Cleric Scorns US Allegations about Human Rights

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Tehran’s interim Friday Prayers leader Ahmad Khatami blasted the US for removing proofs and evidence on interrogation and torture of Guantanamo inmates, describing the move as a big scandal for an administration which claims to be the forerunner of human rights.

“Americans themselves issue orders for making the arrests and then they torture the inmates and film the scenes, and when all the people are informed of these catastrophes, they issue an order for the destruction of the proofs and removal of all traces of the crime and yet they claim that they are defenders of human rights,” Ayatollah Khatami said during his address to a large congregation of worshippers on Tehran University Campus here today.

“This is seriously a big scandal for the US administration,” he added.

The cleric further pointed to a recent US National Intelligence Estimate on Iran, which concluded that Tehran is running a peaceful nuclear program, and cautioned that the Islamic Republic views the NIE report neither as a big political victory nor something unimportant.

He stated that the report has both some positive and negative points.

“One of the positive points is its explicit acknowledgement of the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program since 2003, while they have also confessed that Iran has made a long stride in nuclear technology and this acknowledgement by the enemy is a success and a source of pride for our system,” Khatami said.

Meantime, he reminded that the NIE report also contained some weak points, including those parts which allege that ” Iran had been seeking nuclear weapons and was obliged to halt its military nuclear programs in 2003 as a result of the US pressures. That’s an American lie repeatedly stated by the US statesmen”.

Khatami said that previous policies and measures adopted by the other side have made Iran suspicious about such moves, stressing, “Basically we should be pessimistic towards every move the enemy makes; if there is a smile on his face, we should say that’s satanic. So, we consider the report neither a big political victory nor something of less value and we maintain our vigilance.”

“Our Islamic system is watching all the moves of the enemy very closely and carefully,” he concluded.