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| | GEO World | | Obama slams Iran violence | Updated at: 0258 PST, Saturday, June 27, 2009
 WASHINGTON: U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday condemned the ongoing crackdown on Iranian opposition supporters protesting the disputed results of the country's recent presidential elections, and praised the protesters for their bravery in continuing with their demonstrations despite the crackdown and a government order banning protests on the streets.
"We see it and we condemn it," Obama said while addressing a a joint news conference with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Washington.
"The rights of the Iranian people to assemble, to speak freely, to have their voices heard - those are universal aspirations," Obama said. "Their bravery in the face of brutality is a testament to their enduring pursuit of justice. The violence perpetrated against them is outrageous."
Obama said that U.S. and Germany share "one voice" in condemning the ongoing post-poll crackdown in Iran, adding that the Iranian authorities cannot justify the "outrageous" behavior of crushing dissent by clamping down violently on their own people.
Obama's remarks came day after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was declared re-elected in the recent presidential elections, reacted to the U.S. President's earlier remarks on the situation in Iran and asked the U.S. president to stop "interfering" in his country's internal affairs.
Iranian news agencies quoted Ahmadinejad as saying that the U.S. President's recent remarks about the ongoing protests related to the just concluded presidential elections in Iran would lead to comparisons between his ideology and that of former U.S. President George. W Bush.
In his earlier comments, Obama had condemned the Iranian government's treatment of protesters as "unjust," adding that U.S. and the rest of the international community were "appalled and outraged" by what he said were the "threats, beatings, and imprisonments" of demonstrators. |  |
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