Iran blames CIA for its nuclear scientist’s abduction

LONDON - Iran has lodged a written complaint alleging that the CIA had abducted one of its nuclear scientists, Shahram Amiri amidst international mystery over the fate of the man.

According to The Telegraph, Amiri disappeared in Saudi Arabia during his pilgrimage to the Muslim holy city of Medina.

Since then a series of videos have apparently shown Amiri make and retract claims he was drugged and flown to America against his will.

In March 2010, America’s news channel ABC claimed that it had confirmation he had defected and was helping US officials. This revelation has since been followed by the appearance of three conflicting videotapes, each featuring a man resembling Amiri.

In the first, played on Iranian television, he said that he was kidnapped in Medina, but briefly escaped.

“When I became conscious, I found myself in a plane on the way to the US, since I was abducted and brought to the US I was heavily tortured and pressured by US intelligence,” The Telegraph quoted him, as saying in the videotape.

In the second, posted on Youtube, he claimed that he is safe, and is pursuing higher education in America, while in a third video, which was made public in Iran last week, the first claims are repeated. The man claimed that he managed to escape from US intelligence agents in Virginia.

“I could be re-arrested at any time by US agents, I am not free and I’m not allowed to contact my family. If something happens and I do not return home alive, the US government will be responsible. I ask Iranian officials and organisations that defend human rights to raise pressure on the US government for my release and return to my country,” he added.

Meanwhile, Tehran has said that it has evidence that he is being held against his will in the United States, and had submitted it to the Swiss embassy, which looks after American interests in the absence of diplomatic relations.

Earlier, the Iranian government had declared that the CIA with Saudi connivance had kidnapped him. here was speculation in the West that his disappearance was linked to the American discovery, made public in September, of a second secret Iranian uranium enrichment plant near the holy city of Qom.

The paper stated that the United States has dismissed all his claims but did not elaborate on what might have gone wrong with him.

Amiri was a nuclear researcher at Tehran’s Malek Ashtar University and also worked for the Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation. (ANI)