ID :
194066
Sun, 07/10/2011 - 14:01
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/194066
The shortlink copeid
FM Urges UN Probe into Fate of Kidnapped Iranian Diplomats in Lebanon
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi called on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to respond to Iran's demands for a UN probe into the fate of the four Iranian diplomats abducted in Lebanon in 1982.
Salehi made the remarks on Sunday in a ceremony to mark the 29th anniversary of the abduction of the four diplomats - Ahmad Motevaselian, Seyed Mohsen Mousavi, Taghi Rastegar Moghadam and Kazem Akhavan by Israeli agents in Lebanon.
Salehi urged Ban Ki-moon to set up a special committee to double the efforts being made in pursuit of the fate of the diplomats.
He also called on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to take rapid action to pursue the case given the existence of evidence and proofs showing that the four kidnapped diplomats are still alive.
The then 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 the 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.
Earlier in January 2009, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said that Iran had received a report from the Zionist regime which said the kidnapped Iranian diplomats had not been transferred to Tel Aviv and laid the blame on the Lebanese mercenary army affiliated with Israel.
Yet, the Iranian spokesman said that the report "will not relieve the Zionist regime of its responsibility" for the healthiness and safe repatriation of the diplomats.
Salehi made the remarks on Sunday in a ceremony to mark the 29th anniversary of the abduction of the four diplomats - Ahmad Motevaselian, Seyed Mohsen Mousavi, Taghi Rastegar Moghadam and Kazem Akhavan by Israeli agents in Lebanon.
Salehi urged Ban Ki-moon to set up a special committee to double the efforts being made in pursuit of the fate of the diplomats.
He also called on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to take rapid action to pursue the case given the existence of evidence and proofs showing that the four kidnapped diplomats are still alive.
The then 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 the 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.
Earlier in January 2009, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said that Iran had received a report from the Zionist regime which said the kidnapped Iranian diplomats had not been transferred to Tel Aviv and laid the blame on the Lebanese mercenary army affiliated with Israel.
Yet, the Iranian spokesman said that the report "will not relieve the Zionist regime of its responsibility" for the healthiness and safe repatriation of the diplomats.
