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“IMAN ABBASI” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E38-E39 on Jan. 7, 2011.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
IMAN ABBASI
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HON. TED POE
of texas
in the house of representatives
Friday, January 7, 2011
Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, in just a few days, on January 9, Iraqi authorities will deport the Abbasi family to Iran where they face certain persecution.
The Abbasis are political refugees. Their father got in trouble in Iran because he dared to write that Iranians actually deserve freedom. He wrote that every man should be able to have a say in who governs them. This simple idea is the very foundation on which our great Nation was built and the fundamental, universal human right of all mankind. But the tiny tyrant of Iran did not like that. He saw Mr. Abbasi as a threat to his power.
The regime, having tasted power, is doing whatever it can to keep it. That includes imprisoning, torturing, and murdering anyone who so dares speak against it. But these are desperate actions from a desperate regime. When a regime loses respect for its own people, its days are numbered.
As he has done with thousands of other Iranian freedom fighters, Ahmadinejad came after Mr. Abbasi. So Mr. Abassi fled to Sweden. But when he did, Iranian authorities started going after his family still in Iran. So they fled too, but could only get to Iraq before being imprisoned by Iraqi authorities for not having their immigration papers. Now the Iraqi government wants to deport his daughter, Iman Abbasi, back to Iran, which is all but a death sentence for her. I talked to the State Department about Iman today and they are working on making sure that Iman is allowed to remain in Iraq until they can sort out her refugee status.
We have seen enough of Iraqi authorities doing favors for its neighbor to the East. At Camp Ashraf, a camp in the middle of the Iraqi desert full of freedom fighters from Iran, Iraqis and their Iranian buddies psychologically torture the residents. They put up dozens of loudspeakers surrounding the camp and shout at residents around the clock, telling them to go home to their motherland and stop being traitors.
We must send a clear message to Iraq: as long as it is ruled by the tiny tyrant and his henchmen, Iran is not a friend you can trust. If you side with them, then you side with oppression and tyranny. So stop imprisoning political refugees and stand up for the freedom that so many of our countrymen and yours have given their lives for.
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