An Iranian contact sends this. Please note that I have not confirmed the details, see the editor's note below:

WHO: AMIR FARSHAD EBRAHIMI, GERMAN-BASED JOURNALIST AND HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST
WHEN: TODAY
WHERE: ISTANBUL AIRPORT
WHAT: ARREST OF GERMAN-BASED IRANIAN JOURNALIST BY TURKISH AUTHORITIES ON CHARGES THAT HE HAS COLLABORATED WITH THE FBI IN THE FLIGHT OF ALIREZA ASHGARI FROM IRAN

DEAR ALL,

TURKISH AUTHORITIES HAVE ARRESTED AMIR-FARSHAD EBRAHIMI, A PROMINENT GERMAN-BASED IRANIAN JOURNALIST ON CHARGES THAT HE COLLABORATED WITH THE FBI IN THE FLIGHT OF A PROMINENT IRANIAN OFFICIAL LAST YEAR.

TURKISH AUTHORITIES HAVE ADVISED MR. EBRAHIMI THAT IN ORDER TO AVOID ANOTHER SIMILAR INCIDENT THEY ARE DEPORTING HIM IN THE NEXT FEW HOUS BACK TO IRAN WHERE HE WILL SURELY BE TORTURED AND EXECUTED.

IT IS IMPERATIVE FOR ALL GERMAN, EU, EC , US OFFICIALS AND HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION TO IMMEDIATELY CONTACT TURKISH EMBASSIES. CONSULATES AND THE TURKISH INTERIOR AND INTELLIGENCE SERVICE TO STOP TURKEY (WHICH WANTS TO BE A PART OF THE CIVILIZED WORLD) FROM DEPORTING A GERMAN-RESIDENT BACK TO IRAN.

MR. EBRAHIMI IS GERMAN RESIDENT. HIS GERMAN PASSPORT NUMBER IS: N0014860.
TURKEY MUST DEPORT HIM TO GERMANY AND NOT IRAN! ...

CONTACTS:
AMIR-FARSHAD EBRAHIMI: 0049-172-1560702 (THS PHONE WILL SOON BE TAKEN AWAY)
FRED SABERI: 0046-736-421240

Editor's note: I should note that I *have not confirmed the details* in the above, but decided, because the sender, a frequent contact on Iranian issues, strongly believed this person's life was in imminent danger, and that there was a short window for information and attention to possibly lead to diplomatic intervention which could save a person's life, to post it and forward it on to contacts 'as is' for the moment and deal with it as a news issue later. I made a judgment that that was the ethical thing to do.

Friday Update: The Iranian contact says, "There appears to be good news on this front thanks to the immediate response, interest and intervention of various parties." He'll try to confirm shortly.

A reader in Germany, MoonofA, notes German passport numbers have nine digits. [It's the number of his German refugee document, I'm told.] Also noted, the apparent allegation that Ebrahimi was involved in the defection of Ashgari from Iran to the West. I have never understood the story of that alleged defection, it's quite a rabbit hole; but have never before heard that the FBI was involved, and have reason to think that is not the case.

Later Friday Update: Am told that US officials and other NGOs and individuals on the scene in Turkey got involved, and that the VOA, in an interview with his Germany-based wife, is reporting that Ebrahimi has been put on a plane back to Germany from Turkey. Contact waiting to verify whether that is the case.

Am told Ebrahimi is a former Lebanese Hezbollah, former IRGC, friend of Asghari, left Iran in 2003, became refugee in Germany, married to Iranian journalist resident in Germany. That Ashgari contacted Ebrahimi after he defected to ask him to tell his family that he was okay, and that Ebrahimi has written about the Ashgari case.

Later Update: An LA-based Iranian activist writes: "DEAR FRIENDS: I AM HAPPY TO REPORT THAT AMIR FARSHAD EBRAHIMI IS NOW SAFE AND BACK IN BERLIN THANKS TO THE EXCEPTIONAL SPEEDY ASSISTANCE OF STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIALS AND OTHER NGO'S WHICH BROUGHT THIS NIGHTMARE FOR MR. EBRAHIMI TO A QUICK END. A US DIPLOMAT ARRIVED AT THE AIRPORT AT 3:30 IN THE MORNING TO INTERVENE. AT NOON (TURKISH TIME) HE WAS PUT ON MINIBUS AND TAKEN TO A PLANE. AT 12:40 IN THE AFTERNOON HIS PLANE TOOK OFF AND HE ARRIVED SAFELY IN GERMANY AT 3:20 PM ... IF WE HAD NOT REACHED OUT TO ALL OF YOU AS QUICKLY AS WE DID , WE WOULD BE DISCUSSING A VERY DIFFERENT FATE FOR MR. EBRAHIMI...."

More from the LA Times' Borzou Daragahi:

A diplomatic standoff over the fate of an Iranian dissident temporarily detained this week at a Turkish airport has revealed new clues about the defection of a high-ranking Iranian military official in late 2006 and exposed lingering tensions between Ankara and Tehran over the incident.

The dissident, Amir Farshad Ebrahimi, was held for nearly 18 hours over Thursday and Friday in a cell inside Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport amid a tug-of-war over whether he would be sent back to Germany, where he lives, or deported to Iran, human rights activists and Western officials said. He was finally placed on an airplane to Berlin on Friday afternoon, his lawyer said.

In a series of phone calls from his cell, Ebrahimi said Iranian officials wanted him to answer for his role in the defection of Brig. Gen. Ali Reza Asgari, a former Iranian deputy defense minister and Revolutionary Guard commander who disappeared during a trip to Turkey.

Ebrahimi said Asgari now lives in the United States, where he is believed to have provided intelligence about Iran's military capabilities and operations. ...

Asgari is believed to be the highest-ranking Iranian official to defect to the West. Analysts say he served as an intelligence official in Lebanon during the 1990s and became deputy defense minister under then-President Mohammad Khatami.

After a business trip to Syria in 2006, Asgari left for Turkey, and then dropped out of sight. "Because of the intelligence he had he was very much in danger," Ebrahimi said. "He had very precious intelligence about the Iranian nuclear program."

Ebrahimi said he coordinated with international organizations and U.S. officials to help Asgari leave Turkey for the West in late 2006. The two met in Nicosia, Cyprus, immediately after Asgari left Turkey, he said. ...

Posted by Laura at March 27, 2008 04:56 PM

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