Remains of slain diplomat return to Iran

 

Remains of Iranian diplomat Ali Asghar Asadi flown from Yemen back to Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran aboard Iran Air Airbus A320-211, reg: EP-IEG (cn 2054).

IRGC pall-bearer detail hoisting flag-draped coffin of Ali Asghar Asadi

Photos: Esmaeil Askari at FARS News Agency

Senior Iranian Diplomat Detained in Tehran

Iranian Foreign Ministry today confirmed an earlier report by Reuters that the security agents in Tehran have detained a senior Iranian diplomat. Bagher Asadi, who was a senior member of Iran's U.N. mission in New York and was most recently a director at the secretariat of the D8 group of developing nations in Istanbul, was arrested in mid-March.

The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) said in its news broadcast today that a senior Foreign Ministry officer has confirmed the arrest and detention of Mr. Bagheri. (IRINN, 2 May)

The authorities have not revealed the charges against Bagheri. In January 2004, he wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times supporting the reformist policies of then-President Khatami. He warned of the potential negative consequences of a conservative victory in the 2005 presidential election. Ahmadinejad won that election.

File photo: Bagher Asadi (right) with Kamal Kharazi, then Iran’s ambassador to the U.N., and Kofi Annan, then the U.N. Secretary General, in an undated photo (g77.org/BBC)