Ahmadinejad: More Jewish roots surface

Claims have resurfaced about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s possible Jewish heritage. 

A close-up of Mr Ahmadinejad holding up his identity card has been released, showing that the Iranian President’s previous name was Saburjian.

The Jewish Chronicle reported in July that Iranian blogger Dr Mehdi Khazali was detained after writing on his website earlier this year for writing about the name change from Saburjian, a name thought to be Jewish in origin.

The name is thought to derive from “weaver of the Sabour”, the word for a tallit in Persian and the name is on the list of Iranian Jews compiled by Iran's Ministry of the Interior.

The family is thought to have changed their name to Ahmadinejad after converting to Islam.

During the election campaign, reformist candidate Mehdi Karroubi also challenged Ahmadinejad in a live TV debate to give his full name.

Experts on Iran were sceptical about the claims when they first surfaced. continues here

EDITOR'S Comment: They keep trying don’t they ,go against them and everything and anything is used to disparage, discredit or ridicule ,be that by lying, smear or operation…

Nick Griffin appeals for donations as BNP ‘fights for its existence’

Nick Griffin has warned that the BNP is on the verge of collapse and has written to every party activist appealing for money, The Times has learnt.

As he prepares to make his debut on BBC1’s Question Time next month, the far-right leader urged supporters to hand over £150,000 to “keep the wolves at bay”. He said that attacks on the party were to blame for its ailing fortunes, singling out Operation Black Vote, which campaigns for ethnic minority candidates. Mr Griffin accused the organisation of trying “to flood the party in order to take over and destroy it”.

He insisted that his party had spent wisely the £600,000 it used to fight the European election campaign in June. Fresh questions have been raised about the party’s financing because no single donation was registered to the Electoral Commission during the relevant quarter.

Mr Griffin added: “Our success [in the European elections] has unleashed the furies of hell against us, now our very existence is being challenged, and it is costing us dear! Precisely because of our political success we are now fighting for our very existence!”.

The party has devised a special life-membership package, costing £395 which includes a watch inscribed with F.S.I.D — Freedom, security, identity, democracy — as part of the opening offer. New members also get a life-membership certificate parchment scroll and a limited edition signed portrait of Mr Griffin, as well as a gold embossed life-membership card. In the elections in June, the party achieved its best result, gaining two seats in the European Parliament after an aggressive leafleting campaign around the country.

Last month Peter Wardle, the chief executive of the Electoral Commission, said that the watchdog would assess the BNP’s accounting systems. Mr Griffin said yesterday that donations needed to be registered only if they exceeded £5,000 and that most of the BNP’s funding comes from branch meetings and from a large members database where people donate £10-£20. He said that there were no outstanding issues with the commission as far as he was aware.

Mr Griffin will appear with a panel including Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, on an edition of Question Time to be recorded in London on October 22. continues here

EDITOR'S Comment: Didn't the Times used to be an honest newspaper or at least less of a gutter press rag.