At the end of the broadcast Mr Afshari apologised to the "Supreme Leader .. and the people of Iran". Mr Afshari's confessions constitute grounds for prosecution by Iran's conservative judiciary on charges such as "waging war against God", which can carry the death penalty. In the past year, conservative judges gathered around the Supreme Leader have jailed more than a dozen of Mr Khatami's key supporters, and banned dozens of reformist newspapers. About 60 members of a small opposition group have been arrested in the past two months, amid allegations they were working to overthrow the regime.Besides angering Iranians who support Mr Afshari's Office to Foster Unity, which represents millions of students, the content of the broadcast offers a clue as to how the judges plan to approach June's election, which Mr Khatami is expected to win comfortably.
The judges, analysts say, may be tempted to use Mr Afshari's confession to justify an offensive against parties and individuals which are even closer to the President. During the confession, Mr Afshari admitted the student movement had became a tool for political parties.The confessions come a day after a rare reformist victory in the struggle against the judiciary. On Tuesday, an appeals court overturned sentences of 10-years' imprisonment and five years' internal exile imposed on Akbar Ganji, Iran's most outspoken reformist journalist. Yesterday, a reformist insider said Mr Ganji had already been freed.¿ A plane carrying Iran's Transport Minister, Rahman Dadman, has crashed in north Iran, killing all 19 passengers and 10 crew on board, the Interior Ministry said yesterday.. The Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, accused Israel yesterday of escalating military attacks on Palestinians, calling it part of a plan to force his people to "kneel down".
The Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, accused Israel yesterday of escalating military attacks on Palestinians, calling it part of a plan to force his people to "kneel down". His remarks came hours after a pre-dawn shoot-out between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen in the southern Gaza Strip left four Palestinian civilians wounded, including a 63-year-old man, officials said.The Israeli army said it responded to fire from a Palestinian house in Khan Yunis. Palestinian officials said the man, Nasser Abu Shanab, was hit and badly wounded in the chest. They said that elsewhere in southern Gaza, Israeli tanks and bulldozers had entered the Rafah refugee camp, flattening farm land and firing tank shells.Mr Arafat told reporters: "This is something which we were expecting [Israeli leaders] had a plan ... and they want to escalate this plan."[They] thought they could make the Palestinian people kneel down but they forgot that we are courageous people. We cannot give up, and we will not kneel down, and we will not surrender," he said. The US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, is hoping to meet Mr Arafat when he travels to Africa and Europe next week. Mr Powell discussed the possibility of a meeting with Mahmoud Abbas, Mr Arafat's deputy, during talks at the US State Department on Tuesday.(AP).
