Videos cloud missing scientist mystery
Updated on 09 June 2010
As Tehran broadcasts footage it says shows a missing scientist claiming he was abducted, another video pops up on YouTube allegedly showing the same man declaring he's happy and free. Channel 4 News looks at the deepening mystery of Iran's missing scientist.
Shahram Amiri, a university researcher working for Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, disappeared during pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia in June last year.
Iran has accused Riyadh of handing the scientists over to the US, a charge that Saudi Arabia denies.
US officials have refused to say whether Mr Amiri is in the USA, but it's been reported that he defected and provided information on the secret uranium enrichment site near Qom.
On Monday Iranian state television broadcast a video which it says proves Amiri was kidnapped and "tortured."
Speaking in Farsi the man in the video says, "I was kidnapped from Medina in a joint operation by the American intelligence service… and Saudi Arabia."
"I was given an anaesthetic injection. When I regained consciousness, I was being taken to America. During eight months that I have been kept here in America, I was subjected to severe torture and psychological pressure by the American... intelligence groups."
But now more footage has emerged, contradicting the video shown by Iran. Posted on YouTube a man, also said to be Amiri, claims he is studying in the US, of his own free will.
"I am in America and intend to continue my education in this country. I am free here and assure everyone I am safe," he said. "The purpose in today’s conversation is to out an end to all the rumours that have been levelled at me over the past year. I am Iranian, and I have not taken any steps against my homeland."
It’s not been possible to independently verify who the person or people in the videos are, although both men do look similar to photographs of Amiri that have appeared in Iranian media previously.
The US has never formally acknowledged Mr Ansari's existence or admitted to having a role in his disappearance, but the New York times quotes a US official saying:
"The United States doesn’t force people to defect or hold them here of they do. That’s ridiculous, ultimately it's their decision. Does anyone really believe that someone supposedly held captive has internet access and the ability to make and send videos? That doesn’t make any sense."
The videos have surfaced ahead of a UN security council vote on new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme. The Obama administration has been offering classified intelligence briefings to members of the security council which foreign diplomats and US officials claim shows new evidence of Iran’s development of nuclear warheads, according to foreign diplomats and US officials.
Iran summoned the Swiss Ambassador in Tehran on Tuesday and handed over documents it says show the missing scientist - and former Iranian deputy defence minister Alireza Asgai were both kidnapped by Americans. Iran has no diplomatic ties with the US and all US interests in Tehran are handled by the Swiss embassy.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry has asked for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr Amiri, with ISNA reporting: "In the meeting (with the Swiss envoy) Iran emphasised that America is responsible for the life and well being of Mr Amiri and stressed his abduction was against all obvious international laws and human rights."
So was Amiri was abducted or did he defect? Despite the new videos we are no closer to unravelling the mystery.
