[Alex Jones]
Political News, Radio, Ideas, Videos and EventsBlair and Bush vent anger at Iran's TV footage of hostages
2007-03-29
K. Sengupta & C. Brown / London Independent | March 29, 2007
A genuine confession or humiliation and cynical abuse of international law? These were the questions being asked after the appearance of the British hostage Faye Turney on Iranian television last night.
Film footage of the servicewoman taken prisoner in the Persian Gulf, wearing a black headscarf, as she "admitted" to trespassing on Iranian waters, will become one of the iconic images of the crisis between Iran and the West. It also ignited an immediate international furore with the British Government lodging a vehement protest, demanding that diplomatic access be given to the 15 sailors and marines who have been held for six days.
President George Bush held talks with Tony Blair and said that Britain will receive full support while Mr Blair warned the situation would move into a " new phase" if diplomacy failed to secure the captives' release. Meanwhile US forces were engaged in the largest military operations they have carried out in the region since the Iraq invasion in 2003 - a move described by Tehran as highly provocative.
The television images came on a day in which Britain had announced that it was freezing all relations with Iran and produced information which, it insisted, showed incontrovertibly that the British naval team had been arrested within Iraqi waters.
This was followed by what appeared to be the first conciliatory signals from the Iranian government since the crisis began: a promise that Leading Seaman Turney, at least, would be released soon, and an offer to accept that the Britons may have strayed into their territory by accident.
But last night Iran's Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, initially said that Ms Turney was unlikely to be freed immediately and that Britain must first admit that its personnel entered Iranian waters accidentally for the standoff to be resolved. "Unfortunately the British have not admitted their mistake," he told the Associated Press yesterday. He later confirmed that Iran had agreed to a British request for a consular visit with the crew, though he did not specify when.
In 2004, captured British service personnel had been paraded blindfolded in front of the cameras and the British Government had demanded the latest captives must not be put through the same ordeal. Leading Seaman Turney, 26, the mother of a three-year-old girl, was seen describing how she and the others in the British naval party had entered Iranian waters. She said haltingly: "I have been in the Navy nine years. I live in England. I was arrested on Friday March 23. Obviously we trespassed into their waters. They were very friendly and very hospitable, very thoughtful, good people. They explained to us why we had been arrested. There was no aggression, no hurt, no harm."
The Al-Alam television station also displayed a letter that Leading Seaman Turney had written to her family in England. In it she said: "We were out in the boats when we were arrested by Iranian forces as we had apparently gone into Iranian waters. I wish we hadn't because then I would be home with you all right now ... I want you all to know that I am well and safe."
The Ministry of Defence in London stressed that what Leading Seaman Turney had said should be judged in the context of the pressures she had been subjected to while in captivity.
Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, said: "I am very concerned about these pictures and any indication of pressure on or coercion of our personnel who were carrying out a routine operation in accordance with international law and under a United Nations resolution in support of the Iraqi government. We have comprehensively demonstrated today that our personnel were operating inside Iraqi waters. As we have made clear repeatedly to the Iranian government, such use of these images is totally unacceptable."
Legal and defence experts said the television footage could have been in breach of the Geneva Convention, despite Britain and Iran not being in a state of war. One analyst, Paul Beaver, said: "There are a host of reasons why this could be in breach of the Convention. They have not been charged, and they have not been allowed consular access."
Earlier, Vice-Admiral Charles Style, the Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff, gave co-ordinates which he said showed that the party had been seized 1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi waters.
There were unconfirmed reports that the Iranian Foreign Ministry had advised against the televising of the prisoners. Diplomatic and military sources in London said there were grave doubts whether much of the Iranian government had any say on the fate of the captives, and that their continuing captivity was part of an internal power play as well as a symbol of Iranian defiance.
The truth, or a forced confession?
"as we had apparently gone into Iranian waters"
Impossible to know whether this is an admission or a forced confession, or whether she even wrote the letter. Faye Turney, nevertheless, uses the cautionary term 'apparently' in the admission that they had strayed into Iranian waters.
"that I am well and safe"
Primary concern here is to send a signal to her family not to worry and that she has not been mistreated, tortured or otherwise abused. Once again there is no way of knowing if this is true. She looked strained in the video footage.
"I have written a letter to the Iranian people to apologise for us entering into their waters"
A concession undoubtedly demanded by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a symbol of public penitence. The Revolutionary Guards have their own public relations battles to fight inside Iran and this will doubtless help their cause.
[ Back to top ]
Created with ShoutPost
