Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Additional Film Footage Related to Rigi's Arrest



At the start of the film, the aircraft appears to be a Boeing 737-300 series, matching the initial description in the Russian press from Bishkek. This plane actually appears to be an Eastok Avia Boeing 737-301 (see photo below), which matches the flight details of Kyrgyzstan Airlines QH 454, operated by Eastok Avia, enroute from Dubai (DXB / OMDB) to Bishkek-Manas, Kyrgyzstan (FRU / UAFM).

There is a very brief clip of a blindfolded man removed from the aircraft, amid footage devoted to the passengers being inconvenienced and re-boarded using an Iran Air ramp stair.

Rigi is seen in what appears to be a cargo hold of a small plane, wearing a different blindfold then the one later seen while he is in the passenger compartment of the IRIAF Dassault Falcon (Mystere) 20E.

Perhaps this film footage is related to that referred to by PressTV last week, as the Islamic Republic of Iran was pressing Kyrgyzstan diplomatic officials on its apparent flip-flopping of accounting for what transpired on its aircraft.

Eastok Avia B-737-301 (operated for
SkyLink Arabia), Dubai 2008

Photo: Konstantin von Wedelstaedt @ Airliners.net

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

There is nothing in this clip that links Rigi to the Kyrgyz airliner.

A few frames of Rigi's images in different surroundings seem to have been inserted among the film of the Kyrgyz aircraft and its passengers.

Rigi is shown in what is possibly a C-130 cargo-plane as the narrator explains. (Not the "cargo hold of a small plane.")

The more desperately the regime (or more precisely its intelligence ministry, as the interior minister gave a different version from the start) struggles to "prove" Rigi was caught on the Kyrgyz aircraft, the less credible the story becomes.

Even the claims from Tehran that Iran was "pressing Kyrgyzstan for refusing a foreigner's arrest aboard its aircraft" was rejected by Kyrgyzstan, which said that - despite media claims from Tehran - its ambassador in Tehran had not been called to Iran's foreign ministry to receive a complain about this issue.

Anonymous said...

hey folk
slow down
It is not relevant at all how Rig is arrested.

It is only important that this dangerous Terrorist is arrested.

He was the great danger for security of iran.
a great loss for US/Israel

Mark Pyruz said...

So Anon, another film was produced, after all.

You're actually referring to a different scene, where the suspect is seen wearing a hood (00:42). That's different from the scenes with Rigi seated, facing starboard, in what appears to be the cabin of a small plane, likely the IRIAF Dassault Falcon (Mystere) 20E, which is what I was referring to.

Recap:

-Russian press initially identified a Boeing 737-300 series brought down in Iran.

-Kyrgyzstan authorities initially reported their plane forced to land in Iran by Iran fighter planes, and two passengers removed from the airplane.

-A Bishkek-Manas airport official reported to AFP that a Kyrgyzstan airlines plane was forced down in Iran by two Iran Air Force "fighter-bombers" and two passengers removed from the plane.

-A random passenger witness interviewed at Bishkek-Manas stated an Iran Air force fighter forced the plane to land and two passengers were removed.

Here, we apparently have an Eastok Avia B-737 in Iran, using an Iran Air ramp stair.

That's a fair amount of evidence, Anon. And we won't even get into all the incriminating documentation found in Rigi's possession at the time of arrest. (The Pakistani IDs were a genuine source of embarrassment for NADRA.)

Anyway, Rigi is behind bars- where he belongs.

Anonymous said...

Mark,

Yes, another film is produced. But Rigi is not in it! They might as well have produced a footage of Air Force One with a few frames of Rigi (pathetically in other surroundings!) patched into it, and claim that Rigi was being hosted by Obama there!

The intelligence ministry has not produced even a single evidence placing Rigi on that Kyrgyz airliner.

And, countering this version are:


-Iran's interior minister, who was personally involved in the fight against Rigi and his gang.
-Pakistani ambassador
-Kyrgyz government statements
-Longstanding efforts to extradite Rigi from Pakistan and previous extradition of Rigi's brother by Pakistan to Iran.
-Propaganda that Rigi has been forced to speak.

Other factual questions, e.g.: Why Rigi, who - according to Iran - was in a US air base in Afghanistan on the day before his arrest, did not travel (or taken) to Bishkek directly from there.

This is different from cold war era ops. Rigi was not being 'extracted' from enemy territory. He was on a US airbase intending to travel to another US airbase to meet a US representative. Yet, he decided to travel through Iran for this journey! (Or Tehran would have us believe.)

As for the Fars News claims, they have no credibility at all. They are just a mouthpiece of IRGC and the intelligence ministry, which the IRGC has now take over.

Regarding Rigi's supposed "confessions," they are worth nothing, in the hands of a regime that is known to employ torture. So, no credibility there either.

I am not that bothered. If you wish to believe intellligence ministry's version, so be it.

b said...

slightly OT

A snippet from todays's Wall Street Journal's piece on Uri Lubrani, an old adviser to the Israeli Ministry of Defense and former Israeli ambassador to Iran.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704486504575097323070730564.html

"More recently, as Iran's nuclear program grew and Washington and Israel hardened their views, Mr. Lubrani's calls to support what appeared to be a beaten-down opposition seemed out of touch.

Mr. Lubrani says that witnessing the Iranian revolution gave him faith in the power of the Iranian people to affect change. From a remote seventh-story ofge in an old Ministry of Defense building, he oversaw a four-man team that quietly supported the Iranian opposition and sowed unrest inside Iran's borders."

Also remember this Haaretz piece that ran before the election protest in Iran:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1089463.html
Israeli diplomats told to take offensive in PR war against Iran

"Organizing demonstrations in front of Iranian consulates worldwide, staging mock stonings and hangings in public, and launching a massive media campaign against Iran - these are just some of the steps Israeli diplomats have been told to take in the coming weeks. The goal, according to a senior Foreign Ministry official, is "to show the world that Iran is not a Western democracy" in the run-up to the country's presidential election on June 12."

Anonymous said...

Mark,

I did not want to get into this again, but this story doesn't seem to want to go away!

From England’s “Financial Times” report on Ahmadinejad’s visit to Afghanistan today:

“Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad paid an official visit to Kabul, the Afghan capital, and disclosed the help that Iran received to arrest Abdulmalek Rigi, the commander of the Jundollah guerrilla group which seeks independence for the Baluchi minority.
Mr Rigi was captured about two weeks ago in an operation outside Iran’s borders. During a press conference in Kabul with Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, Mr Ahmadi-Nejad acknowledged the role of his neighbours in this operation, and “in particular Afghanistan.”

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2ebe1150-2c40-11df-9187-00144feabdc0.html

Compare with Intelligence Minister Moslehi’s earlier boast that Rigi “was arrested without the slightest help of intelligence services of other countries, including those from the region.”

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010%5C02%5C24%5Cstory_24-2-2010_pg7_12