Sad events of SUTA reunion
I'm seriously pissed off by the way the Americans treated members of Sharif University alumni association (SUTA) who were on their way to a reunion in Santa Clara, California. Apparently more than 100 visa holders traveling to the United States to attend the event have had their visas revoked.
English Link at Los Angeles Times and ABC News, Persian link at BBC Persian [1] and [2].
About a dozen of the visitors, some traveling with spouses and children, were detained at San Francisco International Airport last week, and some were held overnight in what one described as "jail conditions".
By law, holding a US visa does not guarantee entrance to the United States, and I guess all visitors are aware of it, but treating visitors as dangerous criminals by handcuffing and taking them to jail is totally unacceptable and disgraceful, especially when you're dealing with the most well-educated and talented class of the Iranian society. It's a shame that our citizens are being oppressed on one hand by the Iranian government and on the other hand by the US government (the behaviours of both governments are similar in many ways!). What happened last week has left a very bad impression on everyone, and definitely won't help the dialogue between Iranian and American intellectuals. I'm disgusted.
i donna why this treatment occured and when we can
see a respectful dialogue between Iranian and American
(at August 10, 2006 04:03 AM)
This is just the result of two things: extreme paranoia and total ignorance towards world facts from the American side. A possible third fact is extreme optomisim from the side of ordinary Iranians that they're welcomed.
(at August 10, 2006 02:07 PM)
This is not overall a bad news for me 'cause I don't give a shit to America. The result would likely be that more Iranian people would get disappointed and alienated from US. I am actually happy that you are disgusted!!! Let there be more clashes between civilizations.
One consequence of such a treatment of Iranian professionals is that today I did NOT sympothize with the terror plan. After all, this is not my 'duty' to sympothize with everything that happens. I am actually apathetic towards west rather than sympathetic. And these are the results of their own policies.
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