Iran’s ambassador to Beirut says the four Iranian diplomats who were abducted in Lebanon three decades ago are being held captive in Israeli jails.
In a Thursday meeting with the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Lebanon, Yorg Montani, Ghazanfar Roknabadi said ample evidence and documents suggest the four men are still alive and held in Israel.
He called on international organizations such as the Geneva-based ICRC to seriously follow-up on the issue.
Montani, for his part, gave assurances that the IRCS spares no effort in investigating the fate of the four kidnapped Iranian diplomats.
On July 4, 1982, Ahmad Motevaselian, Seyyed Mohsen Mousavi, Taqi Rastegar Moqaddam and Kazem Akhavan were kidnapped by a group of Israel-backed gunmen at a checkpoint in northern Lebanon.
During the 15-year civil war in Lebanon (1975-1990), Christian and Muslim militias fought each other and conducted kidnappings.
The Lebanese forces militia headed by Samir 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 Israel’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.
Iranian and Lebanese officials have declared that the issue will be addressed on an international level.
The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah had said that the fate of the abducted Iranians had been raised in the indirect negotiations for a prisoner exchange with the Israeli side after the 2006 war.
However, Israel has not released any information about the four missing Iranians.
