 Attorney Larry Klayman being interviewed about an alleged assault by a member of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s entourage |
The New York City Police Department is covering up an alleged assault on a protester by a member of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s entourage, claims an attorney who just days ago served the radical Middle East leader with notice of a lawsuit over his terror campaign.
Larry Klayman of the government-watchdog Freedom Watch arrived on the scene in front of Ahmadinejad’s New York hotel Friday shortly after the attack. He said the female demonstrator, who had been protesting Iran’s government, asked him about representing her.
Suddenly, officers from both the NYPD and the U.S. Secret Service intervened, cutting off the conversation between Klayman and the woman and refusing to allow him further communication with her.
Klayman told WND the woman was a “peaceful protester” opposing the agenda of radical Islam in Iran. She suffered bloody injuries to her face, he said.
“I arrived on the scene just after the attack occurred,” Klayman said. “The person who was attacked asked me if I might consider representing her.
“Immediately the NYPD moved in. I asked if I could be present (when she was questioned). They told me to go away,” Klayman said. “They kept me from talking to what was then my client, even though she had asked for representation.”
A WND request for comment from the U.S. Secret Service generated a “no comment.” The New York City Police Department did not reply to requests for comment.
But a reporter with Washington International Network, an English-Farsi language news service, was on the scene and immediately captured video images, interviewing people in both languages:
The reporter, Rod Baharloo, identified the woman as Persian.
The lawsuit is a class action case by an Iranian woman now living in Los Angeles whose brother was killed by the Muslim regime in Tehran. It seeks in excess of $10 billion in damages.
Klayman, who is assembling support for the lawsuit, told WND the notice of the action had been given to Ahmadinejad.
“We used a prominent Middle Eastern network whose reporter handed it to an aide for Ahmadinejad,” he reported. “They handed the complaint to Ahmadinejad.”
According to the filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Akbar Mohammadi was a student at the University of Tehran and a critic of the Iranian regime. He was arrested during protests that followed the closure of a reformist newspaper.
“The protests were non-violent, but this did not stop the Iranian police and government agents from using violence and force to disperse and punish the protesters. … Akbar was taken into custody,” the lawsuit explains.
“While in prison, Akbar was subjected to repeated bouts of torture and cruel and unusual forms of punishment, causing him to go deaf, and be in a constant state of agony. … It was recommended by doctors that he be transferred to other countries for treatment … but this request was denied.”
Eventually his medications even were denied him, the claim states.
“Finally on July 31st, 2006, Akbar was murdered in Evin prison during a torture session, his long grueling prison term mercilessly ended by the regime,” it states.
 Mahmoud Ahmadinejad |
Akbar Mohammadi’s sister, Nasrin, a plaintiff in the action, experienced the torture of her brother “through visits with him and communications back and forth.”
Klayman described the most recent attack on a protester as an act of terrorism by the Iranian official. He confirmed he has the name of the woman, but he has been unable to follow up on their brief, aborted conversation.
He said the the protester has relatives in Tehran, and she is concerned for their safety.
Klayman told WND he literally walked into the situation.
“I saw this woman with people around her. She had been crying, saying she had been beaten up,” he told WND.
He was able to exchange a few words with her. But almost instantly, the New York officers and Secret Service took the woman inside a building and ordered the attorney to stay away. She emerged later and related how she had been warned that if she filed a complaint, the others involved also likely would file a cross-complaint, and her identity would emerge, he said.
“Then it hit me,” Klayman said. “They had to cover this thing up. This is an act of terrorism.”
Klayman’s earlier lawsuit against Ahmadinejad was filed under the Alien Tort Claims Act and cites allegations of supporting terror, torture, assault, battery and wrongful death.
Part of its purpose is to show President Obama he needs to speak out on behalf of freedom protesters who even in recent weeks have been challenging the Tehran regime, he said.
WND reported earlier when Klayman took on another dictator, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez.
His lawsuit filed on behalf of a class of torture victims in Venezuela later was expanded to add the CITGO corporation as a defendant, a move the attorney for the plaintiffs said will provide a source of damage payments.
The case originally was filed against Chavez by Klayman seeking damages for “assault, supporting terrorism, crimes against humanity, violations of civil and human rights, torture” and other crimes.
The case was filed on behalf of a class of victims in Venezuela who allegedly were subjected to torture, threats and massive rights violations by the defendants “and their agents, and also acting in concert with, aiding, abetting, facilitating, soliciting, directing, orchestrating and conspiring with the Colombian paramilitary group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), al-Qaida and the Taliban, and other terrorist groups, nation states and their collaborators in those atrocities.”
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