MEMRI's News Ticker features important news items from the Arab and Muslim world, days before they are utilized by the Western media. To view MEMRI's entire News Ticker archives, visit www.memri.org/ticker.html . The following are highlights from MEMRI's News Ticker from June through this week:
JIHAD & TERRORISM
Islamist internet sites quoted bin Laden that the deadline for a truce with Europe has expired, and threatened the Europeans with 'a bloody war until you return to your senses.' He threatened Italy with torrents of blood. Bin Laden called on the European countries not to support America. (Al-Watan, Qatar, 7/30/04)
Security sources warned that members of Al-Qa'ida are traveling on stolen South African passports, which allow them to enter African countries and the U.K. without a visa. (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, 7/29/04)
Muhammad Abu Daf, deputy dean of the Education Faculty at the Islamic University of Gaza, maintained that it is essential that Palestinian summer camps instill deep-rooted national and political values such as love of Jihad, love of and sacrifice for the homeland, and martyrdom (Shehada). (Al-Resala, Gaza, 7/15/04)
The commander of the police force in Najaf announced the arrest of a terrorist network, which he said was supported by Al-Qa'ida and was implicated in the assassination of the Iraqi Shi'ite leader Bakr Al-Hakim last year. (Al-Ayyam, Bahrain, 7/15/04)
REFORM
Jailed academic Dr. Hashem Aghajari, who was released from prison on bail Saturday, said he would protest against the verdict. He posted as bail the deed to a friend's house, worth IRR 970 million. (Sharq, Iran, 8/1/04)
Saudi Arabia completed the plans for the administrative structure of the first official human rights committee, in preparation for its establishment in the near future. A non-governmental human rights committee has started its activities recently. (Al-Watan, Saudi Arabia, 7/29/04)
The United Arab Emirates legislated new laws to combat terrorism, including the possibility of imposing the death penalty on anyone who 'establishes, organizes or contributes to any institution or group for the purpose of committing terror acts.' (Al-Sharq, Qatar, 7/29/04)
Jordan's King Abdallah proposed a new program to reform the religious sermons so that 'they reflect the benevolence of Islam.' (Al-Ayyam, Bahrain, 7/22/04)
A 'judicial group' in Saudi Arabia, supported by the regime, will start investigating allegations of abuse of foreign workers in the country following an international report that said some of the foreigners were treated as slaves. (Al-Sharq, Qatar, 7/17/04)
IRAQ
Iraq's interior minister Al-Naqib said there is evidence of contacts between Saddam and Al-Qa'ida performed by Iraq's former ambassador to Turkey, Faruq Hijazi. He said Saddam received Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi in 2000 - but later killed some of his supporters. (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, 7/29/04)
Iraq has arrested a Saudi national who was the head of one of the terrorist groups in Baghdad. Iraq's ministry of interior confirmed that other Saudis are operating in Iraq. (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, 7/29/04)
Iraqi sources said that during Iraqi PM Iyad Allawi's visit to Syria, Iraq supplied Syria with documents proving the existence of up to $800 million in Syrian banks. In addition, Syria handed over a similar request on behalf of Syrian merchants and the Syrian government. (Al-Hayat, London, 7/26/04)
A new survey conducted by the independent Institute for Administrative and Social Civil Research in Iraq indicated that 90% of the Iraqis expressed 'great desire' for holding general elections in the country. (Al-Watan, Saudi Arabia, 7/22/04)
Prime Minister Allawi of Iraq confirmed his meeting with representative of the resistance movement but added that he has warned them unless they desist from violence he will fight them not only from house to house but from room to room. (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, 7/13/04)
The Iraqi daily Al-Shira writes that in keeping with a law issued by Saddam Hussein, his wife Sajida can divorce him for escaping from the field of battle. (Al-Shira', Baghdad, 7/8/04)
The lead defense lawyer for Saddam, the Jordanian Muhammad al-Rashdan, said that the mass graves and the bombing of Halabja are American lies. (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, 7/5/04)
IRAN
Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi moved to Iran several months ago, shortly after the Fallujah incidents, and stayed a few weeks at a camp belonging to the Iranian revolutionary guards in the Mahran region on the border with Iraq, until leaving for the city of Bakuba in Iraq. (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, 8/11/04)
The commander of the Al-Quds army of Iran's revolutionary guards, general Qasem Sulimani, acknowledged that Iran has been making concessions to Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi. A reliable Iranian source reports that general Sulimani said that Zarqawi's operations in Iraq 'serve the supreme interests of Iran,' particularly in preventing the establishment of a regime cooperating with the u.s. (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, 8/11/04)
The Iranian source said that Al-Zarqawi and 20 commanders of his organization need no prior approval to enter Iran: 'there are border points from Halabja in the north to Ilam in the south through which Zarqawi and 20 of the Ansar Al-Islam fighters can enter Iranian territory whenever they want.' (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, 8/11/04)
Iran's Basij (paramilitary youth organization) commander General Mohammad Hijazi said the Basij is striving to form an army of 20 million. (Jomhouri-ye Eslami, Iran, 7/14/04)
Iranian supreme leader Khamenei said those who hold hostages in Iraq are not Muslims. We suspect very much, he said, that they are agents of Israel and the United States. (Al-Zaman, Iraq, 7/14/04)
Russia's Atomic Energy Organization director Alexander Rumyantsev said Russia and Iran are likely to sign an agreement over the return of spent nuclear fuel to Russia during his upcoming visit to Tehran in the autumn of 2004. Rumyantsev noted that since Iran has signed the NPT, there are no obstacles to its construction of new nuclear power plants. (Aftab-e Yazd, Iran, 7/13/04)
Iran's Parliamentary National Security and Foreign Policy Commission gave the go-ahead for the resumption of uranium enrichment activities. (Aftab-e Yazd, Iran, 7/7/04)
Pyongyang refuted Japanese media reports that North Korea is engaged in nuclear cooperation with Iran, and also denied reports by a Japanese newspaper that a delegation of Iranian scientists is staying in North Korea with the aim of carrying out joint tests of detonators for nuclear bombs. (IRNA, Iran, 6/27/04)
The World Islamic Organization's Headquarters for Remembering the Shahids has registered over 2,000 Iranian volunteers for martyrdom operations. The youngest volunteer is seven years old, and 25% are under 18. Recruitment headquarters head Mohamed Samedi said that the organization would carry out martyrdom operations if Iranian Leader Ali Khamenei asked them to. (Sharq, Iran, 6/5/04)
SAUDI ARABIA
The Saudi Gazette reported that according to Al-Watan, the mother of Othman Al-Amri, the fugitive on the most-wanted list who turned himself in, expressed her thanks to Prince Muhammed Bin Naif Bin Abdul Aziz for paying the debts of her son, SR170,000 in addition to SR30,000 as aid to his family and monthly financial assistance worth SR3,000 to his wife and children plus SR2,000 as a regular salary for him. (Saudi Gazette, 7/21/04)
According to Saudi Prince Naif: 'The Kingdom is the country of the Islamic message. Any conspiracy against it by sedition instigators who seek to recruit Muslim youths will only serve Zionism. (Ain-Al-Yaqeen, Saudi Arabia, 7/16/04)
Prince Turki Al-Faisal, the Saudi ambassador to Britain, reiterated Crown Prince Abdallah's statements that Zionists are behind attacks in Saudi Arabia: 'Specifically since September 11, the Kingdom has been a center for concentrated merciless attacks by the Zionists… understanding this attack comes from the Zionists and from Al-Qaida…' (Saudi Gazette, 7/7/04)
Saudi Arabia and Jordan have concluded a cooperation Agreement on Islamic Affairs recently. The agreement is designed to enhance bilateral cooperation in Islam-related issues. The Saudi Minister for Endowment and Islamic Affairs, Prince Saleh bin Abd Al-Aziz Al-Sheikh, said that the agreement is specifically designed to deter anti-Islamic campaigns. (Ain-Al-Yaqeen, Saudi Arabia, 6/25/04)
The slain leader of Al-Qa'ida in Saudi Arabia, Abd Al-Aziz Al-Muqrin, was a product of Saudi schools financed by the royal family. Over the years, the ruling family has supported educational and welfare organizations in Afghanistan, Gaza, Bosnia, and London which financed Islamist activities. (Al-Quds Al-Arabi, London, 6/21/04)
EGYPT
A few hours after the swearing in of the new Egyptian cabinet, more than 300 Egyptian intellectuals and unionists issued a statement demanding 'the end of monopoly on power and allowing the transfer of power on all levels, starting with the presidency.' (Akhbar Al-Khaleej, Bahrain, 7/15/04)
The Arab Lawyers Federation announced its intentions to try President Bush, British P.M. Blair and Israeli P.M. Sharon for war crimes that 'they committed in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine.' The trial is scheduled for September 15 in Cairo, Egypt. (Akhbar Al-Khaleej, Bahrain, 7/6/04)
Egypt's religious authorities raided book stores, confiscating publications 'not conforming to Islam.' The raid came just days after Justice Minister Faruq Seif al-Nasr granted Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's most prestigious institution, wide-ranging powers to ban and confiscate material violating religious principles. Novels by secular writers were also seized. (Middle-East-Online.com, 6/5/04)
OIL AND GAS
Iranian First Vice President Mohammad-Reza Aref said that expansion of relations with Turkey is of top priority in Iran's foreign policy and that transporting Iranian gas to Europe via Turkey was among the important issues discussed with turkey. (IRNA, Iran, 7/30/04)
Iranian Majlis Energy Commission head Kamal Daneshyar said Iran should be able to persuade OPEC members to increase oil prices to $50 per barrel within the next year. He stressed that the prices should even be increased to $100. (IRNA, Iran, 7/25/04)
Iran's envoy to OPEC's managerial board, Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, said the range of prices Iran favors for OPEC's basket of crude oil is $30 to $35 per barrel. (IRNA, Iran, 7/24/04)
The Qatari government and Exxon Mobil signed an agreement worth $7 billion for use of gas fields between Iran and Qatar. (Aftab-e Yazd, Iran, 7/17/04)
