Two Iranian Filmmakers Freed in Iraq

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3343142,00.html


TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Two Iranian filmmakers returned home Monday after being held for four months by U.S.-led coalition forces in neighboring Iraq on suspicion of spying.

Saeed Aboutaleb and Soheil Karimi, who work for Iran's state-run television station, were detained by U.S. troops on July 1 in the southeastern Iraqi city of Kut when they were spotted filming a U.S. military base.

They were released Monday from a prison in British-controlled southern Iraq where they have been help, Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency said.

The agency said the filmmakers were met by relatives and friends at the Shalamcheh border crossing into Iran, and the two were then flown to Tehran.

The arrests were met with anger in Iran, where officials complained to the Swiss ambassador to Tehran, who looks after U.S. interests in Iran, and warned Britain that its ties with Tehran would suffer if London did not help release them.

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