Syria: Iran's opposition in exile accused Syria yesterday of abducting two of its British members and deporting them to Iran.
The British embassy in Syria said Damascus had confirmed that it had deported two Iranians to Tehran, one of whom could be a British passport holder. Syrian officials were not available for comment.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said two members of its foreign affairs committee had been visiting relatives in Syria when they were arrested and "forcibly sent to Iran by the Syrian government".
The two men, Ebrahim Khodabandeh and Jamil Bassam, who had been living in Britain for 25 years, were arrested on April 18th, the NCRI said in a statement.
The families of the two men said the arrests breached the United Nations convention on political refugees and called on British Prime Minister Tony Blair to "intervene immediately to secure their safe return".
A British embassy official in Damascus said the mission had been seeking information about the two men since May 25th.
"We were given confirmation today by the consular department at the (Syrian) foreign ministry that two Iranians have been deported to Iran," the official said.
"It is not clear what refugee status they have ... It is possible that one of them could have possessed a British passport, in which case he would have been entitled to consular assistance."
NCRI, a political arm of the People's Mujahideen Organisation, has played a role in detailing Iran's nuclear programme. - (Reuters)