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Ahmadinejad's Ties To Blacklisted Organizations


The Iranian Intelligence Ministry has blacklisted 60 U.S. and international human rights and research organizations and accused them of being involved in a "soft war" against the Islamic Republic.

The Intelligence Ministry has said that all contacts with these organizations, which include Human Rights Watch and Yale University are banned.

Among the blacklisted organizations is the Council on Foreign Relations, where President Mahmud Ahmadinejad spoke in 2007.

And Iran’s Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki also attended a 2008 Q & A session at CFR.

Here is a link to the video.

The reformist website “Parlemannews” has already questioned why the Intelligence Ministry has blacklisted an organization where at least two senior Iranian officials from the current government have visited and talked with its members.

The question now is whether Ahmadinejad and Mottaki will face repercussions.

Parlemannews says if Iranian officials are still determined to say that the list is based on "legal issues" and not politically motivated, then they should send the names of those senior officials to the prosecutor over their ties to “subversive” organizations.

-- Golnaz Esfandiari

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