Iran urges meetings on Mideast

Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani has called for emergency meetings of the Asian and Islamic parliaments on the ongoing critical situation in Bahrain, Libya and Yemen.

Larijani called for such meetings in separate letters to Edward Ssekandi, chairman of the Parliamentary Union of the Organization of the Islamic Conference Member States, and Mahmoud al-Abrash, chairman of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA), IRIB website reported on Friday.

In his letter to Edward Ssekandi, Larijani condemned foreign military intervention in Bahrain aimed at depriving the Bahrainis of their inalienable rights to determine their own fate.

“Why the Muslim people of Bahrain should be attacked by foreign forces only because of their totally peaceful protest against the unjust measures of the ruling system and their call for participation in determining their own fate?”

“This is while, under numerous international treaties, the right to determine fate is among inalienable rights and no power is allowed to deprive any nation of such right. Any kind of foreign invasion or meddling to repress protesters is interference in domestic affairs [of countries] and is a blatant violation of human rights.”

The Iranian parliament strongly denounces severe crackdowns on Bahrainis as a “serious threat” to regional and global peace and security and warns that a gloomy future would await the whole region if such “arbitrary” military measures are not brought to an end, the senior Iranian official said.

He warned those countries that invaded Bahrain to learn a lesson from the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and said those countries claiming to be advocates of human rights should be held accountable over the ongoing worsening situation in the region.

He called on the Parliamentary Union of the Organization of the Islamic Conference member states to hold an emergency meeting to help come up with a peaceful solution to the critical situation in Bahrain, Libya and Yemen.

In his letter to Mahmoud al-Abrash, Larijani also condemned “inhuman crimes” in Libya, Bahrain and Yemen and called for an emergency meeting of the APA or the troika of the APA on the situation in those countries as well as the quake-hit people of Japan.

More than 12 people have been killed and about 1,000 injured during the anti-government protests since February 14 in Bahrain.

Bahraini protesters have been demanding the ouster of the Al Khalifa monarchy and constitutional reforms.

To help the Bahraini government crush the anti-government protests, Saudi Arabia has deployed more than 1,000 troops to the country at the request of Manama.

In a similar move, the UAE has dispatched around 500 police forces to the oil-rich Persian Gulf monarchy.

Despite massive crackdowns, anti-government protests have also been going on in Yemen and Libya, where demonstrators demand an end to the rule of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi.