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Iranian Sports Chief Says He Was Insulted By U.S. Police
TEHRAN, Feb 29 (News Agencies) - A senior Iranian sports official said Wednesday he has cancelled a planned visit to the United States because of "inappropriate behavior" by U.S. officials in Toronto Airport, the official IRNA news agency reported.
"I was scheduled to attend a meeting of representatives of skiing federations from different countries in Salt Lake City in the United States," Farshid Alizadeh, deputy head of Iran's Skiing Federation told IRNA by phone from Toronto.
He said that the U.S. officials wanted to fingerprint and photograph him, adding that he was kept in a "place for offenders" for nearly two hours.
"Due to the inappropriate behavior I made up my mind to leave the airport," Alizadeh said. "It is regrettable that the Americans who call themselves supporters of human rights behave in this way," he added.
The United States and Iran severed diplomatic ties in 1980, following the hostage taking at the U.S. embassy in Tehran that year. But contacts have developed, particularly in the area of sports, since the victory of reformist President Mohammad Khatami in elections in 1997.
Iranian sportsmen have frequently complained over U.S. customs and police officers taking their fingerprints, saying it is an affront to human rights.
More than 50 Iranian MPs voiced support back in November for a measure to require U.S. nationals to be fingerprinted and body-searched upon arrival in Iran, "to treat Americans traveling to this country just like the U.S. government has been treating Iranians there," an Iranian newspaper reported at the time.
Others, however, saw it as a threat to badly needed foreign investment and a blot on Iran's efforts to improve its image in the West.
Observers say that relations with the U.S., while still tricky, are on the verge of improving dramatically as Iran comes closer to its neighbors, many of them U.S. allies.
Iran is becoming more popular in the playground of international politics, largely reflecting domestic changes and Khatami's concerted international charm.
In addition, Iranian relations with Gulf states, Arab nations, and the EU have gone through a sea-change.
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