A traditional Islamic concept about protecting the faith and its followers has become a judicial weapon for Iran’s rulers: charging opponents as so-called enemies of God with the threat of possible death sentences.
Iran’s accusations of “moharebeh”, literally “waging war” in Arabic, have opened deep rifts between ruling clerics and Islamic scholars questioning how an idea about safeguarding Muslims can be transformed into a tool to punish political protesters. The outcry increased last week after an appeals court reportedly upheld the death sentence for Mohammad Amin Valian, a 20-year-old student convicted of moharebeh crimes, which Iran’s legal code defines as “defiance of God”, or the state and punishable by hanging. Valian’s case has become a new rallying point for the opposition as authorities try to further rattle protesters after crushing demonstrations last month. Valian has only admitted to throwing stones at security forces during anti-government protests in December, according to opposition Web sites. On Sunday, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi said the student still can appeal. The case also highlights the huge perception gap in Iran. Opposition groups have declared Iran’s leadership politically bankrupt after alleged vote-rigging and violence. But hard-line supporters of the Islamic system consider it answerable only to God. Valian is among a dozen people convicted of moharebeh offenses, said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the New York-based International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Hundreds more are in detention and have yet to face the courts, which are directly controlled by the ruling theocracy.

Latest news update Earthquake Delhi Megacities: Earthquake Delhi are something new on the planet. Earthquakes are something very old. The two are a lethal combination, as seen in the recent tragedy in Port-au-Prince, where more than 200,000 people perished — a catastrophe that scientists say is certain to be repeated somewhere, and probably soon, with death tolls that once again stagger the mind.

In 1800, there was just one city with more than a million people — Beijing. Now there are 381 urban areas with at least 1 million inhabitants. Urbanization crossed a threshold last year when, for the first time, more people lived in city settings than rural ones. About 403 million people live in cities that face significant seismic hazard, according to a recent study by seismologist Roger Bilham of the University of Colorado.

The next Big One could strike Tokyo, Istanbul, Tehran, Mexico City, New Delhi, Kathmandu or the two metropolises near California’s San Andreas Fault, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Or it could devastate Dhaka, Jakarta, Karachi, Manila, Cairo, Osaka, Lima or Bogota. The list goes on and on.

“You can name about 25 cities that are like Port-au-Prince. They’re not going to shake but every 250 years [on average]. But if you can name 25 of them, you’re going to have an event like this every 10 years,” said David Wald, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.

In many vulnerable cities, people are effectively stacked on top of one another in buildings designed as if earthquakes don’t happen. It is not the tremor that kills people in an earthquake but the buildings, routinely constructed on the cheap, using faulty designs and, in some cities, overseen by corrupt inspectors. The difference between life and death is often a matter of how much sand went into the cement or how much steel into a supporting column. Earthquakes might be viewed as acts of God, but their lethality is often a function of masonry.

“In recent earthquakes, buildings have acted as weapons of mass destruction,” Bilham writes in the journal Nature.

Top Sunni militant leader Abdolmalek Rigi, accused of masterminding a series of deadly bombings and killings, has been apprehended in Iran.
According to Tehran based TV channel, Rigi has been arrested in the east of the country. Rigi heads a shadowy Sunni militant group called Jundallah (Army of God) which has been accused by Iranian officials of carrying out several attacks in the Sistan-Balochistan province. Iran accused that Rigi has close links with a terrorist outfit al-Qaeda besides it did have the backing of US and UK., while both the countries denied the allegations.

Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti denounced suicide attacks as un-Islamic and condemned the killing of civilians, saying such attacks have nothing to do with the Muslim religion.
Terrorism is criminal and spills the blood of innocents, said Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh, the kingdom’s senior most cleric. It attacks security, spreads terror among the people and creates problems for society. Such acts are forbidden by Islamic law, he said in a statement. It is necessary to fight against the attempts by some to attach terrorism to Islam and Muslims with the goal of distorting the religion and to assail its leadership role in the world, he added.

Iran’s failure to comply with the wishes of the United Nations over its nuclear program is forcing the international community to pursue fresh sanctions against it, the German government said.
The persistent defiance of United Nations resolutions and Tehran’s continuation of a dangerous nuclear policy are forcing the international community to pursue further comprehensive sanctions in New York against the regime in Tehran, government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was still extending her hand towards Iran and remained committed to reaching a diplomatic solution, Wilhelm told a regular news conference. UN nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran may be working to develop a nuclear-armed missile, throwing independent weight behind Western suspicions of an active Iranian weapons program. France urged the world powers to act with determination against Iran’s atomic activities, after a report by the UN nuclear watchdog expressed concern Tehran may be working on a nuclear warhead. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran deems nuclear weapons to be prohibited under Islam and isn’t seeking to build them, after the International Atomic Energy Agency announced the country may have been working on a warhead.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle threatened new sanctions against Iran, saying that Tehran has the right to make peaceful use of nuclear power, but must refrain from any nuclear armament.

If Iran continues to refuse talks, then talks at the United Nations is inevitable, and we’ll have to talk about new measures, said Westerwelle. He made the statement as Iran announced that it began to produce 20-percent enriched uranium. On Sunday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (IAEO) to start work on enriching uranium to a purity of 20 percent. Ahmadinejad also said that Iran is still ready for the exchange of nuclear fuel with world powers. Iran handed over a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) informing the UN nuclear watchdog about the Islamic Republic’s plan to produce 20-percent enriched uranium, provoking fresh warnings by western nations of new sanctions.

GAZA CITY: Two Palestinian girls were wounded on Thursday when an Israeli tank shell exploded near their home during an exchange of fire along the border of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian medics said.

The girls, aged five and nine, were wounded by shrapnel from the blast, according to Muawiya Hassanein, the head of Gaza emergency services.

An Israeli military spokesman said there was an exchange of fire along the border near the Bureij refugee camp, where the strike took place.

“Palestinians opened fire at an army patrol along the security barrier,” the spokesman said. “The soldiers responded by firing in the direction of the attackers.”

Gaza’s borders have been mostly quiet since the end of a 22-day Israeli offensive launched in December 2008 and aimed at halting Palestinian rocket attacks from the territory, which is ruled by the Hamas movement.

Some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed in the fighting.

An official reception would be organized to mark the national holiday – the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.
During 1979 Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlevi government was widely considered as an autocratic rule. Widespread unrest throughout Iran with religious-based protests breaking out in the Tehran, directed against the shah’s policies.
On January 16, 1979 Shah was forced into exile. Two weeks later Khomeini returned to the capital receiving a noisy reception from millions of supporters and led the final overthrow of the shah’s government, ending 2,000 years of monarchy.

An official reception would be organized to mark the national holiday – the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.
During 1979 Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlevi government was widely considered as an autocratic rule. Widespread unrest throughout Iran with religious-based protests breaking out in the Tehran, directed against the shah’s policies.
On January 16, 1979 Shah was forced into exile. Two weeks later Khomeini returned to the capital receiving a noisy reception from millions of supporters and led the final overthrow of the shah’s government, ending 2,000 years of monarchy.

VIENNA: A senior Iranian envoy says he has formally told the U.N. nuclear agency that his country will enrich uranium to higher levels.

Ali Asghar Soltanieh says Tehran will start enriching up to 20 percent from its present stock of lower enriched uranium.

Soltanieh is Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency. He told the newsmen Monday that the production is meant for fuel for Iran’s research reactor, which produces medical isotopes. World powers fear higher enrichment could ease the way for the production of nuclear weapons.

Iran has ignored five U.N. Security Council resolutions that it freeze its enrichment program.