Tehran - Iran's ambassador to Germany has voiced hope that
the two detained Iranian staffers of the British embassy in Tehran
would soon be released, official news agency IRNA reported Saturday.
IRNA quoted Ali-Reza Sheikh-Attar as saying that, after the
release of seven of the arrested local employees, the two remaining
workers would be free 'in coming days.'
Nine Iranian employees of the British embassy were arrested by
Iranian security due to their alleged involvement in the recent
protests against fraud in the June 12 presidential election.
Seven of them have been freed but two of them are still in jail.
The head of the Guardian Council, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, said at
Friday prayers that the two have confessed and 'will definitely face
trial.'
The comments by the ayatollah led to concerted diplomatic protest
and summoning of Iranian ambassadors to all the European Union
capitals on Friday.
The Iranian foreign ministry is expected to issue a statement on
the latest developments.
Observers believe that the foreign ministry will clarify that
political statements by Friday prayer leaders are not necessarily the
official standpoint of the Iranian government.
Both Jannati and the Guardian Council as a legislative body are
not part of the government or judiciary and therefore not qualified
to comment on political or judicial issues. Friday prayer leaders
however often use the weekly ceremony as platform for political
statements.
The Iranian ambassador to Berlin, however, said that, according to
the Vienna Convention, local employees of an embassy were subject to
their own country's laws and had no political immunity.
The arrest and detention of the Iranian embassy staffers have led
to a bilateral crisis that has now expanded to the whole EU.
While Iran considers revising diplomatic ties with Britain, France
and Germany, the EU is planning to impose visa bans on Iranian
officials and summon its ambassadors back from Tehran.
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