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TEHRAN and LONDON - An Iranian diplomat who was freed last week, two months after being seized in Iraq, says he was tortured by the CIA while in captivity at an Iraqi Government installation.
The claims by Jalal Sharafi on Iranian state television yesterday will lead to fresh speculation that the diplomat was freed as part of a deal to secure the release of 15 British servicemen seized by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
The allegations also come amid continuing political fall-out over the two-week hostage crisis in London and Tehran, with Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair being criticised for their behaviour.
Although Sharafi's claims are similar to those made by the servicemen on their return to Britain, the recent United States history of renditions, kidnapping and abuse make them difficult to ignore.
US officials have denied any role in Sharafi's abduction, but his release has led inevitably to suspicion that it was part of a secret deal that has also seen US forces grant access to five other detained Iranians in Iraq. He was kidnapped in February by gunmen in Iraqi Army uniforms.
When the diplomat was released last week, Iraq Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said he was in good health but did not know who had held him.
Sharafi, however, says he was abducted by agents bearing Iraqi Defence Ministry ID cards. He said he was taken to a base near Baghdad airport, where he was questioned in Arabic and English.
"Questions asked by CIA agents were about the presence and influence of Iran in Iraq. They asked questions about the amount of aid Iran provided to the Government of [Iraqi Prime Minister] al-Maliki, Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish groups," he said.
"When they were faced with my answers about the official relationship of Iran with the Iraqi Government and officials, they increased the tortures. Many days they tortured me day and night," he said.
The 15 British sailors and Marines have said they were subjected to "constant psychological pressure" and at one stage they thought they were going to be executed.
"We were bound, hands behind our backs, blindfolds on, and then shoved up against a wall," said Lieutenant Felix Carman yesterday.
"One of the lads heard weapons being cocked. He was screaming: 'Lads, they are going to execute us'.
"Somehow I undid my hands from behind my back, pulled my blindfold off. There were guys with weapons there but it didn't look like a firing squad. They were just playing with their weapons.
"That was the worst moment. There was a lot of trickery and mind games being played."
Carman also said they were well outside Iranian waters when describing their capture and days in captivity.
"Irrespective of what has been said, when we were detained by the Revolutionary Guard we were inside internationally recognised Iraqi territorial waters and were 1.7 nautical miles from Iranian waters."
When asked about a lack of air support, Royal Marine Captain Chris Air said: "We noticed that the helicopter had returned to Mother [HMS Cornwall] and we started calling the ship on VHF to find out why. A short while later two speed boats were spotted approaching rapidly 400m away."
Ordering everyone to make their weapons ready, Air tried to reason with the one English speaker among the Iranians as they blocked their path.
"Some of the Iranian sailors were becoming deliberately aggressive and unstable. They rammed our boat and trained their heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and weapons on us," he said.
"They had come with a clear purpose and were never going to leave without us."
The team was taken to a naval base up the Shatt al Arab waterway, blindfolded, stripped and interrogated.
The atmosphere became even more sinister the next day when they were flown to Tehran and subjected to effective mock executions.
After 10 days, the 15 were allowed to gather together, offered food and games of chess, but in the full glare of the Iranian media.
It was the first time since their capture that they saw leading Seaman Faye Turney, who had been held on her own from the start.
It was not until they were taken, blindfolded, to the Government complex and listened to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech that they realised their ordeal was over.
"It goes without saying that there was a huge moment of elation ... My advice to everyone was not to mess this up now. We all wanted to get home," said Carman.
The whole affair appears to have damaged Ahmadinejad's standing among both conservative and reformist Iranians, who say the televised scenes of him greeting the Britons just after announcing their release had brought ridicule on the country's Islamic system.
In London, friction has emerged between the Prime Minister's Office and the Foreign Office amid claims that the tougher line taken by Blair may have delayed Turney's release.
WHAT THEY FACED
The men
The 14 male British Marines and sailors say they were:
* Blindfolded and lined up against a concrete wall with their hands tied behind their backs. When they heard weapons being cocked, one of them dropped to the floor screaming, "They are going to execute us."
* Held in isolation, only able to communicate by whispering through the grates of their 2mx3m stone cells.
* Provided with fake letters from their families and subjected to interrogations most nights.
* Told they faced seven years in an Iranian jail if they failed to co-operate or a flight home if they confessed.
* Told the others were being offered privileges for co-operating.
The woman
Leading Seaman Faye Turney was:
* Segregated from the other 14 from the moment they were captured.
* Told the others had all been sent home and that she alone remained in captivity.
Jalal Sharafi
* The Iranian diplomat freed last week, two months after being seized in Iraq, says he was:
* Taken to a base near Baghdad airport where he was questioned in Arabic and English.
* Questioned about the amount of aid Iran provided to the Iraqi Government, Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish groups.
* Tortured day and night. "When they were faced with my answers about the official relationship of Iran with the Iraqi Government and officials, they increased the tortures."
* The US is still holding five Iranian officials taken captive in January.
- OBSERVER, INDEPENDENT
