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To: The Honorable Judges at the US Supreme Court
And for the attention of all
advocates of preserving the cultural heritages of humanity
According to the news sources, a Rhode Island lawyer has turned to the Iranian
collections of leading US museums to seek compensation for American victims of
Middle East suicide bombers. The reasoning being that Hamas, the terrorist group
guilty for such atrocity, is partially financed by Islamic regime that controls
Iran. He wants the University of Chicago to surrender a treasure trove of
ancient Persian artifacts to survivors. We know that a vast international fight
is being wedged against terrorism and believe that every action capable of
stopping stop it should be adopted. Nevertheless, we do not consider this legal
action anything tuned to that goal. It only seeks to liquidate the
non-transferable historical assets of a country into a source of material
satisfaction of a number of people who deserve all the sympathy and help of
every one of us. There are actually two points in this legal action that deserve
special consideration. First of all, in the words of the US President, we should
not punish the Iranian people for whatever the Islamic regime of Iran is doing
on the international arena. This is a nation kept under horrendous captivity
that needs international sympathy rather than punishment. Secondly, plundering
this nation?s cultural heritage, especially by taking them from their safe
public and educational holding places in museums and universities and giving
them to private individuals should be consider as a crime against the cultural
values of the whole civilized world. We strongly protest against this irrational
move and hope that no fair deciding authority would create such an ugly
precedence that only reminds us of Hitler?s decision to confiscate the cultural
treasures of embattled nations.
Shokooh Mirzadegi (Writer)
Dr. Esmail Nooriala (Writer)
And everyone who endorses this petition
June 30th 2006
Sincerely,
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/Irassets/petition.html