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Photo: AP
Playing chess
Photo: AP

Iranian media releases photos of British sailors

Iranian news agency Fars files three images of soldiers held in Iran, 'chatting and eating fruit, drinking coffee and playing chess'

Iranian media filed more images of the detained British sailors on Tuesday, showing them sitting on a carpet in track suits but did not publish any more of the “confessions” that had been condemned by the British government.

 

The Fars news agency carried three images, possibly stills taken from a video, on its website. One showed six sailors sitting on a Persian carpet in a room, wearing blue, black and red tracksuits. What appeared to be a bowl of nuts stands in the middle of the group. Another showed two of the sailors playing chess, while a third showed more sailors sitting on the carpet.


Eating and chatting (Photo: AP)

 

The caption said: “British sailors are chatting and eating fruit, drinking coffee and playing chess. It seems that the sailors are satisfied with their situation, in which they are enjoying good conditions instead of working in a hard situation in the Persian Gulf.”

 

The pictures included the only female member of the 15 sailors seized by Iran in the Gulf on March 23, Leading Seaman Faye Turney, who is bare-footed. Also, Iran’s state Al-Alam channel re-broadcast video showing the sailors being captured and standing in front of a map of the northern Gulf.

 

But on Tuesday, unlike in earlier days, the Arabic-language channel did not show the sailors using the map to show that they were in Iranian waters when the Iranian navy intercepted them.

 

In London, the British Foreign Office seemed unperturbed by the Fars picture, saying it was not clear if it was new. On Monday, an Iranian state media said they would not be broadcasting any more video confessions of the sailors because of what they called “positive changes” in the negotiating stance of Britain, whose government had condemned the airing of videos of the captives.

 

Earlier Tuesday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said attempts to resolve the diplomatic showdown over the seizure of the sailors were coming to a head. Britain argues the Iranian navy snatched the sailors as they conducted an anti-smuggling patrol in Iraqi waters. Iran says the British sailors’ boats had crossed the nautical frontier and has broadcast several videos in which individual sailors admit to “trespassing” in Iranian waters.

 


פרסום ראשון: 04.03.07, 20:02
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