US caught off-guard by Iran sanctions
Thu Jul 7, 2011 1:1PM
By Kourosh Ziabari
A view of Iran's Parliament (Majlis)
The decision by Iran's Parliament (Majlis) to impose sanctions on and indict 26 US officials who have perpetrated war crimes and violated human rights has come as a great surprise to the US government that has always accused independent nations such as Iran of violating human rights and supporting terrorism.
The reputation of the United States as a country which has conventionally introduced itself as the number one defender of democracy and a staunch advocate of human rights is now at stake with the decision of the Iranian Parliament (Majlis) to indict in absentia 26 US officials who have, during the past decades, violated human rights, sponsored terrorism and taken part in large-scale drug trafficking.
According to the members of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of Iran's Parliament (Majlis), Iran will prosecute 26 current and former American officials on various charges ranging from authorizing the killing of innocent civilians to ordering the incarceration of political activists without a court hearing.
From among the 26 people on the list, Paul Bremer, the US civilian administrator in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein, and Gen. Tommy Franks, who was the head of the US Central Command during the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, caught the attention of the US mainstream media the most; however, the name of each of these US officials who are to be prosecuted by Iran brings to mind an aggressive and hostile movement by the US and its policymakers which the international community cannot overlook.
According to the Iranian lawmakers who have put forward the proposal, the dossier of these 26 officials will be referred to international courts after they are tried in Iran in absentia.
Read more http://www.presstv.ir/detail/188020.html
