Washington, Apr 16 (AFP/PTI) US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should formally brand Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and 25 other current and former Iranian officials as human rights abusers, senators urged today.
"We urge you to designate President Ahmadinejad as an Iranian human rights abuser," Republican Senators Mark Kirk and Jon Kyl, Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and Independent Senator Joe Lieberman pressed Clinton in a letter.
The lawmakers pointed to Clinton's comments, in a March 2 Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing, that there was "certainly evidence" that Iran's leadership, including Ahmadinejad, abused human rights.
The senators also noted that the European Union had designated 32 current or former Iranian officials as rights abusers, and that the United States has only done the same for seven of the people on that list.