Association of Lebanese POWs and Freed POWs expressing sympathy with families of Iranian kidnapped diplomats and IRNA photojournalist here Friday, asked for imposing international pressure against Israel to free them.
Head of the said association, Ata'ollah Hammoud, made the comment at a commemoration service held at Iranian Embassy on the 25th anniversary of the terrorist act.
He said, "We have to appreciate the brave move of the Iranian diplomats in maintaining their presence in Lebanon, particularly more so, since the other countries evacuated their diplomats from Lebanon under those tough conditions."
Hammoud added, "We feel comprehend the pain suffered by the Iranians kidnapped by the Lebanese Christian Party, who were tortured and delivered to the Zionist enemy."
He said, "We ask this famous figure that has returned to the Lebanese decision making circle and is speaking about democracy and human right, what about the fate of the kidnapped Iranian diplomats, and thousands of other kidnapped individuals?"
The Lebanese NGO official accused the international community of keeping dead silent about the fate of these four Iranians, and tens of thousands of other Lebanese that have been kidnapped, but at the same time raising a hue and cry over the fate of a single Israeli aggressor pilot Ron Arad, another aggressor Israeli soldier Golad Shith and two Israeli POWs at the disposal of the Lebanese resistance forces.
Hammoud emphasized, "The Lebanese Government is responsible for the kidnapping of the Iranian diplomats, because our government is holding constant talks with foreign government and diplomats aimed at restoring stability here."
He added, "The Lebanese Government had better ask the head of one of its organs, namely the Lebanese Forces Party, to reveal the facts regarding the Iranian diplomats and to facilitate their association with their families."
A representative of the Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, a representative of the Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Head of Lebanon's Towhid Movement, a number of Lebanese MPs, political, and religious figures, Ambassador of the International Human Right Organization in Lebanon Ali Aqil Khalil, and PLO Ambassador in Lebanon Abbas Zaki attended the commemoration service.
Iranian diplomats, Ahmad Motevasselian, Taqi Rastegar-Moqaddam, Seyyed Hassan Mousavi, and IRNA photojournalist Kazem Akhavan were taken captive and kidnapped in July of 1982 in the course of a Zionist plot and there have been no authentic reports on their fate yet.
© IRNA 2007
