Iran calls for joint committee to probe into fate of four kidnapped diplomats

 
Source: Agencies, 04-02-2009

Beirut - Foreign Minister of Iran Manouchehr Mottaki called on Lebanese officials on Tuesday to form a joint committee to probe into the fate of four Iranian diplomats kidnapped in that country in 1982.
Mottaki's call was made in a message to his Lebanese counterpart Fawzi Salloukh. The message was handed over to Sallukh by Iran's Ambassador in Beirut Mohammad Rida Shibani.

The Iranian minister called for the formation of an Iranian-Lebanese committee to investigate the fate of the then-charges d'affaires Sayyed Mohsen Mousavvi and his accompanies Ahmad Motevaselian, Taghi Rastegar-Moghadam and the Islamic Republic News Agency's photographer Kazem Akhavan.

The four were captured in July 1982 by Christian Lebanese Forces militia on a coastal road in northern Lebanon.
It is widely believed the men are being held by the Zionist regime.
In an agreement reached between the Lebanese Hizbullah and the Zionist regime on prisoner swap, the Zionist officials accepted to provide the Islamic Resistance with a report on the fate of four Iranian diplomats.

They (Zionist officials) said that the Lebanese Forces Party was responsible for the abduction.
Meanwhile, commenting on the issue, Secretary-General of Hizbullah Hassan Nasrallah said last Thursday there were reports indicating that the four Iranians were being kept in the Zionist regime's prisons.

While the Lebanese Forces Party is responsible for the abduction, Nasrallah asked the party to act more responsibly to determine the fate of the Iranian citizens.
The Hizbullah chief also asked the Lebanese government to take necessary legal actions to this end as one of its cabinet ministers, Minister of Justice Ibrahim Najjar, is a member of the Lebanese Forces Party.

Tehran and Hizbullah had repeatedly said the four Iranians were still alive and in "Israel's" custody, after being handed over by the Lebanese Forces (LF) militia, which was then "Israel's" ally.
"Israel" last year submitted a report to Hizbullah in which it said the four Iranians had been killed by the LF and buried at a secret location.

However, Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah rejected the claim last week, saying his party had information that the four Iranians were in "Israeli" jails. He also called for information from the LF, which is now led by Samir Geagea.

Geagea last week held a press conference denying that the party's current composition and leadership was responsible for the kidnapping and questioning Hizbullah's timing and priorities.
Geagea's statements came in reply to Nasrallah's press conference earlier that week.

Geagea, who argued that the four diplomats were kidnapped before he became head of the LF, in 2006 had said that the four Iranians died in captivity at least 20 years ago. He said he had learned at the time that the Iranians died in an undisclosed incident.