Tehran Friday Prayer Sermons

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Tehran’s interim Friday Prayer Leader, Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani has criticized the dual approach of western states in confronting terrorism.

Addressing Friday prayer worshippers in Tehran, Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani pointed to the release of the PJAK terrorist ringleader by German authorities and said that the opponents of the Islamic republic of Iran freed the PJAK leader, Rahman Haji Ahmadi only because of conducting terrorist operations against Iranian citizens.

Tehran’s Friday prayers leader also added that this terrorist ringleader who directed PJAK’s terrorist operations from Germany has on so many occasion claimed responsibility for bloody terrorist operation in Iran’s western Kurd regions.

Ayatollah Kashani further reiterated that the enemies of the Islamic republic of Iran have accused and detained Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting journalist who served as a journalist for 17 years in Italy for no reason and in order to put a lid on such inhumane act.

Tehran’s Friday prayers leader also condemned the obstructionisms of arrogant and hegemonic powers in Iran’s peaceful nuclear program and said that the west accuses Iran of trying to build atomic weapons in order to prevent Tehran from gaining access to scientific and industrial advancements.

Iraq not to be run by one party, says al-Hakim

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The head of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) Syed Ammar al-Hakim pointed out that “We do not support the principle of the political majority since Iraq can not be run by a single man or single party.”

According to the Shiite News a statement by the SIIC, quoted Hakim as saying “We need a strong and united government to represent all constituents of the Iraqi spectrum.”
“We are looking for a government that believes in actions rather than slogans,” he added, noting that “We will put the people’s interests ahead of political interests.”
“The elections came to sustain the principle of democracy in Iraq,” according to Hakim.
Hakim also appreciated the role of the religious authorities which supported the political process.
It is worth mentioning that some blocs expressed their wishes to form a political majority government.
Ammar al-Hakim meets Grand Ayatullah Sistani in Najaf
Meanwhile, The head of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, Syed Ammar al-Hakim visited the Higher Religious Authority Ayatollah Ali Sistani in his office in Najaf on Thursday.
Informed source statedthat  “Hakim is the first political figure to meet Sistani after the elections.”
Ammar al-Hakim has arrived in Najaf on Thursday morning.

Maliki’s State of Law Coalition holds narrow lead in Iraq election

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Iraqi Shia Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law coalition holds the lead in Iraq’s legislative election, closely followed by rival Shias Iraqi National Alliance amid allegations of fraud from Saudia Arabia backed Saddam loyalists Al-Iraqiya.
Partial results from Iraq’s tight election race coming out on Friday indicated Maliki’s State of Law coalition sets the pace with the powerful Iraqi National Alliance, a coalition of major Shia parties, on its heels with only 16 percent behind.
The initial results for five provinces have been released so far, leaving the race too early to call as figures have yet to be announced for 13 other provinces. This is while the result is really difficult to foresee in key areas such as Baghdad, where the city’s 6-million strong population incorporate diverse ethnical and religious communities.
The parliamentary poll held amid highly tightened security on March 7 — the second such vote since the 2003invasion of the country by US-led forces — is viewed as a landmark test of democracy for the Iraqi government seven years after the ouster of former dictator Saddam Hussein.
The picture is, however, becoming increasingly more tainted by complaints of serious fraud from former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s secularist alliance, the al-Iraqiya List, which swept a noticeable majority of votes in two Sunni majority provinces in the north.

But the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) dismissed charges of serious fraud from Allawi’s camp, including reports that ballots were discovered in the garbage and more than 200,000 soldiers’ names were missing from voting lists.
“The process of counting and sorting ballots is going well, with the presence of observers from political parties and under international supervision,” Reuters quoted Hamdiya al-Hussaini, a top IHEC official, as saying.
Five days after the election was held in Iraq, UN officials acknowledged the counting is taking longer than expected, but defended IHEC officials who have been citing a complicated system set up to thwart fraud.
Adding to the confusion in the counting process are technical challenges the IHEC suffered regarding the computer system used to enter polling data.

The system was slowed or was taken offline intermittently for maintenance, UN officials said. IHEC officials have, however, assured the problem was fixed now and that more initial results from at least another three provinces would be published on Friday.
On Thursday, Hussaini said the electoral commission had received some 1,000 complaints over the vote, without providing further detail.