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To: AdmSmith
It is done by the Regime. There is no difference between that part or this part.
They are all the same... Don't you think so?
7 posted on 11/03/2003 4:49:11 AM PST by F14 Pilot
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To: F14 Pilot
No, they are not.
8 posted on 11/03/2003 4:53:05 AM PST by AdmSmith
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To: All
Iranian journalists freed from Iraq

3 November, 2003
By Jim Muir
BBC correspondent in Tehran

The two men, Saeed Abu Taleb and Soheil Karimi, were filming near an American checkpoint at the time of their arrest on 1 July .

Iran and the US do not have diplomatic relations, and Britain played a key role in mediating the release of the two journalists.

As the representative of the Americans' closest ally in the coalition occupying Iraq, the British embassy in Tehran came under strong pressure to do intervene in the issue.

'Security regime'

Behind the scenes, British diplomacy worked hard to resolve the case as quickly as possible - no easy task, with the American military under constant threat in Iraq, and with no love at all lost between Washington and Tehran.

Just over four months after their detainment, a statement from the British Embassy in Tehran and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London, said the Coalition had ordered the release of the two men, after US forces had completed their investigation and decided not to press charges.

The statement said it was "unfortunate that the two journalists had been caught up in the stringent security regime currently in place in Iraq".

"The UK has been in contact with the US and Iranian governments throughout their detention, and has intervened at a senior level to press for the investigation to be brought to an early conclusion," the statement said.

"After several fatal attacks on Coalition forces at checkpoints, the Coalition authorities could not afford to take any chances. But we are pleased that the issue has now been resolved and the men are now on their way home," it added.

Iranians will remain convinced that the two were held because of their nationality. But there will be relief and joy among their families over their eventual release.

Sensitive relations

For most of the past four months, their families have received virtually no news of the two and why they were being held.

Saeed Abu Taleb is a well-known documentary-maker working for Iranian state television, and Soheil Karimi was his cameraman.

Britain's role in helping to bring about their release may earn it some credit from the Iranian authorities - but there are plenty of other complications in this constantly sensitive relationship.

Recent remarks by Prime Minister Tony Blair, to the effect that the war in Iraq helped bring Iranian compliance on the nuclear issue, have ruffled feathers in Iran.

The case against a former Iranian diplomat, Hadi Soleimanpour, currently on bail in the UK after an extradition request from Argentina, has added to difficulties. Argentine authorities want to try him in connection with the bombing of a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires nine years ago.

More than 50 other Iranians remain in US military custody in Iraq. Many of them are believed to be would-be pilgrims who crossed the border illegally to visit Shia Muslim holy places in southern Iraq.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3237105.stm

9 posted on 11/03/2003 4:54:26 AM PST by F14 Pilot
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To: F14 Pilot
EXILE CLAIMS IRAN INVOLVED IN AL-HAKIM ASSASSINATION.

An Iranian exile claims that he is in contact with an Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) defector who was involved in the late-August assassination of Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) leader Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim, "Al-Sharq al-Awsat" reported from London on 30 October. Former Ansar-i Hizbullah member Amir Farshad Ibrahimi said he recently received an e-mail from a member of the IRGC's special operations unit -- the Qods Force -- requesting help escaping from Iran; this individual is reportedly in an Eastern European country bordering Turkey.

The IRGC member claims he and the 10-man Qods Corps hit squad were told that al-Hakim had backed away from calls for an Iraqi Islamic republic. The assassins had cover as radio and television correspondents and filmed al-Hakim for several days before killing him in Al-Najaf with a car bomb, according to the source. In exchange for asylum in Iraq or another Arab state, the exile said, the IRGC member claimed that he would provide information about al-Hakim's murder, the 19 September bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad, and the 26 October attack on the Rashid Hotel in Baghdad. BS

source:RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 7, No. 207, Part III, 31 October 2003
34 posted on 11/03/2003 10:07:48 AM PST by AdmSmith
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