Iran does diplomacy: so let it free the hikers!
The green scarf around the neck of one of five British sailors held for a week in Iran might have convinced President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that he’d made a mistake in freeing them.
But there was nothing remotely political about the Arab-style garment worn by David Bloomer as he and the four-man crew of the racing yacht Kingdom of Bahrain stepped to freedom in the port of Dubai.
David Bloomer, far right, with crewmates in Dubai (Getty)
Bloomer, a sports radio presenter in Bahrain, had somehow picked up the scarf in a market before leaving Tehran after a tense week that followed the men’s arrest for entering Iranian waters en route from Bahrain to Dubai.
Neither he nor any of his companions could have been thinking at the moment of their release about the vindictiveness of Iranian officials who have arrested dozens of their fellow citizens just for wearing green. Ironically, the colour represents the opposition movement led by Mir Hossein Mousavi whose supporters have suffered brutal repression in the months since the disputed June 12 presidential election in which Ahmadinejad claimed victory.
With that in mind, it is probably just as well that Bloomer hadn’t been wearing his scarf when the yacht drifted into the clutches of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a result of inadequate maps and a broken propellor, or that he’d chosen an even greener souvenir on leaving.
Following discreet consular diplomacy by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office — not to mention a personal phone call by Foreign Secretary David Miliband to his Iranian counterpart — the five sailors were freed without a fuss, although they missed the start of their scheduled yacht race. Their laptops, mobile phones and GPS devices, however, were seized by the Republican Guard and the state-of-the-art yacht was reportedly damaged during examination.
Other foreign captives have not been as lucky. US backpackers Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal have been in captivity since July 31 when it is alleged they mistakenly crossed the Iranian border while hiking in Iraq.
The bottom line is that Iran has shown it can do diplomacy when it chooses. As the Islamic republic seeks to assert its legitimacy in pursuit of a peaceful nuclear power programme, the prompt release of the hikers along with French national Clotilde Reiss would be another important step in the right direction.
Wrong maps landed British sailors in Iranian captivity ~ Telegraph
Tags: #SSJ, Iran, Josh Fattal, Sarah Shourd, Shane Bauer, US hikers
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