Iran says Qatar captured three pilots, calls for their release

TEHRAN

Iran has asked the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to intervene over three air force pilots it says have been held in Qatar since their aircraft were shot down during the war with the United States and Israel in March.

Brig. Gen. Mohammad Bagherzadeh, head of the Missing in Action Search Committee of Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff, made the request in a letter to ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric.

Bagherzadeh said the pilots ejected after two Su-24 fighter-bombers were downed on March 2 while returning from a mission against a U.S. military base in Qatar.

He said Qatari forces captured three of the four crew members alive.

He identified the pilots as Javad Salehi, Abdolmajid Dashtian and Omran Behraveshian.

The fourth pilot, Majid Kazemi, was killed and his remains were later returned to Iran.

Bagherzadeh said Tehran’s diplomatic efforts had failed to secure contact with the pilots or allow them to communicate with their families.

He accused Qatar of denying them rights afforded to prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions.

He asked the ICRC to meet the pilots, establish their condition and help facilitate their release.

Qatar had not immediately responded to the latest Iranian allegation. Iranian officials said earlier this month that Doha had told them it had no information about the pilots’ whereabouts.