|
Iran suggests
formation of new Middle Eastern Parliament
“Iran suggested on Tuesday that a new Parliament be
formed to group much of the Middle East and Southern Asia, operating much like
the 27-nation European Parliament does today.
The announcement, the first of its kind by a senior
Iranian official, was made by the country’s Prosecutor-General Qorban-Ali Dorri
Najafabadi. His remarks were carried by the official news agency IRNA and other
state media.
Speaking at a conference dubbed 'Building a Confident
Future for Southwest Asia', Dorri Najafabadi also urged states situated next to
the Persian Gulf to draw up a joint defence plan.
"If a powerful bloc was formed in the region, the
foreigners would never dare to interfere in the region’s affairs, and we would
not witness problems such as those currently existing in Iraq, Lebanon and
Palestine”, he said.
He called for more judicial cooperation among states in
the region – a controversial call given the Islamic Republic’s strict
interpretation of Sharia Law.
The radical Shiite cleric proposed that a “unified
regional parliament” be formed to meet the interests of all countries in the
region.
Southwest Asia is generally considered to include Iran,
Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. It stretches from the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt
to Afghanistan.
Dori Najaf-Abadi was for
several years the chief of the theocratic state’s dreaded secret police, known
as the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS). He resigned when an MOIS
top deputy was implicated in the murder of dozens of dissident Iranian
intellectuals and writers.”
|
The Middle East