MISTREATMENT OF IRANIANS IN THE "LAND OF THE FREE"
By Dr. Shaheen Fatemi
PARIS, 22 Dec. (IPS) As the US authorities said most of the Iranians detained in recent days at INS offices were released, some of them on bails, and insisted the protesters had "bias against the system" and had exaggerated the figures, a veteran Iranian scholar and political activist in Paris regretted that the arrests coincided with President George W. Bush's message to the Iranian people assuring them of American backing for their struggle for democracy and freedom.
Groups representing Iranian and Arab immigrants in Southern California estimated Wednesday that between 500 and 700 men and boys, mostly Iranians, had been arrested in Southern California when they appeared at Immigration and Naturalization Service offices in response to a government order to register and be fingerprinted. INS officials, speaking anonymously, said that they did not dispute those figures.
Jorge Martinez, a Justice Department spokesman denounced reports that detainees, put at between 500 to 1000, most of them Iranians, had been treated badly -- shoved into overcrowded cells or hosed down with cold water -- calling the charges made by lawyers and relatives of detainees "preposterous allegations."
"I think these are people who obviously have some bias against the system blowing things out of proportion", he said.
Under INS rules, men and boys older than 16 from certain countries who are in the United States on temporary visas are required to register. Citizens of the first five countries covered -- Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya and Sudan -- were required to register by Monday of this week. People from an additional 13 countries are required to register in January.
In Southern California, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, the Iranian American Lawyers Assn., the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Muslim Public Affairs Council and the Japanese American Citizens League were among the groups that called on the government to end the registration program or extend registration deadlines.
Representatives of the one million Iranian community in the US, considered as the most educated, wealthiest and less turbulent of immigrants have strongly protested to the Administration for the "unjust, unfair and humiliating" treatment the Iranians, and with them many Muslim immigrants, have suffered and called on the authorities to put an "immediate end" to the practice.
"It is indeed ironic that in the same day when on the occasion of inauguration of "Radio Farda" the President of the United States sends a message of hope and sympathy to the "people of Iran", hundreds of other Iranians, holding the same convictions as their fellow Iranians inside the country, are incarcerated in America", wrote Dr Shahin Fatemi, a professor of Economics at the American University of Paris.
In a blistering comment published Saturday by the Paris-based "Iran va Jahan" (Iran and the World) website, Mr. Fatemi, said: "If there is one country in the world today where President Bush is even more popular than he is at home, it must be Iran. There seems to be perfect harmony between what the people of Iran feel and the messages that the President sends. In his latest radio message he most eloquently emits a profound message of understanding, support and hope to our besieged people inside:
"The people of Iran want to build a freer, more prosperous country for their children, and live in a country that is a full partner in the international community. Iranians also deserve a free press to express themselves to help build an open, democratic and free society. My thoughts and prayers are with the Iranian people, particularly the families of the many Iranians who are in prison today for daring to express their hopes and dreams for a better future. We continue to stand with the people of Iran in your quest for freedom, prosperity, honest and effective government, judicial due process and the rule of law. And we continue to call on the government of Iran to respect the will of its people and be accountable to them".
"On the same day that the Iranians inside hear this hopeful message, they also receive the shock of the distressing news that hundreds of other Iranians who have in effect sought asylum in the 'land of the free' have been jailed in America! Whatever, the reason for this action, its emotional impact must be very hard to bear for a people who have looked up to America as the only nation of importance not bought-off by the gangsters of the Islamic Republic of Iran", he observed, adding:
The government and the people of the United States are fully aware of the fascist nature of the regime in Iran and the President has branded the regime as a member of the "Axis of Evil", while clearly drawing a line of distinction between the people and the "imposed regime".
"However, this logic has not been followed in action and legislation", Dr. Fatemi regretted.
One could rightly wonder why the Iranian people in America are not receiving the same treatment as the Cubans who also have been driven from their homeland by a totalitarian dictatorship? Is the government of IRI in any respect less hostile to the United States or less brutal to its own citizens than the regime of Fidel Castro? Why aren't the Iranians in the United States treated in the same manner and receive the same respect and protection, which was granted to the "refugees" from the former Soviet Union and the former East European socialist dictatorships?
Apparently ever since the advent of the "Miserable Revolution" in Iran, which was followed by the savage act of "diplomatic hostage taking", no one in Washington has taken the time to separate the victims from the culprits. Perhaps now that for the first time there seems to be a sympathetic administration in Washington, the Iranian community in America and their friends should make this effort and clarify the issues.
Perhaps it takes nothing short of an Act of Congress in clearly identifying the Iranian community in the United States as the victims of a brutal and terrorist regime that has forced them out of their native land, deserving the same rights and respects historically awarded to other groups and peoples who have sought refuge in American from oppression and injustice in their homeland. ENDS US DETAINS IRANIANS 221202