WILAYAH NEWS VOICE OF THE GLOBAL AWAKENING
Related Articles
A group of Iranians, including a nine-year-old girl, have taken three British banks to court, saying their accounts were closed based on ethnic reasons.
About twenty Iranians are suing the three high-street UK banks, RBS, NatWest and Lloyds for what they call misreading the sanctions policy in closing their accounts grounded on ethnicity.
The move comes after some British banks sent letters to a number of Iranian account holders, including British citizens with Iranian backgrounds, saying they can no longer be provided with financial services citing Western sanctions imposed against Iran as the reason.
Blackstone Solicitors, a law firm representing the Iranians, says its clients are victims of racism and ethnic profiling in the United Kingdom.
The firm said it had issued proceedings against the banks and was seeking damages.
“It is our strong opinion that the closures are based on ethnicity,” said the firm’s managing director, Emma Nawaz, adding, “All of these clients are of Iranian heritage, but many have UK passports and all of them are domiciled in the UK.… These ordinary people who contribute to society are becoming victims of racism by high-street banks.… This is ethnic profiling in the UK.”
She said her clients included a nine-year-old girl who holds a UK passport.
The illegal US-engineered sanctions on Iran have been imposed based on the unfounded accusation that Tehran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.
Iran rejects the allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.