http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2006 /December/middleeast_December475.xml <http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/200 6/December/middleeast_December475.xml§ion=middleeast> §ion=middleeast
Two Iranians held by US in Iraq freed (AFP) 29 December 2006 TEHERAN - Two Iranians being held by US forces in Iraq were released early Friday and handed over to Iranian officials in Baghdad, the Iranian envoy to Iraq was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA. 'Fortunately with the effort exerted by the Iraqi officials, the US forces who firstly denied their arrest were obliged to admit it and under pressure from the Iraqi government to release them,' Ambassador Hasan Kazemi Qomi was quoted as saying. The handover took place in the presence of Iraqi National Security Advisor Mowaffaq Al Rubaie, Iranian state television reported. 'The arrest of these diplomats was carried out contrary to the international laws and the Geneva convention,' Kazemi Qomi said. 'No foreign factor can impede the current existing friendly relation between Iranian and Iraqi officials... And I on behalf of my country's officials am grateful for the Iraqi officials' effort,' he added. Rubaie refused to confirm the releases, telling AFP: 'I do not wish to comment on this.' The US military press office in Baghdad referred questions about the Iranians to the office of the secretary of defence in Washington, which did not immediately respond to an inquiry. On Wednesday, military spokesman General William Caldwell said US forces were holding two Iranian nationals detained last week in the Iraqi capital on suspicion of weapons smuggling. 'There was an operation on the morning of December 21 based on intelligence. We conducted a raid on a site in Baghdad,' Caldwell told reporters. Ten people were arrested in the raid and 'documents, maps, photographs and videos' were seized which, he said, linked them to 'illegal activities'. After interrogation it was discovered that two of the 10 were Iranians. 'Debriefing of the detainees and investigation of the seized materials has yielded intelligence linking some of the individuals being detained to weapons shipments to illegal armed groups in Iraq,' said a US military statement. President Jalal Talabani, who invited the two Iranians to Iraq as part of an agreement between the newly forged allies to improve security, was said earlier this week by his office to be 'unhappy with the arrests'. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
