business appears to be thriving, with many visitors writing favourable comments on its website about their experience. “Say no to sex-related taboos,” it proclaims on its internet homepage. The club only accepts adults who have booked through the internet. Couples watch or have sex with one or more partners. “Law experts told us there is no

legal basis to crack down on this club,” where consenting adults have sex in a closed space, one of its unidentified owners was quoted as telling the Yonhap news agency. Police admitted that it would be difficult to apply existing laws banning prostitution or obscene performances in this case. Still, “we’ve told the Kangnam police station to find legal provisions to crack down on it,” said Yang SungCheol, a senior officer at the Seoul Police Agency. After news reports about the club, its website crashed under the strain of thousands of people trying to log on at the same time. – AFP

Iraqis take control as US troops leave cities BAGHDAD: Iraqi security forces paraded in tanks and armoured vehicles across Baghdad yesterday as they take control of towns and cities nationwide from departing US troops six years after the invasion. Iraq was celebrating a national holiday to mark the June 30 pullback, a milestone in the recovery of a country battered by war, insurgency and sectarian bloodshed that has left tens of thousands of people dead since 2003. Iraqis had celebrated into Monday night but soldiers and police were out in force to prevent insurgent groups spoiling the party as American

troops quit their posts in urban centres, ahead of complete pullout by the end of 2011. Across Baghdad, tanks and armoured vehicles manned by soldiers and police were decorated with artificial flowers, flags and banners, as nationalistic songs and popular music played. “We are happy to receive the security responsibilities and we are able to totally protect our citizens,” policeman Ibrahim al-Mashhadani said. President Jalal Talabani thanked US forces for their role in overthrowing now executed dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003, and in the years of bloodshed that followed. – AFP