Iran rejects IAEA chief’s remarks
Tehran, Feb 20: Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani has dismissed the recent comments by the head of the UN nuclear organisation that Iran was not fully transparent about its nuclear activities. Kanaani on Monday was responding to the remarks made by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi at a summit in Dubai on February 13, where he said Iran was “presenting a face which is not entirely transparent” and this “increases dangers”. The Spokesman told a weekly press conference in Tehran that Iran’s nuclear activities are entirely peaceful and in accordance with international rules and regulations and the safeguards agreement with the IAEA, Xinhua news agency reported. He said Iran was exercising its rights and fulfilling its obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and that developing nuclear weapons had no place in Iran’s military doctrine, as stressed by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. (IANS)
Imran’s party demands CEC’s resignation
Islamabad, Feb 20: Jailed former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan’s party on Tuesday reiterated its demand for Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja’s immediate resignation for failing to hold “free and fair” elections after allegations of massive poll rigging emerged. The 71-year-old former cricketer-turned-politician’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party demanded the CEC’s resignation, asserting that he had “no right to stay in the position for a single day,” the Dawn newspaper reported. “After meeting Khan sahib today, the PTI demands that the CEC resign. He has no right to stay in the position for a single day,” Barrister Gohar Khan said outside Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, where the PTI founder has been jailed. Gohar Khan demanded the immediate resignation of the CEC, saying that he failed to hold elections in a free, fair and transparent manner, according to the report. He also demanded that all the inquiries into poll discrepancies be impartial and without any interference. “We want the election results to be in accordance with the mandate of the public,” Gohar Khan was quoted as saying in the report. (PTI)
Assange starts final UK legal battle to avoid extradition
London, Feb 20: Julian Assange’s lawyers will begin their final UK legal challenge on Tuesday to stop the WikiLeaks founder from being sent to the United States to face spying charges. Assange has been fighting extradition for more than a decade, including seven years in self-exile in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and the last five years in a high-security prison. Dozens of supporters holding “Free Julian Assange” signs and chanting “there is only one decision – no extradition” held a noisy protest outside the High Court in London, where Assange’s attorneys will ask two High Court judges to grant a new appeal hearing, his last legal roll of the dice in Britain. If the judges rule against Assange, he can ask the European Court of Human Rights to block his extradition – though supporters worry he could be put on a plane to the US before that happens. Supporters plan to demonstrate outside the court building on both days and march to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Downing Street office at the end of the hearing. (AP)