the rise. Drugs were non-existent in Iraq in the past. This is yet another face of the new "freedom" in Iraq.
Freedom of speech is something talked about on TV and radio, but strictly limited in reality. You have freedom of speech as long as you use it to defend those in power, but if you do the opposite, you will be punished.
by th
DP after they demonstrate
) complain about the ba management and the theft of petrol supplies by the party leaders.
Another instance is the KDP's conviction of Dr Kamal Said Qadir on December 19 for writing two articles critical of Masoud Barzani.
He was sentenced to thirty years in prison, fifteen years for each article he wrote. Likewise the PUK sacked
They still remain militia groups and each of them controll a particular area. They have their own radio and TV, and until now there is not a single independent TV or radio station.
So what they call democracy is just a game for the benefit of America, power is still in the hands of the militia groups in Iraq, and it is very difficult to see the possibility of building a democratic gorernment in the near future from all these disparate and conflicting forces
It is also impossible to make Iraq a democratic country through the use of 250,000 foreign troops and all the American tanks and fighter jets. •Bestun Baban is a Kurdish journalist from Sulaimaniyah in South Kurdistan (Northern Irag). He now lives in London Security forces began arresting hundreds of striking bus workers at LabourStart Newsletter. The company employs 17,000 people.
Up to five hundred arrested strikers have been packed into the high-security Evin Prison, notorious for its torture chambers and being the scene of thousands of executions of political prisoners. Wives and children of strike leaders were dragged out of their beds and beaten. A two year old girl was injured along with a number of older children. January 28, were beaten, threatened and then forced to drive the buses. was imprisoned on December 22 and remains in custody. They are recognition. President Mahmoud Ahmadjinejad firmly opposing this surge in repression and violence being levelled against workers in Iran. • Send letters of protest to the Iranian President at [email protected] Sherkate Vahed, Tehran's bus company at the end of January, reports
Workers arriving to picket the bus depots on Saturday morning,
The workers had taken action after their leader Mansour Osanloo also fighting for a decent wage rise, collective agreements and union
The Iranian government has managed to keep the strike and the arrests out of the media. The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) has sent a strongly worded letter of protest to Iranian
Mr Noori is now requesting the Royal Court of Justice to to save his life.
Mr Noori says: "If the court decides to deport me because documents provided by me are unfounded, or they believe my life is not in danger in Afghanistan, I request the court put these reasons in writing so as to enable my family to complain to human rights organisations, should I get killed as a result of my deportation." • Please forward messages of support from trade unions, campaign groups to: [email protected]
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If the Greek playwright Sophocles was resurrected from the dead, now in the age of Big Brother, he may have just come up with the script for the life and death of Ariel Sharon, argues ABDULHADI W. AYYAD