http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO27757/
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060910/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iranian_jews_lawsuit_1

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Iran Human Rights Documentation Center say Khatami was a moderate who worked largely in vain to expand political freedoms.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060909/us_nm/iran_bush_dc_2

Khatami has stressed themes of dialogue and co-existence during his U.S. tour, which includes a speech he gave at the Washington National Cathedral on Thursday and an appearance on Sunday at Harvard University.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1698965/posts

Families Of Kidnapped Persian Jews Sue Khatami In US Court

Law suit alleges visiting Iranian implemented anti-Semitic policy of torture and imprisonment

The families, currently residing in Los Angeles and Israel, contend that Khatami instituted the policy of imprisoning their relatives without trials and refusing to provide them any information concerning their whereabouts. The Jews were arrested on different occasions during the years 1994 through 1997, as they sought to leave Iran across its border with Pakistan.

On Friday evening copies of the complaint and summons were served on Khatami at a reception in Arlington, Virginia hosted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Khatami has twenty days to file an answer denying the allegations or default the case.

The plaintiffs, who are not U.S. citizens, brought the suit under special laws - the Alien Torts Act and the Torture Victims Protection Act -which permit foreigners to sue their tormentors for torture and kidnapping in American courts. The lawsuit filed in the New York District Court is being represented by attorneys Robert Tolchin of New York, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner of Jerusalem and Pooya Dayanim of Los Angeles.

The plaintiffs are seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages against Khatami for his role in the on-going disappearance of their loved ones.

The Plaintiffs allege that Khatami has singled out the Jewish community and authorized the policy of secretly imprisoning the Jews indefinitely.

Over the years, the Jewish families have received reports from other former prisoners and guards that the missing Jews are alive and being held in different prisons. In the case of the Tehrani family of Los Angeles, a former Muslim neighbor has sworn out an affidavit testifying that he has seen their missing son, Babak Tehrani, in a Tehran prison two years after his disappearance.

"These Persian Jewish families are seeking to bring Khatami before an American court for his involvement in the torture and imprisonment of their loved ones in Iran," stated the families' attorney Nitsana-Darshan-Leitner, "It is shocking that the State Department would grant this anti-Semitic criminal a travel visa instead of joining with the families in the struggle to bring him to justice.