KavkazCenter - Iran fingerprints U.S. visitors

Iran fingerprints U.S. visitors

According to a bill recently approved by the Iranian parliament, digital fingerprinting will from now on be applied on all U.S. citizens who seek to enter Iran, AFP reported.

"All U.S. citizens should be controlled and subjected to digital fingerprinting when they are issued with a visa and when they enter Iran," the bill, adopted after a debate broadcast live on state radio, stipulates.

"This law comes in response to the American practice of taking digital fingerprints of sportsmen, political officials and other Iranians, sometimes with an insulting attitude," MP Kazem Jalali said during the debate.

The bill seeking to fingerprint U.S. nationals was first approved on single urgency at a Parliament meeting on October 3. It was overwhelmingly considered for consideration by Majlis' National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, but MPs delayed the announcement of their final decision due to opposition from six representatives, who initially agreed on the bill but decided later to strike out their signatures.

Later on, MPs -- Mohammad-Hassan Abutorabi-Fard, Qasem Azizi, Mousa Qorbani, Mohsen Koh-kan, Hamid-Reza Hajji Babaei and Ahmad Pishbin -- backtracked and said they stuck to their signatures.

Defending the bill and the urgent need to adopt it, MP Vali Maleki from Meshkin Shahr in the northwestern province of Ardebil, has been quoted as saying "a tooth for a tooth".

The U.S. policy of fingerprinting Iranian nationals requires a similar response unless the requirement is reversed, he said, stressing that Iranians respect American citizens, but "we must retaliate against their (U.S. officials') insulting move."

"The bill, if it becomes a law, will be more effective than any missile."

Before the passage of the bill, digital fingerprinting was applied only on U.S. journalists before entering Tehran.

Agencies