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
