Pressespiegel

Bhutto Calls For Release of Iranians Kidnapped by Taleban

ISLAMABAD Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto here Tuesday called for immediate release of Iranians kidnapped by Taleban. Bhutto, who is currently leading the opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP) at the parliament, made the remark in a meeting with Iranian Ambassador to Islamabad Mohammad Mehdi Akhundzadeh. Akhundzadeh called on the Pakistani government to help settle the critical situation in Afghanistan by using its influence. Also, the United Nations Correspondents Association, Vienna (UNCAV) in Vienna Tuesday severely condemned the Taleban militia for kidnapping Iranian diplomats and nationals after seizing Mazar-i Sharif on August 8. In an open letter to Pakistani Minister of Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and Taleban's representative in Islamabad, the UNCAV asked for immediate and unconditional release of the IRNA's correspondent and other Iranians in the clutches of the Taleban militia. The deputy premier of Australia in a statement said his country is concerned about the capture of Iranian nationals by Taleban, calling on the militia to immediately release the Iranians. Such acts is in contradiction with the international norms, he said adding that the government of Australia condemns any kind of human rights violation and terrorism.

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UNCAV Asks Pakistan's FM, Taliban's Representative to Free Iranians

Bhutto Calls for Release of Iranians Kidnapped by Taliban
IRAN NEWS POLITICAL DESK TEHRAN - Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in Islamabad Tuesday called for immediate release of Iranians kidnapped by Taliban. Bhutto, who is currently leading the opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP) at the parliament, made the remark in a meeting with Iranian Ambassador to Islamabad Mohammad Mehdi Akhoundzadeh. She said, quoted by IRNA, that Pakistani people are concerned over the fate of Iranian nationals captured in Afghanistan by Taliban. Criticizing Taliban's attitude toward Afghan women, she said that Taliban is financially supported by some foreign countries. The Iranian ambassador said that it is believed that Pakistan plays key role in the current developments in the neighboring Afghanistan. Referring to friendly relations between Iranian and Afghan nations, he urged Taliban to release the Iranian diplomats. Akhoundzadeh called on the Pakistani government to help settle the critical situation in Afghanistan by using its influence. Meanwhile, the United Nations Correspondents Association, Vienna (UNCAV) severely condemned the Taliban militia for kidnapping Saremi along with other Iranian diplomats and nationals after seizing, August 8, 1998. In an open letter to the Pakistan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and Taliban's representative in Islamabad, the UNCAV asked for immediate and unconditional release of the IRNA's correspondent and other Iranians in the clutches of the Taliban militia. "We are concerned about the health of the captive Iranians especially IRNA's correspondent Mahmoud Saremi who had undergone a surgical operation just before his captivity," wrote the letter. The letter asked the Pakistani minister of foreign affairs to use his influence over the Taliban in order to immediately free the Iranian nationals.

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UNCAV Commemorates Mahmoud Saremi

VIENNA The United Nations Correspondents Association, Vienna (UNCAV) here Tuesday commemorated IRNA's correspondent, Mahmoud Saremi, who was martyred at the hands of the brutal Taleban group in Mazar-i Sharif on August 8. The cermony was also participated by the representatives of the public relations and press department of the United Nations and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). Chief of the UNCAV Michael Kress in his speech said that martyr Saremi was a journalist who devoted his life while performing his sacred journalistic duty. He added that They (Taleban) took his life because they wanted their crimes in Afghanistan not to be revealed to the world. Kress went on to say that this is the major duty of the reporters to let people know about the realities and that they should transmit the truth without any fear. Today, they killed Saremi in Afghanistan and tomorrow they may kill anyone of us in anywhere else, said the UNCAV chief, saying that we have gathered here to mourn Saremi's martyrdom and to promise to establish our legitimate right around the world," he added. The official in charge of IRNA Bureau in Vienna in his speech also said that Saremi in his first report from Afghanistan said that the Afghan crisis did not have military solution. He added that Saremi wanted to serve in Afghanistan just to be with the poor and war-stricken people in that country. Meanwhile, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) is to build a memorial in honor of its bureau chief in the nothern Afghan city of Mazar-i Sharif, Mahmoud Saremi, who was brutally killed by Taleban on August 8. The public relations office of IRNA announcing this said that the memorial will be built on a 25 sq meter area in Saremi's hometown, Boroujerd, western Iran. It invited all freedom-lovers and those working for promotion of humanitarian causes, including journalists, press associations and architects to send in their proposals and ideas to IRNA public relations office to enable the organization to make the memorial a fitting symbol of the noble profession. Saremi, 30, covering the developments in war-torn Afghanistan, was murdered by Taleban in Mazar-i Sharif when the militia stormed the Iranian consulate in the city. He is survived by his wife and a 4-year-old son. (IRNA)