Iranian women delgation denied US entry
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.Speaking to IRNA upon her arrival at Mehrabad International Airport here, Kermani said the nine members of the delegation were not able to attend the 51st session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women as they were denied entry visas by the US.
Challenging the rationale behind the choice of the US as the host country of the United Nations, Kermani said the US cannot arbitrarily prevent representatives of member nations from attending meetings of the world body.
She said her opinion was echoed by other participants of the session, who called the move of the US officials of preventing the Iranian delegation from attending the session as “an offense.” “If the UN is to be under the unquestioned influence of a country (the US), it would be better not to call it the United Nations any more,” Kermani complained.
She expressed regret that the US was discriminating against certain members of the UN while proclaiming itself to be a champion of democracy.
“Washington publicly claims to be a defender of women’s rights but prevents a legitimate Iranian women delegation from taking part in a UN conference that is to promote women’s status,” Kermani said.
The legislative official also stated, “The measure reveals that the US statesmen do not believe in equal rights for the world nations, specially when it pertains to women’s rights. In fact, the US defends the kind of rights that are defined and regulated in compliance with its own interests while the beliefs and interests of other nations and governments are of no value to the residents of the White House.”
March 4th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
This is the first I have heard of this, and it is a shame and a crime. The Bush neocons are really fools to do this, and something should be done about it.
Ya Haqq!
March 5th, 2007 at 12:46 am
yes, this was not at all covered in any of the press US and/or European — the info. is from the Iranian press — the neo-cons and thier friends don’t want any humanizing contact with Iran that would run counter to their demonizing campaign.
March 5th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
FYI for readers, I don’t consider this blog a debate blog, nor do I care much for the notions of “free speech” especially when one side of the speech is so powerful, while the other side is so supressed… Individuals with views other than my own, are, of-course, free to say what they want on their own blogs — (So, I’m quite happy with *not* having 10s, and 100s of comments like some of the other blogs out there :-))
A comment that I did not approve, quoted the neo-con/Bernard Lewis friendly Azar Nafisi (reading lolita fame) in response to this story — an excellent critique of Nafisi is available here: