Iran protests detention of nationals in US
AFP via IranMania
Saturday, December 21, 2002
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Photo:
http://www.iranmania.com/News/Photoes/General/Top/250hamidreza_asefi040202.jpg Foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi.
/Behrouz Mehri
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TEHRAN, Dec 21 (AFP) - Iran described as "unjustifiable" Saturday tough new US immigration regulations that have sparked a wave of detentions of expatriate Iranians.
"The US government is using violence, threats and pressure both in its foreign policy and in acts inside the country towards Iranians," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi complained.
US officials on Friday said that as many as 450 men of Middle Eastern descent, mostly Iranians, were detained when they voluntarily showed up to register under new anti-terror rules.
But senior Muslim leaders in Los Angeles said community leaders told them that more than 1,000 had been picked up in the roundup.
"This measure is a violation of civil rights and international norms, and Iran's foreign ministry is very concerned and deems it as unjustifiable," Asefi said.
The editors of a number of Iranian newspapers also joined the protest, complaining in an open letter to US journalists over the "inappropriate measures by the US immigration office towards our compatriots".
"Our great nation has never accepted violent and illogical acts against civilians, an example of which was the expression of opposition by all Iranian people to the September 11 (2001) attacks," they wrote.
"But unfortunately some have been abusing the situation to violate human rights and other freedoms," said the letter from seven reformist newspapers, which added that "the Iranian people have repeatedly underlined that the powerful Zionist lobbies were building a wall of mistrust between Iran and the United States."
The new US rules, under which some 35 million citizens of targeted countries will have to register in stages over the next three years, and the detentions -- which overwhelmingly singled out Iranians in southern California -- have outraged Muslim residents of the United States.
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