Iran Arrests Participants of a Conference Calling for Referendum

Tehran, Iran (EPA)
Tehran, Iran (EPA)
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Iran Arrests Participants of a Conference Calling for Referendum

Tehran, Iran (EPA)
Tehran, Iran (EPA)

The Iranian security services continue to arrest activists who participated in a conference last weekend, which discussed the chances of a referendum for a peaceful political transition to a secular regime.

Activists reported on Twitter that the security services arrested civil and political activist Abdollah Momeni in his home days after he participated in the "How to Save Iran" conference.

Momeni's arrest came after another conference participant held over the Clubhouse application, Alireza Beheshti Shirazi, was apprehended. Shirazi was an advisor to Mir Hossein Mousavi, who is under house arrest.

The authorities arrested veteran journalist Keyvan Samimi, 74, who was announced among the conference participants.

Samimi appeared in a video recording, calling for forming a National Salvation Front.

Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted the state-affiliated Jam-e Jam website saying that Shirazi was arrested as part of the judicial campaign against anti-revolutionary elements.

The authorities accused Mousavi's advisors of instigating the statement which called for ending Iran.

The website referred to a text published in early February, in which Mousavi called for "radical changes in Iran" by organizing a referendum on the constitution.

He described the paradoxical structure and unsustainable basic system as the major crisis in the country.

Jam-e Jam indicated that the three men participated in a virtual conference calling to overthrow the regime and draft a new constitution, reported by the AFP.

Mizan agency quoted an informed security official that Mousavi is under the control of the opposition Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization.

The security official said that Mousavi's latest statement was a "direct copy" of the rhetoric of the Organization.

He accused Ardeshir Amir Arjomand, a Paris-based political activist who runs the Kalima website and Mousavi's adviser, of being directly involved.

Arjomand was one of the founders of the "How to Save Iran" conference, which included a group of reformist activists calling for a peaceful and gradual transition to a secular regime.

Dozens of political and civil society activists at home and abroad participated in the conference, which discussed transitioning from religious rule to a secular democratic political system.

Mousavi was Iran's prime minister between 1981 and 1989 and ran for the presidential elections in 2009. Along with former Shura Council President Mahdi Karroubi, Mousavi protested the re-election of outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, denouncing widespread fraud.

The former premier was not the only one who issued a controversial statement after the anniversary of the 1979 revolution last February.

Former President Mohammad Khatami tried to distance himself from this discourse, noting that reform was possible and urging a return to the constitution.

Earlier this week, Khatami reiterated his opposition to demands to overthrow the political system.

The former president, Hassan Rouhani, was also among the advocates of a referendum on "diplomacy," "domestic politics," and "the economy."

The top Sunni cleric in Iran, Abdolhamid Ismailzahi, repeatedly called for a referendum to choose the governing method that enjoys the support of the majority of the people.

The Imam of Zahedan's Friday prayer stressed that the referendum is the way out of the current problems in the country.

On April 18, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei rejected opposition to calls for a referendum on state policy, saying the various issues of the country cannot be put to a referendum because each referendum preoccupies the entire country for six months.

In statements published on his official website, Khamenei added, "Where in the world do they hold referendums for all issues?"

During the Eid sermon, Khamenei called for focusing on resolving issues and refraining from "marginal issues," warning that the enemies want to divide the nation.

Khamenei accused the enemies of aiming for conflict between Iranians because of different beliefs and sects, asserting the need to maintain unity to overcome challenges.

"The enemy is against the unity of the Iranian people," he said, adding that the different sects and beliefs can coexist and work together in the country.



UN Conference Seeks Foreign Aid Rally as Trump Cuts Bite

Donald Trump's evisceration of funding for USAID has dealt a hammer blow to humanitarian campaigns. John Falchetto / AFP
Donald Trump's evisceration of funding for USAID has dealt a hammer blow to humanitarian campaigns. John Falchetto / AFP
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UN Conference Seeks Foreign Aid Rally as Trump Cuts Bite

Donald Trump's evisceration of funding for USAID has dealt a hammer blow to humanitarian campaigns. John Falchetto / AFP
Donald Trump's evisceration of funding for USAID has dealt a hammer blow to humanitarian campaigns. John Falchetto / AFP

Spain will host a UN conference next week seeking fresh backing for development aid as swingeing cuts led by US President Donald Trump and global turmoil hinder progress on fighting poverty, hunger and climate change.

French President Emmanuel Macron, South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa and Daniel Noboa of Ecuador will headline the around 70 heads of state and government in the southern city of Seville from June 30 to July 3.

But a US snub at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development underlines the challenges of corralling international support for the sector.

Joining the leaders are UN chief Antonio Guterres, more than 4,000 representatives from businesses, civil society and financial institutions, including World Bank head Ajay Banga.

Such development-focused gatherings are rare -- and the urgency is high as the world's wealthiest countries tighten their purse strings and development goals set for 2030 slip from reach.

Guterres has estimated the funding gap for aid at $4 trillion per year, reported AFP.

Trump's evisceration of funding for USAID -- by far the world's top foreign aid contributor -- has dealt a hammer blow to humanitarian campaigns.

Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium are among the other rich nations that have announced recent aid cuts as economic and security priorities shift and national budgets are squeezed.

From fighting AIDS in southern Africa to educating displaced Rohingya children in Bangladesh, the retreat is having an instant impact.

The UN refugee agency has announced it will slash 3,500 jobs as funds dried up, affecting tens of millions of the world's most vulnerable citizens.

International cooperation is already under increasing strain during devastating conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, while Trump's unpredictable tariff war plunges global trade into disarray.

Debt burden

Reforming international finance and alleviating the huge debt burden under which low-income countries sag are key points for discussion.

The budgets of many developing nations are constrained by servicing debt, which surged after the Covid-19 pandemic, curbing critical investment in health, education and infrastructure.

According to a recent report commissioned by the late Pope Francis and coordinated by Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz, 3.3 billion people live in countries that fork out more on interest payments than on health.

Critics have singled out US-based bulwarks of the post-World War II international financial system, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, for reform.

Seville represents "a unique opportunity to reform an international financial system that is outdated, dysfunctional and unfair", Guterres said.

At a preparatory meeting at UN headquarters in New York in June, countries except the United States unanimously agreed a text to be adopted in Seville.

The document reaffirms commitment to achieving the 2030 UN sustainable development goals on eliminating poverty, hunger and promoting gender equality.

It focuses on reforming tax systems, notably by improving the Global South's representation within international financial institutions.

The text also calls on development banks to triple their lending capacity, urges lenders to ensure predictable finance for essential social spending and for more cooperation against tax evasion.

The United States said it opposed initiatives that encroach on national sovereignty, interfere with international financial institutions and include "sex-based preferences".

Lack of ambition?

While the European Union celebrated achieving a consensus, NGOs have criticized the commitment for lacking ambition.

For Mariana Paoli, global advocacy lead at Christian Aid, the text "weakens key commitments on debt and fossil fuel subsidies -- despite urgent calls from the Global South".

"Shielded by US obstructionism, the Global North continues to block reform. This isn't leadership -- it's denial."

Previous failures by rich countries to keep their promises have eroded trust.

After promising to deliver $100 billion of climate finance a year to poorer nations by 2020, they only hit the target in 2022.

Acrimonious negotiations at last year's UN climate summit in Azerbaijan ended with rich countries pledging $300 billion in annual climate finance by 2035, decried as too low by activists and developing nations.

Independent experts have estimated the needs upwards of $1 trillion per year.

Spain will be the first developed country to host the UN development finance conference. The inaugural edition took place in Mexico in 2002, followed by Qatar in 2008 and Ethiopia in 2015.