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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Third Iranian diplomat defects to Nordic country |
| 2010-09-15 |
| [Al Arabiya] An Iranian diplomat called Tuesday for an uprising against the Tehran government, as he became the third Europe-based envoy to defect this year and announced he was seeking asylum in Norway. "I'm seeking political asylum with all my family," Farzad Farhangian, a press attaché at the Iranian embassy in Brussels, told reporters in Oslo, adding he intended to join the opposition to President Mahmoud Short RoundAhmadinejad. "I'm apologizing to the Iranian people. During the last 30 years I was of service to the Iranian people, 23 of them in the diplomatic service, but the deviation that the Iranian republic has reached leaves me no choice," he said. "I hope to be a voice of the opposition," he added. Farhangian, 47, is the third Iranian diplomat this year to seek protection in a Nordic country. A senior official at the Iranian embassy in Helsinki, Hossein Alizadeh, told reporters Monday he was seeking asylum in Finland, and the ex-consul general of Iran's embassy in Oslo, Mohamed Reza Heydari, was granted asylum by Norway in February after he resigned the previous month. When asked how he had decided where to seek asylum, Farhangian said he had chosen to defect to Norway as Heydari was an old colleague. "I'm hoping that in cooperation we will improve the campaign against the present government," he added. Haydari, who was present at Tuesday's press conference, meanwhile told reporters: "I expect there will be more defections very soon." Farhangian also said he would support the use of violence in the struggle against the current administration in Tehran. When asked if there should be a violent uprising, he answered: "yes, given the recent events I want it (the government) to be overthrown." |
| Posted by:Fred |