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Allawi pledges to follow up detention of Iranians in Iraq

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Aug 15, IRNA -- Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has promised 
to personally pursue the case of several Iranians who have recently 
gone missing in Iraq. 
According to the political advisor of the Supreme Council of the 
Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), Mohsen Hakim, the pledge was made 
during a meeting between SCIRI chief Abdel Aziz Hakim and Allawi in 
Najaf Friday night. 
"The issue relating to the detention of four members of Iran`s 
cooperatives fund in Baghdad, IRNA bureau staff in Baghdad and Iranian
consul in Karbala was raised in the meeting and the Iraqi prime 
minister promised to follow it up," he told IRNA here Sunday. 
Allawi and Hakim also discussed developments in Najaf and stressed
the need for peaceful solution of the crisis, he added. 
Baghdad bureau chief Mostafa Darban and two Iraqi staff, Mohammed 
Khafaji and Mohsen Madani, were arrested and Iranian officials say the
fate of the fourth is still unaccounted for. 
Tehran also says one of its consular officials in Iraq, Fereidoun 
Jahani, had disappeared on August 4 on the road between Baghdad and 
Karbala. 
A statement from a group, calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq,
has alleged that Jahani was `detained for stirring sectarian strife 
and for activities outside his diplomatic duties`. 
On Sunday, the Arabic satellite channel Al-Alam said that the 
armed group had threatened to `punish` Jahani within 48 hours if Iran 
did not release 500 prisoners captured in the 1980-1988 war. 
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said the `identity of 
the group and the nature of its demand are suspicious`. 
"The case of the two countries` prisoners of war has been closed 
and what still remains is the file of those missing in action," he 
said. 
Asefi said, "The Islamic Republic of Iran considers the interim 
Iraqi government responsible for the safety of Jahani and expects it 
to use all its means for his release." 
"We have held various round of negotiations with the interim Iraqi
government and all the groups which are thought to be able to help in 
this matter and this process still continues," he added. 
The official touched on `extensive efforts` being made for the 
diplomat`s release, saying `the Foreign Ministry is exhausting all its
capacities and means` to secure Jahani`s freedom. 
Asefi has earlier said that Jahani disappeared on the road from 
Baghdad to Karbala where he was to take up his assignment as the 
Iranian consul. 
Iran has strongly dismissed allegations of interference in Iraq, 
saying these were `without evidence`. 
An unnamed Iranian source has been quoted as saying that the group
had acted in collaboration with the US Embassy in Iraq under direct 
supervision of US Ambassador John Negroponte. 
Iran has twice summoned Iraq`s top diplomat to Tehran for 
explanation following the arrests and certain Iraqi officials` 
allegations against Iran. 
Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said Saturday that the 
accusations, including by Iraqi Defense Minister Hazem al-Shalaan, had
been directed only at `unofficial figures` in Iran. 
"We do not accuse the Iranian government of interference in Iraq`s
domestic affairs," he told IRNA reporter in Najaf. 
"We want establishment of good relations with neighboring 
countries, especially Iran, and believe that our bilateral ties are 
based on common interests," Allawi said. 
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