ID :
182719
Tue, 05/17/2011 - 15:47
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/182719
The shortlink copeid
ICRC Pledges to Pursue Fate of Kidnapped Former Iranian Official
TEHRAN (FNA)- Head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Mission in Iran Pierre Ryter said that the committee will spare no effort to pursue the case with the fate of former Iranian Deputy Defense Minister Ali-Reza Asgari who was abducted by the Israeli and western spy agencies in 2006.
"I will have a meeting with my Israeli colleague in a gathering of ICRC heads of offices in Geneva in June and will pursue Ali Reza Asgari's case again to review the latest conditions of his case," Ryter told FNA on Tuesday.
Stressing the sensitivity of Asgari's case, Ryter said that he had earlier received an official letter from the Iranian officials urging the ICRC to pursue the case.
"We have presented the letter to the officials who can be accountable for the issue and are waiting for their response," he added.
Earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi in a letter called on the ICRC to help clarify the fate of Asgari.
Ali Reza Asgari, a former Iranian deputy defense minister under Khatami's administration, was kidnapped in Istanbul in December 2006 while on a personal business trip to Turkey. The Zionist media have recently claimed that Asgari has been killed in Israeli jails after years of interrogation and torture.
The Israeli Ynet claimed in a recent report that a prisoner had committed suicide in solitary confinement in Ayalon prison. The Euroasia Review website later claimed that a source within the "inner circle" of the Israeli defense ministry had identified the prisoner as Asgari and that his death was murder and not suicide.
The Ynet report was taken down and fully erased from the internet later. Iranian officials have dismissed Israel's contradictory allegations on the story, and asked for thorough investigations into the case by human rights and other international bodies.
Earlier, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Raou'f Sheibani said Israel is responsible for Asgari's life and such reports merely make Israel's responsibility heavier.
Israel has conducted similar criminal acts in the past, namely the kidnapping of four Iranian diplomats in Lebanon in 1982, who were later moved to prisons in the occupied territories, the deputy foreign minister added.
The charge d'affaires of the Iranian Embassy in Beirut, Seyed Mohsen Mousavi, military attaché Ahmad Motevaselian, embassy technician Taghi Rastegar Moghadam and journalist of the Islamic republic news agency Kazzem Akhavan were kidnapped by the Lebanese mercenary army - also known as the Falangists - at a gunpoint in northern Lebanon in 1982 and were later handed over to Israeli army.
Israel has released contradictory reports on the issue. The Zionist regime alleged in a statement last year that the diplomats had never been surrendered to Israel. Elsewhere it claimed in response to a request put forward by the Lebanese Hezbollah group that the four are already dead.
"I will have a meeting with my Israeli colleague in a gathering of ICRC heads of offices in Geneva in June and will pursue Ali Reza Asgari's case again to review the latest conditions of his case," Ryter told FNA on Tuesday.
Stressing the sensitivity of Asgari's case, Ryter said that he had earlier received an official letter from the Iranian officials urging the ICRC to pursue the case.
"We have presented the letter to the officials who can be accountable for the issue and are waiting for their response," he added.
Earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi in a letter called on the ICRC to help clarify the fate of Asgari.
Ali Reza Asgari, a former Iranian deputy defense minister under Khatami's administration, was kidnapped in Istanbul in December 2006 while on a personal business trip to Turkey. The Zionist media have recently claimed that Asgari has been killed in Israeli jails after years of interrogation and torture.
The Israeli Ynet claimed in a recent report that a prisoner had committed suicide in solitary confinement in Ayalon prison. The Euroasia Review website later claimed that a source within the "inner circle" of the Israeli defense ministry had identified the prisoner as Asgari and that his death was murder and not suicide.
The Ynet report was taken down and fully erased from the internet later. Iranian officials have dismissed Israel's contradictory allegations on the story, and asked for thorough investigations into the case by human rights and other international bodies.
Earlier, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Raou'f Sheibani said Israel is responsible for Asgari's life and such reports merely make Israel's responsibility heavier.
Israel has conducted similar criminal acts in the past, namely the kidnapping of four Iranian diplomats in Lebanon in 1982, who were later moved to prisons in the occupied territories, the deputy foreign minister added.
The charge d'affaires of the Iranian Embassy in Beirut, Seyed Mohsen Mousavi, military attaché Ahmad Motevaselian, embassy technician Taghi Rastegar Moghadam and journalist of the Islamic republic news agency Kazzem Akhavan were kidnapped by the Lebanese mercenary army - also known as the Falangists - at a gunpoint in northern Lebanon in 1982 and were later handed over to Israeli army.
Israel has released contradictory reports on the issue. The Zionist regime alleged in a statement last year that the diplomats had never been surrendered to Israel. Elsewhere it claimed in response to a request put forward by the Lebanese Hezbollah group that the four are already dead.
