Iran said yesterday five of the nine detained local staff at the British embassy in Tehran had been released while the other four were being held for questioning, state television reported.
Iranian media said on Sunday several local embassy staff had been held on accusations of involvement in the street protests that rocked Iran after a disputed June 12 presidential election.
“Out of nine people, five of them have been released and the rest are being interrogated,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi told a news conference in comments translated by Iran’s English-language Press TV.
On Sunday, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband demanded the release of all the staff held and said his EU colleagues had agreed to a “strong, collective response” to any “harassment and intimidation” against EU missions.
Yesterday British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s spokesman said “four locally engaged staff from the British embassy” were still being held by the Iranian authorities.
“We are deeply concerned at their arrest and their continued detention. These arrests are completely unacceptable and unjustifiable,” the spokesman told reporters.
Qashqavi said Miliband and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki had spoken on the phone on Sunday evening when Miliband stressed Britain’s intention was not to interfere in Iran’s internal affairs.
“Mottaki said that if they really prove this in practice ... this can be considered as a positive step,” Qashqavi said.
Iran has stepped up accusations that Western powers — Britain and the US in particular — are interfering in its internal affairs and fomenting post-election unrest. London and Washington denied the allegations.
Iranian Intelligence Minister Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei said on Sunday the British embassy had played a role in the unrest following this month’s election, including sending people among the protesters telling them what to do and what to chant.
Britain and Iran have expelled two of each other’s diplomats since the election.
Mottaki was last week quoted as saying Iran was reviewing whether to downgrade ties with Britain. Qashqavi said closing down any foreign embassy or reducing diplomatic ties was not on Iran’s agenda.
Qashqavi also said Iran expected Sweden to pay damages after about 200 protesters demonstrated outside the Iranian embassy in Stockholm on Friday.
He blamed an exiled Iranian opposition group as well as communists and monarchists for the incident, in which he said three of “our colleagues” were injured, Qashqavi said.
Also See: Iran commences partial recount of vote
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
PERSONAL DATA: The implicated KMT members allegedly compiled their petitions by copying names from party lists without the consent of the people concerned Judicial authorities searched six locations yesterday and questioned six people, including one elderly Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and five KMT Youth League associates, about alleged signature forgery and fraud relating to their recall efforts against two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. After launching a probe into alleged signature forgery and related fraud in the KMT’s recall effort, prosecutors received a number of complaints, including about one petition that had 1,748 signatures of voters whose family members said they had already passed away, and also voters who said they did not approve the use of their name, Taipei Deputy Chief Prosecutor
RSS