U.S. Raid On The Iranian Liaison Office in Arbil - in Custody

In Custody

The Iranian consular officers were: Naser Bagheri, Mousa Chegini, Abbas Hatami Kakavand, Hamid Askari Shokouh and Majid Ghaemi.

Under Iraqi law, detainees identified as insurgents should be charged in civilian courts. They may be held up to 14 days before being brought before a magistrate. These requirements appear to be systematically ignored in practice. In this incident, the Iraqi government denies that the detainees were helping insurgents.

In 2008 three of the five Iranian detainees were being held at a U.S. prison camp in Iraq. According to the United States Defense Department they were under interrogation and the U.S. had "no plans to free them while they are seen as a security risk in Iraq". An International Committee of the Red Cross representative met the five Iranian employees in March 2008 and reported "they were in good health." However, this claim has been doubted by the families of the captured workers, stating they worry about the circumstances they were in, and whether they might be under prolonged torture by Americans to acquire false confessions. After its first consular meeting with the captives, Iran announced that the " have complained about their kidnapping, the US attitude and non-observance of international regulations."