More from Iran:

http://fjordman.blogspot.com/2005/05/iran-demands-pakistan-head-explain.html

Iran Demands Pakistan Head Explain Nuke Remarks

Iran demanded an explanation Sunday from Pakistan over a purported comment by President Pervez Musharraf that Tehran was ``very anxious'' to develop nuclear weapons. In an interview, Musharraf was asked how Iran could be dissuaded from trying to make a nuclear weapon. ``I don't know. They are very anxious to have the bomb,'' he was quoted as responding. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters Sunday it was unlikely Musharraf made the comment, but called for an explanation from Islamabad. ``Mr. Musharraf knows better than anybody else that the Islamic Republic of Iran is not after nuclear weapons,'' he said. Musharraf's reported comments are of particular interest because of involvement by the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb, Abdul Qadeer Khan, in providing Iran with centrifuges, a device used to enrich uranhium.

Swedish Help for Iranian Bio-Weapons?

There’s concern that Swedish scientific institutions have been helping Iran develop biological weapons. Swedish Radio News reports that the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control and the Karolinska Institute have been working with the Pasteur Institute in Tehran. According to the report one of their projects involves the deadly CCHF virus, which the National Inspectorate of Strategic Products says can be used as a biological weapon of mass destruction. However, the head of Pasteur Institute, Mohammad Taghikhani, denies the accusation.

Posted by: Fjordman at May 31, 2005 10:34 AM

What a silly trick. I wonder why he was chared in the first place. The judge must have been told to acquit him to divert media attention at this sensitive time when the ayatollahs are trying to get the nuke. The Iranian justice system is a joke. They can find guilty people innocent and I bet innocent people guilty as well.

Don't be fooled. They just want to get out of the media spotlight while they are trying to get the nukes. At any other time, he would be dead.

" the judge reportedly stated "I don't know who you are, but the rest-of-the-world does", a clear reference to the international attention that this case has attracted." See what I mean?

They still want to kill him but they must have reasoned that if they did, it might make it harder for them to get the nuke with which they can kill not only one man but perhapes millions. So letting go of one person so you can kill millions is a bargain.

Posted by: Informed Christian at May 31, 2005 10:34 AM

I wonder if we will ever be presented with the convoluted argument that must have been presented to allow this man to escape conviction for apostacy? The story suggests that he had to deny his conversion to Christianity.

Posted by: waterdragon52 at May 31, 2005 11:21 AM

Informed Christian has it right-

the Iranians are capitulating on this because of too much unwanted international attention while the ayatollahs are trying to get their 'nuclear reactor' (AKA A-bomb) program functional.

They can afford to look 'generous' by releasing one (among thousands) of prisoners of conscience as long as the underground centrifuges are allowed to continue processing 'fuel' for those 'power plants'.

But anyone saved from the mullahs' demented clutches is still a good thing.

Posted by: BigSleep at May 31, 2005 11:39 AM

Snip

Pastor Mehdi Dibaj was condemned to death in December 1993. He was released three weeks later after a strong international outcry; only to be found murdered six months later.

Posted by: KAOSKTRL at May 31, 2005 12:13 PM

Hey BigSleep,
You've got to remember he was just convicted for lying on his army application and is starting a three year prision term in a group cell of a maximium security prison. How long do you think this apostate is going to last in this tpye of environment? He's the West's equivalent of a child molester and it's an even bet that he's dead before his sentence is up. In addition, he's lost his army pension and his family have been kicked out on the street. You still think the mullah's are being generous?

Posted by: William The Crusader at May 31, 2005 2:16 PM

KAOSKTRL posted: He was released three weeks later after a strong international outcry; only to be found murdered six months later.

My reaction was identical to yours, the moment I read the headline.

I hope and pray that Pastor Pourmand stays safe and sound, but knowing the murderous tendency of the RoP, I have serious misgivings.

Posted by: DP111 at May 31, 2005 5:26 PM

Here are a few quotes I plucked from a poster on this thread:

"What a silly trick"

"The judge must have been told to acquit him to divert media attention"

"The Iranian justice system is a joke."

One can deduce that the issue here is with corruption of government, not Islam.

Thanks "Informed" Christian! You've helped me drive my point home! [wink]

Posted by: KingTolerance at May 31, 2005 8:01 PM

Hey King of Tolerance, What do you think of the threats that RS is getting on JW? Is that just a tiny minority or maybe some bad ole' Methodists, huh?

Posted by: Carolyn2 at May 31, 2005 8:09 PM

Executing apostates is a part of sharia law. Where do you think the Iranians got the idea to kill apostates from? No other religion asks for the murdering of apostates and I know of no other non-islamic legal system that demands the execution of apostates either. Therefore if Islamic law didn't ask for the death sentence for apostates the probability is extremely low such a penalty would exist.

Posted by: obl r us at May 31, 2005 8:13 PM

"One can deduce that the issue here is with corruption of government, not Islam."

How quickly we forget.
islam is the government
in Persia.

Posted by: the poetess at May 31, 2005 10:08 PM

Carolyn2,

Do not make jokes of the seriousness of the Methodist International Liberation Front. Those MILFs are cunning and seductively evil.

Also, I hear they fornicate.

Shirki!? Do they fornicate? Shirki? You there?

...

I have made wrongness; I will have a double punishment, but I will not enjoy it.

Imam Geoff

Posted by: Geoff at June 1, 2005 1:33 AM

Carolyn2,

Do not make jokes of the seriousness of the Methodist International Liberation Front. Our great leader, the Ayatollah, tells us that there is no fun in islam. Those MILFs are cunning and seductively evil.

...

I have made wrongness; I will have a double punishment.

Imam Geoff

Posted by: Geoff at June 1, 2005 1:34 AM

William the Crusader-

I don't think I expressed anything but contempt for these cynical Iranian maniacs -who are using an innocent prisoner's life and death circumstances to distract the world press from their malevolent goal of acquiring a mass-murdering device.

That they didn't kill him already is merely a tactical move.

That he is still alive is certainly a demonstrably good result of international pressure, -because, where there is a chance to escape the Iranian pesthole, he can still hope.

The world needs to maintain the attention on this case, -and maybe the mullahs will deport him -as a nuisance- to get the spotlight off their little quarks of nature.

The ayatollahs get no credit for anything but being cunning and manipulative weasels.

The sooner they are all in prison (or hell), the better Iran will be.

Posted by: BigSleep at June 1, 2005 1:51 AM

KingTolerance:

To the family of Zarah Khazami, the Iranian Canadian photojournalist who was beaten to death for taking photos outside of the prison where they keep political prisoners, and they could produce no guilty parties, there's nothing remotely funny about Iranian justice, especially when the court system has been so good at convicting and executing adolescent women of "chastity" crimes.

Posted by: waterdragon52 at June 1, 2005 8:46 AM

That IS great news.
I believe Mr. Pourmand still has 2 1/2 years of prison time staring him in the face. Let's hope he makes it...

Posted by: Mike at June 1, 2005 7:38 PM