UNITED24 - Make a charitable donation in support of Ukraine!

Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

[ rfe/rl banner ]

Iran Releases Some Slovak Paragliders

September 02, 2013

Iran has released six of eight Slovak paragliders accused of espionage.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who introduced the released paragliders to reporters on September 1 in Bratislava, said they had been treated well and denied they were engaged in any spying.

The Slovaks were detained in May after paragliding above Isfahan, where Iran has nuclear facilities. They say they filmed their flight purely to document their trip but ran into trouble for using two-band walkie-talkies reportedly banned in Iran, as well as cameras designed for extreme sports.

Fico said the two paragliders remaining in detention in Iran must stay "until further allegations are investigated by the Iranian authorities." He said he expected further negotiations to be "extremely complicated” but provided no further details.

Based on reporting by dpa and AFP

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/slovakia-iran-paragliders/25093046.html

Copyright (c) 2013. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.



NEWSLETTER
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list