THE UNIVERSITY DARRY KANSAN
THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2007
THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2007
NEWS
MIDDLE EAST
5A
Iran official faces charges
Former negotiator arrested, accused of espionage
BY NASSER KARIMI
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian authorities have arrested the country's former nuclear negotiator, an ally of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's predecessor and key rival, and he reportedly could face an espionage charge.
The hard-line president, meanwhile, insisted his country will not retreat "even an iota" on its nuclear program.
The Iranian state-run news agency said Hossein Mousavian was arrested Monday in the capital, Tehran.
Iran did not officially release any details about the specific charges against him. But the semiofficial Fars news agency — which is deemed close to the elite Revolutionary Guards — said Mousavian could face espionage charges.
"The probable charge of espionage activities may be raised against him," the agency quoted an unidentified official as saying. "Mousavian was arrested because of connections and exchange of information with foreign elements."
Fars said Mousavian was summoned to the prosecutor's office Monday, where he was arrested and taken to the notorious Evin prison in Tehran.
"Mousavian's case is under initial investigation and interrogation, and his release is unlikely," the agency said.
Mousavian was a member of the Iranian nuclear negotiating team until 2005 and before that served as iran's ambassador to Germany. He was a close ally of former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
Ahmadinejad, who defeated Rafsanjani in the last presidential elections, replaced the nuclear negotiating team, including Mousavian, when he assumed power two years ago.
Rafsanjani, a high-ranking cleric, holds seats on two of Iran's most important government bodies and is considered Ahmadinejad's main political rival. Seen as a more pragmatic conservative than
Ahmadinejad, Rafsanjiad has taken a somewhat more conciliatory stance toward the U.S. and its allies over Tehran's nuclear program.
If Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
by one side or the other" in Iran, he said. "This is one of those tactical gambits."
Cases such as Mousavian's usually involve violating national interests or state security interests or treason. These cases are heard before Iran's Revolutionary Courts and carry sentences up to life in prison.
"It may be an attempt by the supreme leader to not let them get too powerful."
was behind Moussainian's arrest, it could be a sign that Rafsanjani and his allies were gaining ground on hard-liners, said Jon Wolfsthal, an international security expert at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. Wolfsthal noted that Khamenei tried to maintain the balance between the two sides.
Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the center, said drawing conclusions about the arrest was complicated because was difficult to see inside the Iranian regime. He said it might simply be one more step in a slow dance for power.
"It may be an attempt by the supreme leader to not let them get too powerful," he said.
Ahmadinejad — who is locked in a bitter standoff with the West over its disputed nuclear program
JON WOLFSTHAL International Security Expert
"There are lots of tactical gambits
Warned Wednesday that Iran would "cut off the hands of invaders" if attacked.
Speaking to a crowd in Kerman, about 650 miles southeast of Tehran, the president said Iran would
continue to resist attempts to curtail development of nuclear technology for peaceful, electric-generating purposes.
"Our nation will not give up its right even an iota," he said. "In the important nuclear issue, implementation of justice is the demand of Iranian nation. Our nation says, 'laws for everyone, rights for everyone.'"
His comments came ahead of another U.N. Security Council deadline for Iran — this one in late May — to halt uranium enrichment program or face more sanctions.
The Security Council first imposed limited economic sanctions on Iran in December, then strengthened them in March over Iran's continued refusal to suspend enrichment.
>> INTERNET PREDATORS
Four area men accused of sex crimes
BY ANDALE GROSS ASSOCIATED PRESS
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Four area men have been accused of Internet sex crimes against children. One is a 41-year-old Ottawa man accused of traveling to Tennessee to have sex with someone he thought
was a minor he had met over the Internet.
Another is a 40-year-old man accused of operating a file-sharing program in Overland Park that allowed others to download
"This is evidence of how serious this problem is." Melgren said Wednesday at a news conference at the Robert J. Dole Federal Courthouse.
"This is evidence of how serious this problem is."
Roger Albert Butter, of Ottawa, has been charged with traveling to Tennessee to engage in sex with a minor and using a telephone and
child-porn movies and images of their choice.
Federal indictments were unsealed this week charging those two and two others with Internet child-sex crimes. All four men have been arrested and released on bond, said Jim Cross, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren.
The unrelated cases were filed as part of the U.S.Justice Department's Project Safe Childhood, which is targeted at people who sexually exploit children through the Internet.
ERIC MELGREN U.S. ATTORNEY
computer to solicit a minor. The alleged incidents occurred from November 2003 through November 2004.
Brian D. Harris,Overland Park, is accused of possessing
» Ronald R. Ullman, 62, of Olathe, is charged with using a computer to attempt to solicit a minor for sex and possessing child pornography from December 2005 to May 2006.
Steven Shelley, 49, of Hutchinson, is charged with using a computer to attempt to solicit a minor to engage in sex, and possessing and distributing child pornography in February and November
and distributing child pornography in November.
2006.
Melgren said parents should be more aware of their children's computer habits. He said teens often post information about themselves online without realizing it can make them easier targets for child predators.
"We need to know what our kids are doing and teach them not to engage in conversations with people they don't know and not to post all their vital stats," Melgren said. "They might be doing this for peer-to-peer, friendly reasons. But there are people out there who will take advantage of that."
"More law enforcement has been trained and know what to look for, and more community people are aware," he said.
Melgren said it was getting easier for law enforcement officers to investigate and prosecute Internet sex crimes.
Jeff Lanza, a special agent with the FBI office in Kansas City, Mo., said the U.S. attorney's office and other agencies have to continue to work as a team if they want to stay ahead of the Internet crime problem.
"It's an epidemic of predators out there." Lanza said.
CAREGIVERS (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
She said Home Helpers was one of several Lawrence caregiving businesses to open in the last year. But the effort of
After completing their first of two years of the master's in social work program, students in the aging program receive internships with
couldn't."
more info
aging people's needs will reach beyond caregiving, she said. New careers dealing with the elderly could arise in the fields of medicine, social work, computers; communication technology and law
To find out more about the aging-related internship program for master's in social work students, contact Doreen Higgins at dhiggins@ku.edu.
>>> To find out about jobs with Home Helpers, visit www.homehelpers.cc.```
ogy and law.
stipends at local aging-related agencies.
She said studies had shown that only about 5 percent of people older than 65 live in nursing homes.
The School of Social Welfare began a program this year to encourage its master's in social work students to specialize in aging-related work with the help of a three-year grant from the John A. Hartford Foundation, an organization that aims to ensure care for the nation's older population.
VerMaas said she applied for her job with Home Helpers partly because she was a nursing student, and she wanted to make sure she was fit to enter a caregiving profession. The job has helped her feel more confident in her career choice, she said.
Julie Mettenburg, director of the Lawrence Home Helpers franchise, agreed that elderly caregiving jobs could be a good career step for students of social work, nursing or other caregiving occupations.
Doreen Higgins, a doctoral student who coordinates the program, said the national population of adults older than 65 years old, currently about 35 million was proto debunk those myths," Higgins said. "They find it a very rewarding experience."
jected to double by 2030.
"You learn really the challenges that the elderly are dealing with, from legal to financial," Mettenburg said. "It's a real eye-opener when you work with them."
Kansan staff writer Matt Erickson can be contacted at merickson@ kansan.com.
She said the need for social workers to work with the elderly was compounded by many people's misconceptions about older people: that most older people are mentally incompetent, live in nursing homes and feel miserable all the time.
"When students have a chance to work with older people, they're able
A close-knit bond with fellow desk assistants as well as residents was the reason Zarda returned night after night, despite peculiar hours and the occasional resident fracas.
ducks with fellow deskies.
- Edited by Lisa Tilson
"You have to draw the line between 'Hey, what's up', and 'Hey, it's my job.' he said.
McCollum Hall is the largest resident hall on campus, a cornucopia of freshmen, exchange students, nontraditional students and many others. Zarda said McCollum Hall was like a three-wing, 900-resident home that he and his 19 deskie comrades baby-sat.
DESKIES (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
The tightly-knit McCollum community was reason in itself for staying, he said. He initially took the job because he would often hang out at the desk when he was a McCollum resident and had friends who worked as deskies.
"I probably know everyone here," she said. "Everyone knows everyone somehow."
Stephanie Hart, Galena, III. junior and McCollum deskie for almost two years, said the people made the job fun and worth working.
Hart and Zarda said they didn't mind shifts that went long into the night.
For Zarda, working residence hall security from 11 in the evening to seven in the morning wasn't uncommon, performing routine security rounds and checking students into the building. This semester, all but one of Zarda's shifts started after 11 p.m.
"The hours are what makes it a hard job," he said. "Most jobs are eight hours a day. Problem is, it's eight hours at night."
At times, the odd hours not only entail the middle of the night, but
also the day before Christmas.
He brought a feast of Cheetos, Pringles and Ramen Noodles to work, but when he arrived, the main-floor lobby was stuffed with tables and food.
One of the resident assistants was there with her family. Her dad approached Zarda and invited him for turkey, gravity and pie — he agreed and joined the community of diners in the lobby.
Kansan staff writer Brian Lewis-Jones can be contacted at bljones@kansan.com.
One Christmas Eve, Zarda came to a lengthy shift that he thought "was going to blow."
"I was sitting there, eating, thinking "This is something else," he said.
Edited by Mark Vierthaler
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