http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=124957An activist lawyer who has established a career of keeping government accountable says he is demanding documentation from the Obama administration regarding its policy on Iran, because its "appeasement" has "humiliated" the nation's heritage of supporting freedom.
Attorney Larry Klayman
Larry Klayman, who founded Judicial Watch and later established Freedom Watch USA to battle corruption and fight for basic rights around the globe, told WND today he was submitting the documentation demanding public records under the Freedom of Information Act about the issue.
He said any legal action would follow, depending on what documentation is released by the White House.
Klayman earlier filed a lawsuit against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over the death of a freedom protester there and then followed up by serving him notice of the case during a visit to New York.
Today, Klayman, the author of WHORES: Why and How I Came to Fight the Establishment, blamed Obama and other Western leaders for the Iranian regime's success in halting dissent by opposition activists during the nation's celebration yesterday of the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.
"One only hopes that the increased torture, imprisonment and executions, which have not been challenged by President Obama, have not broken the movement completely," he said.
Klayman said the success of the powers in Iran – which he called a "Nazi-like regime" – can be attributed to Obama "as he and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have pursued a bankrupt policy of appeasement which has not only ignored human rights, but humiliated the proud American heritage of supporting those that fight for their freedom."
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Instead of aligning with the beleaguered victims of human rights violations, Klayman said, "this president and the rest of the West have prostrated themselves at the altar of these neo-Nazis and today it has become clear that these fascists have no respect for either him or American power."
According to the Times Online, the Iranian regime "thwarted" hopes that the anniversary events would turn into a demand for freedom by swamping the events with its own supporters.
The report said a young woman named Leila Zareii was killed and many others arrested and injured. It said opposition leaders Mehdi Karroubi and Mohammed Khatami, a former president, were attacked.
It said even the granddaughter of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who led the 1979 revolt, was arrested by forces that used helicopters, anti-riot vehicles, water cannons and disrupted mobile phone and Internet services.
"President Obama's naïve foreign 'Carteresque' Iran policy has harmed not only the Iranian Green Freedom Movement, but disgraced our own country. I and all Americans should demand that he take off the gloves and support these brave freedom fighters, not with meaningless sanctions, but as The Washington Post recently urged covert action to remove the regime," Klayman said. "In this way both the people of Iran and the world will be served."
Klayman recently filed, in the face of U.S. government inaction, a $10 billion class action suit in federal court in Washington, D.C., against the Islamic regime for crimes against humanity. A trial is expected later this year, where victims will testify about the atrocities of the regime.
According to Xinhua, the official Chinese government news agency, Ahmadinejad said he expected Obama to do more to help him and his administration.
"We expected Mr. Obama to be able to make changes and we announced that we will help him," Ahmadinejad is quoted as saying. "Unfortunately, the hope (for) reform by him is turning to disappointment quickly."
Klayman's lawsuit against Iran is a class action case brought by an Iranian woman now living in Los Angeles whose brother was killed by the Muslim regime in Tehran.
According to the filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Akbar Mohammadi was a student at the University of Tehran and a critic of the Iranian regime. He was arrested during protests that followed the closure of a reformist newspaper.
"The protests were non-violent, but this did not stop the Iranian police and government agents from using violence and force to disperse and punish the protesters. … Akbar was taken into custody," the lawsuit explains.
"While in prison, Akbar was subjected to repeated bouts of torture and cruel and unusual forms of punishment, causing him to go deaf, and be in a constant state of agony. … It was recommended by doctors that he be transferred to other countries for treatment … but this request was denied."
Eventually his medications even were denied him, the claim states.
"Finally on July 31st, 2006, Akbar was murdered in Evin prison during a torture session, his long grueling prison term mercilessly ended by the regime," it states.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Akbar Mohammadi's sister, Nasrin, a plaintiff in the action, experienced the torture of her brother "through visits with him and communications back and forth."
Klayman's lawsuit against Ahmadinejad was filed under the Alien Tort Claims Act and cites allegations of supporting terror, torture, assault, battery and wrongful death.
Part of its purpose is to show President Obama he needs to speak out on behalf of freedom protesters who even in recent weeks have been challenging the Tehran regime, Klayman said.
WND reported earlier when Klayman took on another dictator, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.
His lawsuit filed on behalf of a class of torture victims in Venezuela later was expanded to add the CITGO corporation as a defendant, a move the attorney for the plaintiffs said will provide a source of damage payments.
The case originally was filed against Chavez by Klayman seeking damages for "assault, supporting terrorism, crimes against humanity, violations of civil and human rights, torture" and other crimes.
The case was filed on behalf of a class of victims in Venezuela who allegedly were subjected to torture, threats and massive rights violations by the defendants "and their agents, and also acting in concert with, aiding, abetting, facilitating, soliciting, directing, orchestrating and conspiring with the Colombian paramilitary group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), al-Qaida and the Taliban, and other terrorist groups, nation states and their collaborators in those atrocities."
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