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Iran toughens penalties for watching
Kurdish television
12.5.2006
By Vladimir van Wilgenburg, Journalist, Netherlands
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May 12, 2006, The
Iranian administration has drafted a bill that
foresees penalties for people who watch Kurdish
satellite broadcasts, a move that came after the
Kurdish parties KDP-I and Komala started
broadcasting reported Turkish Daily News and the
Dogan News Agency.
The South-Kurdistan based Iranian Kurdistan
Democratic Party (KDP-I) and the Kurdish communist
party Komala started Kurdish satellite broadcasts
via Rojhelat TV and Tiskh TV. The two Kurdish
television stations are based in Sweden, which make
test broadcasts in Persian and Kurdish, in which is
spoken about the political situation in
East-Kurdistan and Iran.
Iran has so far prevented broadcasts of Tiskh Tv
with diplomacy. But this isn’t confirmed yet by the
KDP-I itself. According to Dogan’s information Tiskh
TV, which started broadcasts in late February at the
request of KDP-I’s General Secretary Mustafa Hicri,
wants to become the voice of the “Iranian Kurdistan
Democratic Party's military wing”.
Despite the presence of a ban forcing people who
watch banned satellite broadcasts to pay 500,000
riyali (YTL 650), Tehran drafted another bill that
brings tougher measures and sent it to parliament
upon an instruction from President Mahmoud
Ahmedinejad. |
Vladimir van Wilgenburg
Journalist - Netherlands |
The new bill foresees three to six months'
imprisonment for violators of the ban and forces
them to pay 5.5 million riyali (YTL 7,700). The bill
will be legislated as soon as possible, according to
Iranian officials.
Iranian officials have reportedly already started
collecting satellite antennas in many cities
including Mahabad, the historical city of Kurdish
nationalism, where many Kurds live and implementing
the penalties for Kurdish civilians.
The Iranian administration has raised concerns over
Roj TV as well, due to its broadcasts about the
activities of the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK),
described as the Iranian wing of the PKK. Roj TV
also reports about the daily events in
East-Kurdistan and is seen as a PKK (Kurdistan
Workers' Party) mouthpiece by Iran, Syria and
Turkey.
It’s not known if the Iranian administration also
jails people who are watching the TV-stations of the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan
Democratic Party (KDP) (KurdSat and Kurdistan TV).
Although the Turkish news agency reported about the
tougher measures taken against Kurds watching
dissident television, it forgot to report about the
tougher measures taken against the Turkish people
living in Iran (South-Azerbaijan). Also Azeri Turks
who are caught red-handed, when watching TV
opposition broadcasts will face prison. One of these
TV-stations is GunazTV, which TV-broadcasts through
Turkish satellite were recently closed.
So far the Kurdish parties haven’t responded on the
recent steps taken by the non-democratic Iranian
regime.
Iran has fears that minorities like the Arabs,
Azeris, Baluchis and Kurds might try to break the
country up. In the past Kurds and Azeri Turks
already showed their own determination for self-rule
in their short-lived state projects from 1945 to
1946. The “State of Republic of Kurdistan” in
Mahabad as well as the "Democratic Republic of
Azerbaijan” in Tebriz were destroyed by the Iranian
army.
http://vladimirkurdistan.blogspot.com/
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