U.S. investigates abduction of Iranian dissidents in Iraq

Iran Focus and agencies: London, Aug. 15 – The US military says it is investigating the apparent kidnapping of two Iranian opposition members who disappeared earlier this month in Baghdad and it is demanding their release, the Associated Press reported from Baghdad. Iran Focus and agencies

London, Aug. 15 – The US military says it is investigating the apparent kidnapping of two Iranian opposition members who disappeared earlier this month in Baghdad and it is demanding their release, the Associated Press reported from Baghdad.

The People’s Mujahideen Organisation of Iran, or Mujahideen Khalq (MeK), had said two of its members were kidnapped by Iraqi interior ministry special forces troops, but ministry officials said they had no information about the abductions.

The US military has now confirmed the abduction and said it was working to release the men, adding that it had checked interior ministry units and stations for information.

The MeK named the abducted men as Hossein Pouyan and Mohammad-Ali Zahedi. The group called for immediate action on the part of the Multinational Force in Iraq to secure the release of the two men.

Iraqi police have also been asked to help secure the men’s release, the U.S. military said.

The two men were kidnapped on August 4 while on a logistics trip to the capital, the military said.

A security review was under way due to the kidnappings, the military said, which considers members of the group protected persons under the Geneva Convention.

U.S. forces disarmed the MeK fighters after the 2003 US-led invasion. More than 3,000 of the group’s members live in Camp Ashraf, which is under American military control.