Iran demands immediate release of pilgrims abducted in Syria

TEHRAN, Jan. 28 (MNA) – Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast called on the Syrian government to make sure that the Iranian pilgrims who have recently been abducted in Syria are in good health and make every effort to obtain the immediate release of them. “Such actions go against humanitarian principles and ethical and international commitments and are not justifiable in any way. It is expected that these people would immediately release the Iranian pilgrims,” Mehmanparast said on Thursday. 11 Iranian citizens were kidnapped while on a pilgrimage in Syria. “Their bus was on its way ... to Damascus when it was attacked in the central regions of Syria and 11 passengers were abducted,” Iranian pilgrimage official Massoud Akhavan said. According to the Associated Press, a bus with 49 Iranians was stopped after leaving the town of Halab on Thursday and the gunmen abducted 11 young men from the group but let go the other passengers, who included women, elderly men and three children. In December 2011, unidentified gunmen also abducted seven Iranian engineers and technicians in the restive Syrian city of Homs. In January, a previously unheard of group, called “movement against the Shiite tide in Syria,” claimed responsibility for the abduction of Iranian engineers and technicians and warned Iran of the consequences of supporting the Syrian government.