Iran Protests Against Detention of Nationals in US

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, December 22, 2002

Iran Protests Against Detention of Nationals in US

Iran on Saturday expressed its protest against tough US immigration regulations that have led to widespread detention of Middle Eastern nationals, mostly Iranians.

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Iran on Saturday expressed its protest against tough US immigration regulations that have led to widespread detention of Middle Eastern nationals, mostly Iranians.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi denounced the US measure was "unacceptable" as it was "not justified by any international standards."

US officials on Friday said that as many as 450 men of Middle Eastern descent, mostly Iranians, were detained in California when they voluntarily showed up to register under new anti-terror rules.

Asefi said "the US government has taken measures against those Iranians who, in American officials' own words, are among the eliteand educated of that country."

"This step of the American government contradicts international conventions on civil rights and Iran's Foreign Ministry regrets it," he added.

Asefi stressed that his ministry maintains its policy of seriously defending rights of Iranian nationals in every part of the world.

Meanwhile, Swiss Ambassador to Tehran Tim Goldimann, who represents US interests in Iran, was summoned to Iranian Foreign Ministry on Saturday to receive a protest against the US behavior.

The United States and Iran have severed relations since 1980 after Iranian students stormed the American embassy in Tehran in 1979 and took its staff hostage for 444 days.

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