Abducted Iranian at Iran's office in US

Press TV, Tue, 13 Jul 2010 06:48:34 GMT

Iranian academic Shahram Amiri, who was abducted by the US last year, has been escorted by American forces to Iran's interest section in Washington.

IRIB reported on Tuesday that Amiri took refuge in Iran's interest section in Washington, urging an "immediate return" to Iran.

The Pakistani Embassy in Washington preserves Iran's interests in the United States, since the two countries have no diplomatic relations.

In collaboration with Saudi forces, US security forces kidnapped Amiri while he was on a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia in June 2009 and took him to America.

Since then, two videos and one audio message featuring him have emerged.

In the first video, Amiri said that he was abducted "in a joint operation by terror and kidnap teams from the US intelligence service, CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) and Saudi Arabia's Istikhbarat" from Medina.

In the second video, he contradicted his earlier statements, saying that he was in the US of his own free will to further his education, dismissing all rumors about his defection.

However, in the latest audio message obtained by Iran's intelligence sources, Amiri insists that he was offered $10 million to appear on CNN and announce that he had willingly defected to the US.

Holding the US accountable for Amiri's abduction, the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the Swiss charge d'affaires, whose embassy represents US interests in Iran, earlier this month and handed over new documents related to the abduction of the Iranian national by the CIA.

Analysts say US intelligence officials decided to free Amiri after they failed to advance their propaganda campaign against Iran's nuclear program via fabricating interviews with the Iranian national.

AR/HRF/MMA

Iranian Scholar Handed Over to Iran's Interests Section in Washington

July 13, 2010,

TEHRAN (FNA)-

Shahram Amiri, an Iranian scholar who was abducted by the CIA agents in Saudi Arabia last year, is now in Iran's interests section in Washington.

Amiri was handed over to Pakistan's embassy in Washington at 22:00 hours local time last night.

Iran and the United States cut diplomatic relations shortly after the country's 1979 Islamic revolution, and in absence of formal diplomatic ties, the Pakistani embassy represents Iran's interests in the United States.

Analysts believe that the US administration was forced to hand over the abducted Iranian scholar following intensive intelligence and media efforts by the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The development is considered as a new victory for the Iranian intelligence apparatus which sought hard to present authentic evidence corroborating the abduction of Amiri by the CIA.

Tehran has long complained about the United States' terrorist acts in different Middle-Eastern countries, specially in Iraq and Afghanistan where a dozen Iranian diplomats have been abducted by the US agents.

Last week, Iran lodged a written complaint and said that the CIA had abducted the scholar.

Tehran said it has evidence that he is being held against his will in the United States.

The Iranian foreign ministry said it had submitted its evidence to the Swiss embassy, which looks after the US interests in Iran in the absence of diplomatic relations.

Prior to his release, Amiri had posted two video messages on the Internet. In his first video message, Amiri unveiled CIA and Saudi intelligence agency's role in his abduction, and said he had been tortured in US jails.

In the first four-minute footage, Amiri confirmed that he was kidnapped in a joint operation by the US agents in collaboration with Saudi intelligence agency (Estekhbarat) on June 3, 2009 while he was on pilgrimage in Medina.

Amiri said the US interrogators used different torturing techniques to make him appear in a televised interview with a US news network and declare that he is a very important nuclear scientist who has top secret information about Iran's military nuclear program.

In the second message, Amiri said that he had escaped US incarceration, and stated, "I am Shahram Amiri, a citizen of the Islamic Republic of Iran. A few minutes ago I managed to escape from the hands of US intelligence agents in Virginia."

"I am not free and I'm not allowed to contact my family. If something happens and I do not return home alive, the US government will be responsible," he said.

Amiri also urged human rights groups to help him return to Iran, and noted, "I ask Iranian officials and organizations that defend human rights to raise pressure on the US government for my release and return to my country."

Amiri reiterated that US interrogators' gruesome tortures, pressures and threats against him have all failed to make him betray Iran.

"If I do not come back alive, my dear family should know that I have not betrayed Iran to the very last moment of my life and that I am proud to be killed for my homeland," he said, addressing his family through the video message.

AFP, July 13, 2010

Hiedeh Farmani

An Iranian nuclear scientist whom Tehran claims was abducted by US spies last year has taken refuge at the Islamic republic's interest section in Washington, state media reported on Tuesday.

"Shahram Amiri, the abducted Iranian expert, took refuge in Iran's interest section in Washington hours ago," Iran's state television's website said, adding that he had asked "for a quick return to Tehran."

Iran's state news agency IRNA quoted an "informed source" from the Iranian foreign ministry as saying that its officials had "contacted the Iranian interest section in Washington which confirmed the report that Shahram Amiri had taken refuge there."

Iran's interests in the United States are managed by the Pakistan embassy as Tehran and Washington have had no diplomatic ties for more than three decades.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said in Islambad he understood "from the Iranian officials (in Washington) that they are making arrangements for his repatriation to Iran."

US State Department officials were not immediately available for comment.

Iranian officials have long maintained that Amiri was kidnapped by US agents from Saudi Arabia last year after he arrived for a Muslim pilgrimage.

Iran last week said it had submitted "evidence" to the Swiss embassy that Amiri was abducted by US intelligence agents. The Swiss embassy manages Washington's interests in Iran.

On June 29, Iranian television screened a video of a man claiming to be Amiri and saying that he had managed to escape from the hands of US intelligence agents in Virginia.

"I could be re-arrested at any time by US agents... I am not free and I'm not allowed to contact my family. If something happens and I do not return home alive, the US government will be responsible," he said.

"I ask Iranian officials and organisations that defend human rights to raise pressure on the US government for my release and return to my country," the man said, adding he has not "betrayed" Iran.

US officials have dismissed the allegations in the Iranian broadcast.

Amiri disappeared in June 2009 after arriving in Saudi Arabia for a pilgrimage. Iran accused US agents of abducting him with the help of Saudi intelligence services.

US television network ABC reported in March that Amiri, in his early 30s, had defected and was working with the Central Intelligence Agency.

The ABC report said that US agents described the defection as "an intelligence coup" in efforts to undermine Iran's controversial nuclear programme.

Amiri's disappearance "was part of a long-planned CIA operation to get him to defect," ABC reported. US officials have rejected these allegations.

Iran has summoned at least twice the Swiss ambassador in Tehran over the matter and demanded the release and repatriation of Amiri along with 10 other Iranian nationals who it says have been "illegally detained" in the United States.