US: a Liberal or Police state? The case of Iranian student at UCLA

RI
looking at the footage from the brutal act by the Los Angeles Police against an Iranian-American student at the university campus, one can legitimately question whether the United States is a liberal country any more, as her leaders constantly advocate, or a police state, as the video showing the student stunned four to five times with a Taser at the University library clearly represents?

The footage, taken by another student using mobile phone, thanks to YouTube is currently available in the internet and since the incident on Tuesday night on 14 November it has become one of the most viewed videos in the site.

Mostafa Tabatabainejad, a 23 years old student of UCLA, who was born in America from an Iranian descent parents, was repeatedly stunned with a Taser and then taken into custody brutally by the police from CLICC Lab in Powell Library. The reason: Because he did not show his Bruin Card (the student ID) during a random check at around 11:30 p.m.!!

The six-minute video shows Tabatabainejad audibly screaming in pain as he was stunned with a Taser, each time for three to five seconds. He was told repeatedly to stand up and stop fighting, and was told that if he did not do so he would "get Tased again" whereas, he was paralysed initially due to the hostile use of the tasers.

The police department claimed that the student was not responding to the officers' request when they asked him to leave the library, however, the footage shows clearly that while Tabatabainejad was being dragged through the room by two officers repeated in a strained scream, "I'm not fighting you" and "I said I would leave."

Attorney Stephen Yagman said he plans to file a federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of the U.S.-born student, Mostafa Tabatabainejad. Yagman said his client declined to show his school ID because he thought he was being targeted for his appearance.

Several civil rights organizations, including Amnesty International and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), have called for an independent review.
CAIR urged "state and national authorities, including the FBI" to investigate the incident involving Mostafa.

The American-Islamic relations group says an outside probe's needed to make sure the case's "civil rights aspects" are taken seriously.

The Tabatabainejad footage was the third videotape of an arrest to surface in the last week in Los Angeles.

One video showed a Los Angeles Police Department officer dousing a handcuffed suspect in the face with pepper spray as the suspect sat in a patrol car.

That video came to light Monday, just days after the LAPD and the FBI launched investigations into another videotape showing a police officer hitting a suspect in the face several times after a foot chase in Hollywood.

See Mostafa footage @ YouTube
To see the UCLA TV University report go @ Daily Bruin

When the Israeli war criminal compares Iran to Germany in 1938!

RI

The war criminal Binyamin Netanyahu in his new campaign on threatening Iranians encouraged Americans for a full attack against Iran through every possible way.

In a speech at the United Jewish Communities' General Assembly (UJC-GA) at the Los Angeles Convention Centre on Monday 13 November 2006 he said, "Iran is Germany," and then added, "that is arming itself with atomic bombs and declaring it will destroy the Jewish State."
Likud party Chairman, repeated the Israelis media propaganda that Iran is developing nuclear weapon and then openly asked Americans to attack Iran before this country being able to get the bomb.

Based on his argument the world does not need to find evidence of wrong doing by Iranians and they have to trust Israelis in this case and go for the next phase even before the first stage (the proof of Iran's working on nuclear arsenal) being pursued.

The war criminal who is responsible for many attacks to Palestinian homes during his tenure as the prime minister of Israel also openly threatened Hamas, the elected government of Palestine and said Israelis can defeat Hizbollah and Hamas easily "if the right policy is used", - Say if Israel commits more atrocities against Palestinian and Lebanese civilians .

Netanyahu listed a number of options at Israel's disposal as a means of combating the Iranian nuclear threat and said "We must do everything to ensure that Bush holds to his promises to prevent a nuclear armed Iran."

Netanyahu claimed the international community was taking Iran's threats too lightly. He asked the American to act immediately to prevent Iran from developing her nuclear arsenal. Contrary to other Israeli leaders that normally are very careful in not openly make controversial propositions that should be said instead through their powerful media machine around the world, but this time Netanyahu has given the gaffe and openly threatened Iran and Palestinian people.

The video link below shows his speech. The site belongs to an Israeli journal and possibly when they find that its distribution would not serve to the regime's interest they will take it out of the site. So hurry it will not last long there:

To see the speech go @ jerusalemonline

Millions to raise voices against imperialist US and Britain over Iran, says Pilger

RI
The veteran journalist and documentary maker, John Pilger, once again is giving his account on the dangers that people are facing today as the new imperialist states, United States and Britain, are working hard on manipulating media around the globe to hide their real intentions for advocating wars and occupation.

On his recent article entitled Blood and Money in New Statesman to be published on Monday 07 November 2006, he says, "The promoters of an extreme form of capitalism known as neo liberalism, the supercult responsible for the greatest inequalities in history, are described as 'reformers' and 'revolutionaries'.

He continues, "The noble words 'freedom' and 'liberty' now refer to the divine right of this extremism to 'prevail', the jargon for dominate and control. This vocabulary, which contaminates the news and the pronouncements of the state and its bureaucracy, is from the same lexicon as Arbeit macht frei - 'Work makes you free' - the words over the gates at Auschwitz."

In another section he writes: British state terrorism in Iraq has cost more than £7bn. The real cost of Trident may be $76bn. Now it is more urgent than ever to raise our voices against Blair's mutant liberalism.

Pilger gives a heavy weight on the public morality and adds that, "Those who have peeled back the facades of the Blair and Bush gangs ought not to be des pondent."

He argues that, "the inspiring demonstration on 15 February 2003 may not have stopped an invasion, but the same universal power of public morality has, I believe, stalled attacks on Iran and North Korea, probably with 'tactical' nuclear weapons."

He adds that this moral force is undoubtedly stirring again all over the world, including the United States, and is feared by those who would contrive an "endless war".

Pilger concludes that, if he has learned nothing else from witnessing numerous bloody contrivances, it is never to underestimate the stamina of rampant, rapacious empire and the dishonesty of its "humanitarian interventions" and emphasises that, "Millions of us, who are the majority, need to raise our voices again, more urgently now than ever."

>>> Continued@ New Statesman

Honorary degree to Khatami, a sign of failed media war on demonising Iran

ReportIran

Offering a distinguished honorary doctorate degree to Mohammad Khatami, the former Iranian president by a British University is a fortunate sign of failed Neo-Conservatives and Israeli lobby media manipulation on demonising Iran and prominent Islamic figures, said Majid Khabazan, an Iranian journalist living in Britain.

In a speech at the Foreign Press Association (FPA) Tuesday evening 31 October in London, Khabazan said, "this clearly shows that millions of dollars investments especially by the US congress and Bush administration on media aiming to distort the facts in favour of what the warmongers are advocating has not been successful among the European elites."
FPA invited a panel on Tuesday to open up a discussion about the honoured degree and Khatami's record on human rights.

Apart from Khabazan, Hamid Sabi an Iranian Jew and a lawyer and campaigner against Islamic Republic of Iran and Peter Tatchell from Outrage, a hardline campaigner on human right issues were in the panel.

Despite the criticism from some well known anti-Iran political figures in the UK and huge media publicity against Mr Khatami, who also heads International Centre of Dialogue Among Cultures and Civilizations (ICDACC), St Andrews university has defended itself on honouring Khatami for the Law degree.

The degree was honoured in a special ceremony on Tuesday after university principal and vice-chancellor Dr Brian Lang read a message the university had received from the Vatican in connection with Mr Khatami's visit saying - "Inter-cultural dialogue and inter-religious dialogue are the vital necessities of our time. What better place than a university to carry forward this discussion?"

Referring to the huge investments that Israeli lobbies are making on major media publications in the UK and even new media such as internet and weblogs, Khabazan admired those who despite the massive media attacks against Muslims in general, or Islamic countries like Iran and specially in the last few weeks against a prominent Islamic figure such as Khatami, were brave enough to stand firm on their decision to honour the degree.

Khabazan called the media tycoons who tend to control and manipulate the news stories, "the real tyrants of the modern age" and added, "Thanks God independent figures in the UK proved that the tyrants hegemony over the media has not been successful in achieving their goals."
"The university is honouring a man not a system or the government of Iran and criticising Khatami and seek to put all the responsibilities of the Iranian governments on his shoulder is unfair and unjust," he emphasised.

Speaking to the journalists, human right campaigners and analysts on Iranian issues at the gathering Khabazan argued that in fact the Neo-Cons have never been happy of the presidency of a reformist figure such as Khatami as they, in essence, are against any democratic and reformist movement in Iran and indeed in the Middle East as a whole.

"Speaking about promoting democracy in the Middle East by the US is a gesture to posture the main goal which is the control over the natural resources of the region," said Khabazan adding that, " whereas the background of coup d'etats against the democratic governments such as Dr Mohammad Mossadeq in 1953 shows the opposite."
On a recent media campaign against Khatami a weekly in the UK printed a loose legal claim filed by the Iranian lawyer calling it a major attempt for arresting Khatami when he travels to the UK.

The Sunday Times wrote last Sunday,"The Metropolitan police have confirmed that they are investigating complaints lodged by two Iranian exiles who claim they were falsely imprisoned and brutally tortured while Khatami was in office."

The right wing weekly did not name the source at the Metropolitan police despite the fact that the authorities had very soon rejected the claim for "insufficient grounds."
Mr Hamid Sabi, who filed the complaint, on answering to a question from the audience at FPA was forced to admit that his act was politically motivated and he knew that he does not have enough evidence for the lawsuit.

But he did not answer that how the unfounded claims against Khatami could strongly appear in one of the major publications in the UK.

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