Missing Iranian scientist appears at embassy in US

[dipsydoodle]

Source: BBC News

A missing Iranian nuclear scientist, who Tehran says was kidnapped a year ago by the CIA, has taken refuge in the Iran section of Pakistan's US embassy.

A spokesman from Pakistan's Foreign Office, Abdul Basit, told the BBC that Shahram Amiri was seeking immediate repatriation to Iran.

In June videos purportedly of Mr Amiri but containing contradictory information on his whereabouts emerged.

The US rejected Tehran's claims that it was behind Mr Amiri's disappearance.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/10609461.stm

[jobycom]

1. Wow. Not only are we the bad guys, but we suck at it.

:(

[Robb]

8. LOL

Yeah, better believe him. After all it's such a plausible story. :D

[jobycom]

19. What does plausible mean these days?

I can believe anything, and I choose to believe nothing. :rofl:

[Arrowhead2k1]

2. I think this guy is full of it... nt

[SkyDaddy7]

5. Exactly...

If America kidnapped him he would not have escaped. This is a poor attempt by Iran to change the topic.

IMHO.

[Judi Lynn]

7. So you're here to inform us this man could NOT possibly escape from American kidnappers?

Your faith in the power of American ability to flawlessly execute evil deeds is impressive.

I think he very like has escaped from his captors just as he said.

He undoubtedly was on the list to bag as a hot property, a triumph for propaganda purposes.

After they got him, they could make up any yarn whatsoever and no one would ever know if he had said what they said he said or NOT. He would be of course kept far away from the chance an honest reporter might try to ask him an honest question and get the true story for publication.

The chance that could happen is truly unlikely, but miracles can happen, maybe, even in a profession totally controlled by corporate interests.

Once he got here, he wouldn't be seeing family, neighbors, his dog, he would have seen the last of them. If he acted up he'd either be taken to be tortured or merely threatened with it.

Oh, if we kidnapped him he'd stay kidnapped. Yeah, you bet. Not if he knew he'd never breathe a free bit of air again in his entire life.

[SkyDaddy7]

16. Your point is what?

[Prometheus Bound]

3. I find this rather fascinating.

[bemildred]

15. Yah.

:popcorn:

[Narkos]

4. Double agent? n/t

[Judi Lynn]

6. Hardly a new idea, considering it's an OLD pattern, scheming to get peeps from "enemy" countries

to leave there and show up here.

They even do it with Cuban doctors, athletes, and dancers, etc., by following them all over the world, meeting with them, even taking them out for dinner, getting them drunk, according to a Cuban "exile" in Miami who chased Cuban baseball players all over the planet and tricked them into coming to the U.S., where he ripped off huge chunks of their new baseball contracts before they sued him and got him banned from being anywhere near ball parks forever.

It's such an old pattern, stalking people they consider big deals for one reason or another, all of them important politically, since they can be said to have "defected" from the country the U.S. is trying to destroy, and getting them here, using them for propaganda purposes.

Someone in nuclear science in Iran could be a person they could claim had told them Iranian officials boil babies in oil, therefore we've got to barge in and steal their country after killing everyone there who could possibly be a problem to us.

Such an old, dirty story. Most of us learned during the filthy _Bush occupation of the White House that the powers that be make up their own stories, it doesn't really matter what the truth is, and they pass it on to the churls at the major wire services and newspapers, just as they did for those poor babies in the incubators, and that dear, sweet Jessica Lynch:

Jessica Lynch became an icon of the war. An all-American heroine, the story of her capture by the Iraqis and her rescue by US special forces became one of the great patriotic moments of the conflict. It couldn't have happened at a more crucial moment, when the talk was of coalition forces bogged down, of a victory too slow in coming.

Her rescue will go down as one of the most stunning pieces of news management yet conceived. It provides a remarkable insight into the real influence of Hollywood producers on the Pentagon's media managers, and has produced a template from which America hopes to present its future wars.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/may/15/iraq.usa2

Anyone who remembers who Otto Reich is, the Reagan manager of propaganda, black propaganda, who launched vindictive, filthy attacks on US journalists who didn't succumb to his direction during the Contra war, that little slimy Cuban "exile" scum merchant who got in trouble with the U.S. Senate for his illegal use of propaganda also recalls he has been involved in the Honduran coup even though he raced to the Miami Herald to deny it the first day after the President was kidnapped.

All these tricks, these abominable, unprincipled people are STILL with us, are still active, are still passing their evil craft on to new crapmasters, and the use of these dark arts only increases. It's NOT going to be retired. It works for them.

Remember the timing. They are trying to concoct justification for a war. With a new "escapee" who has "fled" there's a whole new universe of whoppers from which to draw without going back to the "poor babies on the cold cold floor" drool we already heard.

[Robb]

9. I believe Amiri. But not Amiri.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/10610451.stm">From the Beeb:

...And there are two completely separate narratives about the man, each contradicting the other, and both are told in his own words.

In a video message which emerged on Iranian state media on 8 June, a man claiming to be Mr Amiri says he was kidnapped by CIA agents during a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia in 2009.

"They took me to a house located somewhere that I didn't know. They gave me an anaesthetic injection," he says in the video.

(snip)

But another video message appeared on YouTube on the same day, recorded apparently by the same man, entirely contradicting this version.

In this video, he says he is in the US to continue his education, adding: "I am free here and I assure everyone that I am safe."

He says he is "not involved in weapons research and have no experience and knowledge in this field".

:rofl:

[Ghost Dog]

10. Iran scientist 'flees to Pakistan embassy' in US

AFP - ... "Shahram Amiri, the abducted Iranian expert, took refuge in Iran's interest section in Washington hours ago," state television's website said. Mehr news agency said Amiri who was "abducted by Americans went to Iran's interest section... and asked for a quick return to Tehran."

State news agency IRNA, meanwhile, quoted an "informed source" from the Iranian foreign ministry as saying that its officials had "contacted the Iranian interest section in Washington which confirmed the report that Shahram Amiri had taken refuge there."

...

Iran last week said it had submitted "evidence" to the Swiss embassy that Amiri was abducted by US intelligence agents. The Swiss embassy manages Washington's interests in Iran.

"We expect that based on the US administration's obligations... the US authorities will announce the results of their investigation regarding this Iranian national," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanaparast had said.

/... http://www.france24.com/en/20100713-iran-scientist-flees-pakistan-embassy-us

[timo]

11. hmmmmmmmmm

he also makes the claim he was "tortured" and we ALLLLLL know thats not done anymore!!!

[Pavulon]

12. In exchange his mom and sister are still alive.

and un sodomized.

[1monster]

13. Spy dances. I'ts like an old Helen MacInnes cold war spy novel. Except that

her novels, with their plots and counter plots, were more tightly fitted and plots were much more believable... And somehow, I don't believe any of the explanations offered thus far. There's always more to the story.

[bemildred]

14. This story shows how little web videos mean as "evidence" or anything. nt

[bemildred]

17. Missing Iranian scientist surfaces in Washington

---

"He has been in the United States of his own free will and obviously he is free to go," department spokesman P.J. Crowley said. "In fact, he was scheduled to travel to Iran yesterday but was unable to make all of the necessary arrangements to reach Iran through transit countries."

It was the latest development in a murky case that has been shrouded in mystery since the scientist, Shahram Amiri, disappeared while on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in June 2009.

Crowley said Amiri was at the Pakistani embassy. "He traveled there on his own," he added, but would not elaborate.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hMjU0wACQ2zOXzyTxJ64UzIB57TwD9GU7K5G0

[struggle4progress]

18. Claims and counter-claims: US and Iran statements on Amiri

TEHRAN, Jul 13, 2010 (AFP) ... --2009-- ... October 7: Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki says there was US "interference" in the case of the missing scientist after local and regional media reports about his disappearance on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia ... December 8: Tehran accuses the United States of abducting Amiri, and says Saudi Arabia must also be held accountable ... --2010-- ... June 8: The United States denies kidnapping Amiri, as Tehran says it will press for his release, alleging he was being held against his will in Tucson, Arizona. June 29: Amiri says he has escaped from US agents, in a video screened on Iranian television ...
http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidANA20100713T121123ZHBI03

... a timeline of events involving Amiri ... Oct. 2009 - Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki says Iran has found documents that prove U.S. involvement in the disappearance. Dec. 2009 - Iran accuses Saudi Arabia of handing over the scientist to the United States. March 2010 - Media reports that Amiri defected as part of a long-planned operation to get him to leave Iran and resettle in the United States ...
Tue Jul 13, 2010 11:04am GMT
TIMELINE-Missing Iranian nuclear scientist surfaces
<edit:> http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFLDE66C0VW20100713

Shahram Amiri, the Iranian scientist who took refuge in the Pakistani embassy in the United States today, is a nuclear physicist in his early 30s. Amiri was a researcher at Malek Ashtar university of defence technology, which was listed for sanctions by the European Union in 2008. The university, according to the EU, was linked to Iran's ministry of defence and "set up a missiles training course in 2003". The rector of the university, a lieutenant general, was named in the UN security council's first round of sanctions on Iran in 2006 as one of seven "persons involved in the nuclear programme". Iranian media refer to Amiri as an academic. The head of Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, has denied any links with Amiri. Amiri has never been employed by the agency ...
Profile: Shahram Amiri, Iranian nuclear physicist who turned up in Washington
Iranian scientist who went missing during Saudi pilgrimage was researcher at Malek Ashtar university of defence technology
Mark Tran
guardian.co.uk
Tuesday 13 July 2010 14.10 BST
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/13/shahram-amiri-iran-missing-nuclear-scientist

... Shahram Amiri, who disappeared last year while on pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, walked into Iran's diplomatic Interests Section in upper Georgetown about 6:30 p.m. Monday, saying he wanted a passport and a ticket home, officials said. Amiri, 32, was unaccompanied, and said he had been "dropped off" at the interests office, a ground-floor storefront in a commercial building, officials said. "He is here right now," said Ali Shirazi, who identified himself as a staff member at the Iranian interests section, which functions as a consular office for Iranians in the United States since Iran does not have its own embassy in Washington ...
Iranian scientist surfaces at Pakistani embassy in D.C.; Iran says U.S. kidnapped him
By Thomas Erdbrink, Karen De Young and Greg Miller
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 13, 2010; 11:30 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/13/AR2010071301256.html?hpid=topnews

... The scientist, Shahram Amiri, disappeared during a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia a year ago. His whereabouts have been a mystery ever since. In March, ABC News said the scientist had defected to the United States and was helping the CIA but Iran has claimed that he was kidnapped by the CIA and Saudi intelligence agents. The United States government has never acknowledged Amiri’s existence, or admitted to a role in his disappearance.
July 13, 2010
Abducted Iranian Nuclear Scientist Surfaces in U.S.
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/7/13/headlines/abducted_iranian_nuclear_scientist_surfaces_in_us

... ABC News reported in March that he had defected and was helping the CIA, revealing valuable information about the Iranian nuclear programme. But earlier this month, Tehran said it had proof he was being held in the US. The allegation came after three videos purportedly of Mr Amiri emerged - the first said he had been kidnapped, the second that he was living freely in Arizona, and the third that he had escaped from his captors. The BBC's former correspondent in Tehran, Jon Leyne, says that Iran's version of the story seems to be backed up by events unfolding in Washington DC ...
Page last updated at 14:24 GMT, Tuesday, 13 July 2010 15:24 UK
Missing Iranian scientist appears at embassy in US
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/10609461.stm

... the CIA does not comment on defections. But a U.S. official, who is not authorized to talk to the media about such issues, told CNN last month that it would be "ludicrous, absurd and even preposterous" to claim an individual was kidnapped by the United States and held against his will. On Sunday, Iranian media quoted a top Iranian lawmaker as saying that newly found documents back up Tehran's claims that the CIA is responsible. "The U.S. move to kidnap Amiri runs counter to international regulations," said Javad Jahangirzadeh, a member of Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. He said Iranian officials had turned over the documents to the Swiss ambassador in Tehran ...
Missing Iranian researcher takes refuge in Pakistani embassy
By the CNN Wire Staff
July 13, 2010 8:11 a.m. EDT
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/07/13/iran.missing.scientist/index.html?iref=allsearch

... Last week Iran submitted a dossier, of what it said was evidence of the scientist's kidnapping by US agents in 2009, to the Swiss embassy in Tehran ...
'Abducted' Iranian scientist surfaces in US
By foreign affairs editor Peter Cave
Posted 5 hours 21 minutes ago
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/07/13/2952659.htm

... There is a heated argument between American officials and Iran over how Mr Amiri came to be on American soil. The Americans say he defected and was telling them nuclear secrets, the Iranians say he was kidnapped by US agents in 2009. While the US cannot enter the Iranian section of the embassy, which is staffed by Iranians, it could prevent Mr Amiri from leaving the country. The upshot of the drama is very likely to be a diplomatic stand-off and some red-faces in America’s intelligence community, as Mr Amiri was seen as a prize possession.
Ted Thornhill
'Abducted' Iranian surfaces in US
An ‘abducted’ Iranian nuclear scientist has surfaced in the US, after Tehran said that he was kidnapped by the CIA
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/834973-abducted-iranian-surfaces-in-us

A missing Iranian nuclear scientist dramatically turned up at the Iranian interests section of Pakistan's embassy in Washington, and was quoted as saying he was kidnapped by U.S. agents in a "disgraceful act". But a U.S. official, who declined to be named, said Shahram Amiri, who vanished during a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia more than a year ago, had been visiting the United States and had decided "to return to Iran of his own free will" ... Iran's semi-official Fars news agency said the handover by U.S. agents was a victory over "American intelligence services". "Because of Iran's media and intelligence activities, the American government had to back down and hand over Amiri to the embassy last night," Fars said ...
Iran scientist turns up at Washington mission
Reuters
Tehran, July 13, 2010First Published: 19:28 IST(13/7/2010)
Last Updated: 19:31 IST(13/7/2010)
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Iran-scientist-turns-up-at-Washington-mission/Article1-571813.aspx

... "He has been in the United States of his own free will and obviously he is free to go," department spokesman P.J. Crowley said. "In fact, he was scheduled to travel to Iran yesterday but was unable to make all of the necessary arrangements to reach Iran through transit countries." It was the latest development in a murky case that has been shrouded in mystery since the scientist, Shahram Amiri, disappeared while on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in June 2009. Crowley said Amiri was at the Pakistani embassy. "He traveled there on his own," he added, but would not elaborate ...
Missing Iranian scientist surfaces in Washington
BY MATTHEW LEE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/13/1727804/iran-missing-scientist-surfaces.html

... an American official said Amiri has decided to return to Iran of his own volition ...
'Amiri should return home unhindered'
Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:47:41 GMT
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=134595§ionid=351020101

... Iranian state news service Press TV reported that Shahram Amiri was "escorted by American forces to Iran's interest section" at the Pakistani Embassy on Monday night, where he requested an "immediate return" to Iran. Because Iran and the United States do not maintain diplomatic ties, the Pakistani Embassy looks after Iran's interest in Washington. The office, controlled and staffed by the Islamic Republic, is home to about 70 Iranian diplomats. Abdul Basit, a spokesman for Pakistan's foreign ministry, confirmed the Press TV account. He told CNN that Amiri arrived at 6:30 p.m. Monday and added that as Pakistan doesn't control the interest section, Amiri was neither a guest of nor in the custody or protection of his government. Speaking to The Associated Press, Basit said he understood Iran was now making arrangements for Amiri's repatriation ...
Missing Iranian Scientist Turns Up at Embassy in DC
Updated: 1 hour 33 minutes ago
http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/missing-iranian-nuclear-scientist-shahram-amiri-at-pakistani-embassy-in-washington/19551719

... Speaking at a press conference in Madrid, Manouchehr Mottaki confirmed Tuesday that scientist Shahram Amiri entered the embassy's office representing Iranian interests in the U.S. and requested an immediate return to Iran. Mattaki said he had heard Amiri had been found after having been kidnapped and taken to the U.S. against his will two years ago. The foreign minister, who was in Spain on a visit, said Tuesday that Amiri had been abducted while on pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia and should now be permitted to return to his loved ones "without any obstacle" ...
Iran foreign minister says nuclear scientist should be allowed rapid return to Iran
By The Associated Press (CP) – 2 hours ago
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5iGZPNAkeohJGqnAau4jF7SU2OIXg

... Iranian state television has broadcast the text of what it claims is an interview with Amiri conducted on Tuesday. But the authenticity of the interview is impossible to confirm ... "They intended to send me back home without much noise in order to cover up the kidnapping through denying the whole case, but they couldn't do that in the end," it said. He said that he had been under a lot of psychological pressure and armed men had had him under surveillance all the time ...
Iranian scientist surfaces in US
UPDATED ON:
TUESDAY, JULY 13, 2010
16:34 MECCA TIME, 13:34 GMT
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/07/201071353210347523.html

... Amiri told the New York reporter of Iranian state television that the Americans had wanted to try to resolve the affair quietly but had failed, the channel's website said. "After the release of my interview on the Internet and the disgrace for the American government over this abduction, they wanted to quietly return me to Iran by some country's airline, so that while denying the whole thing they can put a cap on the abduction," Amiri said. "But in the end they couldn't. Since the day of the release of my remarks on the Internet, the Americans have seen themselves as losers in this saga," he said, adding that in the past 14 months he has been under intense "psychological pressure" and was constantly being watched by "armed people." In June, a man claiming to be Amiri was shown in two separate videos broadcast on Iranian state television. In one of the videos he said he had escaped from the hands of US agents in Virginia ...
'Abducted' Iranian scientist surfaces in US
JAY DESHMUKH AND HIEDEH FARMANI
July 14, 2010 - 12:19AM
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/abducted-iranian-scientist-surfaces-in-us-20100713-109kt.html

... Last month, videos surfaced by a man purporting to be Amiri and making conflicting claims. In one low quality video broadcast on Iranian television, the man claims: During the eight months that I was kept in America, I was subject to the most severe tortures and psychological pressures by the American intelligence investigation groups. And the main aim behind these investigation teams and the pressure imposed on me was to make me take part in an interview conducted by an American media source and claim that I was an important figure in Iran's nuclear programme and I had sought asylum in America at my own will. A few hours later, a more elegantly produced video appeared on YouTube, in which the man claims he is in America and: intend to continue my education here. I am free here and I assure everyone that I am safe. My purpose in today's conversation is to put an end to all the rumours and accusations that have been levelled at me over the past year. I am Iranian and I have not taken any steps against my homeland. On June 28, ABC reported Amiri's family had been threatened by Iranian agents, making the situation so dire some predicted he would "re-defect" ...
Iranian Scientist In Pakistani Embassy
09:10 am
July 13, 2010
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/07/13/128483547/iranian-scientist-in-pakistani-embassy

... Paul Ingram .. executive director of the British American Information Security Council in London .. says those following the case will draw their own conclusions based on their existing allegiances. "Each story has within it its own sense of consistency," Ingram said. "However, it has to be said, if it is true that he has turned up at the Pakistani embassy within Washington and is now wanting to be repatriated to Iran, that on balance it would seem, the balance of probabilities and that is how far I would be able to go, the balance of probabilities seem to have shifted towards Iran's side of the story" ...
Iran: Missing Scientist Takes Refuge in Pakistan Embassy in US
Elizabeth Arrott | Cairo
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/Iranian-TV-Missing-Scientist-Takes-Refuge-in-Pakistan-Embassy-98305414.html

... See a video of an interview by RT America about Amiri's bizarre case with former CIA analyst Raymond McGovern, who says there could be a degree of truth in the competing – but not contradictory – stories that Amiri was kidnapped or was a willing defector.
Terrorism & Security
Shahram Amiri hiding in DC embassy, wants to return to Iran
By Jonathan Adams, Correspondent / July 13, 2010
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/terrorism-security/2010/0713/Shahram-Amiri-hiding-in-DC-embassy-wants-to-return-to-Iran