Ambassador: No Iranian allowed into Iraq

12/20/2004 1:00:00 PM GMT

Iraq’s ambassador to Iran, Mohammad Majid Al-Sheikh, announced on Monday that Iraq’s embassy has stopped giving visas to any Iranian national, Iran’s Hamshahri Daily reported.

“We will only provide those Iranians with visas who hold a permit from the Iranian Foreign Ministry or those Iranian traders who are members of the country’s Commerce Chamber,” Mr. Al-Sheikh said.

He, moreover, rejected recent reports saying that more than a million Iranian nationals are trying to enter Iraq to influence its upcoming elections to the benefit of the Shiite population adding: “The January 30th election in Iraq is to be a democratic one.”

Iraqi police said on Sunday it has arrested 45 men for illegally trying to enter the country through its border with Iran.

The police said that the 45 men were arrested late Saturday at Mandali, on the Iranian border 60 miles east of the Iraqi capital.

The detainees had no identity documents but said they were Muslim pilgrims coming from Iran, Afghanistan or Bangladesh. Their age ranged from early 20s to 60s.

Protests in Tehran

Meanwhile, families of 1,500 Iranian pilgrims who had been arrested in Iraq gathered in front of the Foreign Ministry on Saturday, calling for the release of their family members.

Detainees’ families are mostly concerned about the health conditions in Iraq and have complained about the unfulfilled promises given by Foreign Ministry officials in this regard, said Parvin Jamalian, acting as the spokeswoman for the families.

Jamalian said that earlier an official from the Foreign Ministry promised to solve the issue through contacting the Iranian embassy in Baghdad.

"We have recently learned that 1,500 Iranian citizens who had traveled to Iraq as pilgrims are presently kept in prisons there," a Foreign Ministry said.

"We have given their names to Iraqi officials but so far we have only managed to release 142 of them," said Masoud Khaleghi as quoted by AFP.

"It is impossible to follow up our correspondence with the Iraqi Foreign Ministry because of Iraq's totally abnormal situation," he said.

"We can only promise to take appropriate measures towards releasing those held in captivity through diplomatic channels," he added.

Several Iranian pilgrims have crossed into Iraq since toppling the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein last year to visit Shiite holy sites.

Some relatives of the Iranian captives called for follow-up of the issue via the International Committee of the Red Cross.