Protestors Denounce Iranian President as 'Terrorist'
Two of the Americans seized by Iranian students in the 1979 hostage crisis staged a protest yesterday afternoon of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, outside Tehran's mission to the United Nations.
Yesterday's protest, timed to coincide with Mr. Ahmadinejad's speech before the 60th session of the General Assembly, was also meant to raise American awareness and to prompt congressional action against the Islamic Republic, one of the former hostages, Barry Rosen, said.
The protesters - actors hired to dramatize the ex-hostages' grievances- wore execution-style black blindfolds and wore placards around their necks with the names and photographs of former hostages. Standing before them, Mr. Rosen, a New York resident and an instructor at Columbia University, Teachers College, gestured toward an orange banner that proclaimed "52 hostages + 444 days + 25 years = No justice." He spoke of being held and interrogated at gunpoint by his Iranian captors, and he said, "Never in 25 years were we compensated in any way, shape, or form."
This article, written by Meghan Clyne, appeared in the September 15th, 2005 edition of The Sun.
Published Monday, Oct. 3, 2005