European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 16, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse Tuesday february 16, 1993 world v the stars and stripes Page 9 key Rushdie decree is revers foe Athens Greece up a leading iranian cleric said sunday that the late Ayatollah Truhol Tah Khomeini s death edict against Indian born British author Salman Rushdie was still valid and will be carried out Iran s official islamic re Public news Agency a Khamenei was referring to the religious edict that Khomeini issued against Rushdie on feb. 14, 1989, calling on muslims anywhere to kill him for writing the novel the satanic verses which Many muslims consider blasphemous. An Irna dispatch monitored in Athen quoted Khamenei As saying the death decree against the. Apostate Salman Rushdie is unalterable and the verdict must be carried out and will be carried Khamenei was speaking to a group of Muslim clerics and Friday prayer leaders in Tehran on the fourth anniversary of Khomeini s religious edict against Rushdie. Irna quoted Khamenei As say Rushdi eing we Don t cafe about the dissatisfaction of Britain and other european states Over the Issue. We too Are angry at Many of their Khamenei said the late Ayatollah had fired an Arrow at this impudent apostate. The Arrow i moving toward its target and will sooner or later hit Khamenei added it is incumbent upon every Muslim who has Access to this mercenary author to drive this harmful being out of the Way of muslims and punish he repeated an offi Cial iranian stance on the Issue saying the Imam s Khomeini s verdict is irreversible and no one is Able to make a Deal Over it. Solving the Rushdie Issue is possible Only through the handing Over of this apostate and in Fidel person to muslims he said. The cleric called on the British government to yield Rush die Irna said. The British author who went into hiding after the death decree against him was issued fou years ago recently has made Public appearances in several countries including Britain the United states and Germany. His Well publicized meetings with Western government figures and interviews on Western television networks Are apparently being taken As a provocation in Iran and a sign that Western states did not want the Issue to die Down. Khamenei who suggested in 1989 that the de Cree might be withdrawn if Rushdie apologized publicly for writing the Book reversed his Standafter Khomeini refused to withdraw the death decree under any circumstances. Lithuanians vote to sex communist As Leader Vilnius Lithuania a lithuanians voting in their first popular presidential election chose former communist party Leader Algirdas Mikolas Brazauskas by an overwhelming margin election officials said monday. With All the votes counted election commission officials said Brazauskas had 60.1 percent 1,210,517 votes to 38.1 percent 767,345 votes for challenger Stasy Lozoraitis. The remaining were invalid ballots. Election officials said 78.6 percent of Lithuania s 2.6 million registered voters had gone to the polls in Sun Day s election. Parliament made Brazauskas acting president last fall As former communists returned to Power in a vote backlash. Saudis the party that led Lithuania to Independence from the soviet Union had presided Over economic decline. The two candidates waged a gentlemanly Campaign. On election eve their aides even played a Friendly game of basketball. Brazauskas Side won 38-28. Both candidates support a free Market introduction of Lithuania s own currency and withdrawal of All rus Sian troops. But Lozoraitis campaigned on a platform of turning to the West for economic advice and sup port while Brazauskas cautioned against dismantling state industries too quickly or cutting tics with Russia. In televised debates this month Lozoraitis urged lithuanians to look past their current hardships to Western democratic future rather than romanticizing the socialist past. The candidates also had sharply different Back grounds. Lozoraitis 68, is a thin grading intellectual who sneaks five languages and has an italian wife Daniclak. He spent so years in exile in Italy and the United states after soviet troops occupied Lithuania in 1940. Since Lithuania regained Independence in 1991. He has been ambassador to Washington and had said he would be willing to stay on if he lost the election. Many voters said sunday that they considered Lozoraitis a foreigner even though he has always held lithuanian citizenship. I m for Brazauskas because he s a lithuanian and tic other fellow has just come. He does t really know the situation said Juozas Kilmanas a 60-year-old medical worker. Brazauskas 60, is a towering Jovial Man who spent More than 30 years As a High official in the communist party. One of his Campaign posters on cd amino ave nue the capital s main thoroughfare was defaced witha red soviet Star and the words you want Power Haven t you had enough innocent blood but Many voters were inclined to Overlook his communist background or even to consider it Good training for running the state dominated Economy. Everyone was communist said Ruslan Safonov 20. You had to be or you could t work As a manag right Wing Leader narrowly wins presidential election in Cyprus Cyprus up Veteran politician and right Wing Leader Glafcos Klerides won a closely con tested race sunday for president of Cyprus claiming a slim six tenths of a percent margin Over incumbent president George vote could jeopardize a . Proposal to reunify Cyprus by creating Federal state comprising greek and turkish zones. The Mediterranean Island has been split in two since turkish troops invaded and occupied the North in 1974. Klerides Calls the proposal a blueprint for disaster in its current form and wants it changed. Vassiliou however sup ports the . Plan As a basis for negotiation onre unifying the Island. Klerides 73, a London cleric strained lawyer and a world War ii officer in the British Royal air Force claimed slightly More than 50.3 per cent of the votes cast. It was the closest election since Cyprus cast off 92years of British colonial Rule gaining its Independence in 1960. Klerides was elected As the fourth president of Cyprus in his third try for that office. Speaking at the Headquarters of the democratically a political organization he founded in 1976, de rides said he was deeply moved by the vote that elected him to a five year term. My government will be for the entire people of the Island and i la work for Complete Unity in this country with the collaboration of All political parties and All free thinking people in a spirit of True democracy he said. I understand that other parties want to participate in renewed efforts. I Welcome them. I Welcome with open arms All parties who want to work with me for the Good of our country said derides who officially takes office on March 1. Vassiliou appeared visibly upset speaking from his Campaign Headquarters where he said the fact that received nearly 50 percent of the votes proves that my people trusted me and my handling of the Cyprus prob Lem. I Hope and Pray that or. Klerides will follow the path i Vassiliou said he already had telephoned Klerides to congratulate him. We fixed an appointment for our first meeting on tuesday Vassiliou said. After Turing Over the presidency Vassiliou plans to take my wife and go on a Long Holiday he said. Born in 1919, Klerides is the son of the late cypriot John Klerides who opposed archbishop Mukanos in the Island nation s first presidential election. Muslim women hold sports event in seclusion Tehran Iran a males Are banned from All the Sites where the 1,000women athletes Are competing this week in the islamic countries women s games. It s strictly a matter of Muslim decorum. Our customs Don t allow us of do sports in front of men said Nadideh to Louri Zadeh an 18-year-old iranian track and Field athlete the torchbearer in the opening ceremonies. Bolouri Zadeh wore a White head cover ing and baggy White poncho while rehearsing the ceremonies. The rehearsal and saturday s ceremonies were the Only time men were allowed a glimpse of the games the first of their kind. Naturally dress conformed to islamic rules. Women from Pakistan Syria Azerbaijan Tajikistan Turkmenistan the Mal dives Libya and Syria Are wearing nor Mal sportswear in the six Day games from swimsuits to running shorts and singlets. The games come two Days after parades and celebrations marked the 14thanniversary of the islamic revolution which deeply altered the status of iranian women. In Iran there is a strict dress code that prohibits women from showing More than their hands and faces when men Are present. Women face arrest and beatings if they do not Wear the chador a head to toe tent of Black cloth or a Middle class variation made up of a big Headscarf and baggy Raincoat. The clothing has evolved into a Trade Mark of the revolution with conferences museum exhibits and now an International sporting event built around it. The games organized by one of presi Dent Hashemi Hafs Anjani s daughters Faizeh Hashemi Are an attempt to encourage iranian women to be More out going. Just because you Are Muslim does mean you have to sit in the House and close the door said Taheri Taherian vice president of the organizing commit tee. The Competition includes basketball volleyball swimming table Tennis bad Minton handball shooting and track and Field. The ban on males includes coaches and referees. Critics Call it a form of sports apart Heid pointing out that male events Are broadcast on iranian television. It s the Only Chance for iranian women athletes to perform because their adherence to the strict dress code keeps them from competing internationally. Although most iranian women say they Are used to the baggy clothing they chafe at the Lack of Freedom it represents. In France you might need a dress by dior a Chanel bag. In Iran you have to respect the rules of the chador. It s a tradition said Yasmine Moayedi who runs a Chain of aerobics centers. I Don t even think of the chador be cause there Are so Many other
