ICRC Rep: Iranian Diplomat kidnapped by US was Tortured

Representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross Peter Stoeker visited Iranian diplomat Jalal Sharafi in a hospital in Tehran on Tuesday and witnessed in person the traces of severe physical tortures on his body from head to toe.

Sharafi, the second secretary of the Iranian embassy in Baghdad,
was abducted in southeastern Baghdad on February 4 by a group connected to the Iraqi Defense Ministry which operates under the supervision of the U.S. forces in Iraq. He was released on April 3.

In the hospital where Sharafi was also visited by Iraq's ambassador to Tehran, Mohamed Majid Al-Sheikh, Stoeker observed holes drilled in Sharafi's feet, fractures of the nose and neck, some deep bruises on his back, and evidence of a tear to his ear drum and bleeding in the alimentary canal.

Sharafi told the Red Cross representative that he had undergone horrific torturing during the first 15 days of his arrest.

He was later transferred by an ambulance on a wheelchair to the Foreign Ministry building to attend a news conference with the domestic and foreign reporters and photographers.
He told the reporters that during his captivity, he was repeatedly tortured and interrogated about Iran's role in Iraq.

He said his kidnappers, who spoke in English and Arabic, were in constant contact with their chiefs through walkie-talkies while abducted him in southeastern Baghdad.

"In the first four or five days an eight-person group regularly beat me up day and night with a wire."

He said he was asked "why Iran helps Islamic groups in Iraq and what those groups are. Why Iran supports the Maliki government and the Iraqi people. Are there any secret relations between them? Why do you help the Sunni scholars, and asked some questions about the detained Iranian diplomats in Arbil, northern Iraq, the relations between Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani and Iraqi president Jalal Talabani with Iran, and in Iran which persons purchase uranium...."

He added, "At the last stage of my interrogation somebody who introduced himself as an American and a mediator between the U.S. embassy and the person in charge of my case came to me, and since I could not understand English the words were translated into Arabic."

Mr. Stoeker said his organization had been unable to find him in Iraq.

http://en.baztab.com/content/?cid=1688

http://www.presstv.ir/news.aspx

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• usa
• america
• torture
• secret
• detention
• cia
• guantanamo
• gitmo
• iran
• diplomat
• iraq
• hostage
• iranian
• sharafi
• jalal
• red
• cross
• hrw

[sheshe670]

ira q+n

[sheshe670]

all AMERICANS should be thrown out of Iraq AND ALL THE COUNTRIES AROUND IRAQ SHOULD HELP KURDS AND OTHER MUSLIMS AND WE SHALL HAVE A UNITED MIDDLE EAST.

[someguy53]

LOL how about the americans? LMAOOOO

[MementoExpose]

all Iranians should be thrown out of Iraq

Iranian officials have recently threatened to assassinate Iraqis they consider as enemies in Iraq, this is a declaration of war and the borders with Iran should be sealed off to prevent those crazy terrorists from killing Iraqis

[lisalov4]

and to the video :

many marines not only they aren't humain but also even don't act the way the geneva conventions want them to handle.

torture is in the mind of many us security personal.who knows it is maybe even ordered.

anyway : saddam knew the world MUST take place.

he may have sacrified his nation but he knew what to do best to show the world the reality of "americans".

the saddest thing is many people who enter usa and become citisens by naturalisation consider them selves americans after

[lisalov4]

the us prepared of sectarianism long before the war begann and long before they ever spoke about WMDs.they prepared for it by the socalled "forbidden flight zones".those zones were noth and south,that reminds me of kurds and shias.

democracy is not necessarly freedom,greeks meant with it : majority rules.so if majority are assholes than an asshole will rule.

staying there creates more problem of iraq than if leaving.

iraqies want a gouverment diffrent from that one the us wants to put by force

[redebla]

you cant just walk out of there like nothing happened. You have to finish what you started leaving iraq is the dumbest thing they could do right now.

[msanchez007]

All we need to do is get out of Iraq, they are begging us to leave. Maybe there will be a civil war, maybe not, but if there is one they will handle it.

[CaptainFreon]

mingoi313: Please review "sectarianism" on wikipedia on line encyclopedia.

[mingoi313]

I'm certainly not a 'thinker' in its definitive usage. In fact I'm pretty much in the same position as you are in; only difference being that I'm trying to make ends meet whilst studying. In any case, I value your comments and share some of your thoughts on the issue. Let's just hope things get better for all concerned.

btw I should add I'm still soul-searching for some direction too. :)

take care and farewell until next time.