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| Iran |
| Third Shooting Targets British Mission in Iran |
| 2003-09-15 |
| A motorcycle passenger fired shots at the main gate of the residential compound of the British embassy in Iran, the third time the mission has been targeted this month, a British diplomat said Monday. As with the previous incidents, nobody was hurt in the latest shooting which took place Sunday evening, British diplomat Andrew Greenstock told Reuters. They’re not meant to hurt anyone, they’re meant to express displeasure with Britain. Tensions have been rising between Tehran and London over Britain’s arrest at Argentina’s request of a former Iranian diplomat in connection with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people. Britain protested "strongly" to Iran last week after the second of two drive-by shootings around the British embassy in central Tehran in under a week. As they say, once is a accident, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action. Witnesses at the sprawling, leafy Gholhak compound where British embassy staff and their families live in northern Tehran, said they heard two shots Sunday night. "There were witnesses. It seems to be two men on a bike again," Greenstock said. Those bikers get around. He said the shots were fired around 6:10 p.m. (1340 GMT). Iran’s government was quick to condemn the shooting. "These kind of moves are completely unacceptable," Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told Reuters. He said the government would ensure those responsible were brought to justice. "We’ll get to it right after we clear up this canadian thing." British diplomats said there have been two drive-by shootings at the embassy in central Tehran but this was the first time the residential compound had been targeted. In the first incident on September 3 gunshots, also apparently fired from a passing motorcycle, pierced windows in the embassy building that stands near a busy street. On September 9, witnesses said three or four shots were fired at or near the embassy, coming from two men on a motorcycle. Hum, don’t those pro-fundi mullah militia types ride bikes alot? Seems like they might want to look at them. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #4 It would be fun to stop the bikers with some piano wire. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-9-15 3:04:51 PM |
| #3 DK, yes that's correct. Seems as though the extradition's by no means guaranteed either: "An Iranian ex-envoy has been freed on bail in London, pending extradition proceedings over a bombing which killed 85 in Argentina. Hade Soleimanpour was freed on £730,000 bail, and must report daily to police. A High Court judge said there was no clear evidence Mr Soleimanpour was involved in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires. Mr Justice Royce said he had read reports from the investigating judge in Argentina - totalling more than 400 pages - but said it did not point to any "clear evidence demonstrating his involvement". He added that Mr Soleimanpour had stayed in the UK despite plenty of chances to flee. The envoy had known about a possible extradition request from Argentina since March and "clearly could have departed these shores by now had he so wished," he said. His counsel, Mr Alun Jones QC, said the Argentine government's accusations were based on "innuendo, hearsay and suspicion". Argentina seemed to be suggesting that Iran was exporting state-sponsored terrorism through its embassy and that the ambassador therefore must have been involved, he said. Mr Justice Royce said it was "too early" to reach a final view on the strength of Argentina's case against the diplomat - and that would be decided by a magistrate as the extradition proceedings began [19 September]." |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2003-9-15 12:15:47 PM |
| #2 I thought I read that the British Authorities released the diplomat on bail. Any bets on whether he skips? |
| Posted by: Daniel King 2003-9-15 11:53:33 AM |
| #1 I bet it would be easier to ban bicycles in Teheran than ban AK-47's. |
| Posted by: SOG475 2003-9-15 9:45:00 AM |