Last year, President Obama signed an executive order granting the international police agency INTERPOL the ability to operate inside the United States without the kind of restraints placed on American law enforcement agencies. INTERPOL is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act. Its staff and offices at the Department of Justice cannot be searched, and its files cannot be seized. It sounds harmless enough to those of us who follow the law, but the potential for misuse is rather obvious. Here is an example.
CBN News is reporting today on the story of Shahram Homayoun, an Iranian who fled his country 19 years ago because he feared for his life because he supported democracy and human rights.
According to the article:
"Homayoun owns a satellite television network in L.A. called Channel One TV. He broadcasts pro-democracy programming into Iran on a daily basis.
"Now Iranian officials want to silence him -- permanently. A prosecutor in the Iranian city of Shiraz recently issued an arrest warrant against Homayoun on charges of terrorism."
Mr. Homayoun has stated that he has never called for violence against the regime in Iran. He simply promotes the idea of democracy. The Iranian regime alerted INTERPOL to Mr. Homayoun as a terrorist. Because of this alert, all countries that are members of INTERPOL were notified of his 'terrorism.' Because of this alert, his bank accounts have been closed, and he has not been allowed to open new accounts. This action by the Iranian government may eventually result in the shutting down of his pro-democracy network. If that happens, the Iranian government has successfuly curtailed free speech in America. If tyrannical regimes begin to use INTERPOL as an extension of their tyranny, no one is safe.
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