Families of Abducted Iranian Diplomats Meet Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A delegation of families of the four Iranian diplomats abducted in Lebanon in 1982 held talks with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Beirut, calling on the Arab country to take the necessary measures to determine their destiny.
The delegation was accompanied by Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammad Fathali, The Daily Star reported.
The visit came only days after the 34th anniversary of the abduction, the same day the Iranian Foreign Ministry announced that it has evidence and documents that indicate the four diplomats are "still alive and imprisoned in Israel.”
"We took the opportunity to thank (Berri) over all the kind and tireless efforts that he has exhausted in following up on this just and humanitarian case," said Maryam Mojtahedzadeh, the wife of one of the abducted diplomats, Seyyed Mohsen Mousavi.
“This situation holds the brotherly (Lebanese) government... responsible to follow up on this case more now than in the past in a serious manner so that we could reach the desired result,” she added.
In July 1982, four Iranian diplomats, the then charge d'affaires of the Iranian Embassy in Beirut Seyed Mohsen Mousavi, military attaché Ahmad Motevaselian, embassy technician Taghi Rastegar Moghadam and journalist of the Islamic Republic News Agency Kazzem Akhavan were abducted at a checkpoint in northern Lebanon.
Their vehicle was passing through a checkpoint post on its way to Beirut when it was intercepted by the Phalange Party, a group of gunmen belonging to Israel-backed militia forces headed by Samir Geagea.
The car and its four passengers completely disappeared.
The militia headed by Geagea was known for its close ties with Israel at the time and was responsible for handing over many Lebanese and foreigners to Israeli custody at the peak of the Zionist regime’s invasion of Lebanon.
Geagea has made contradictory statements concerning the Iranian diplomats, initially saying that his militia handed them to Israel and later claiming that they witnessed their killing inside Lebanon.
