Shahram Amiri: Abducted or Defected?

by Ahmad H. Aggour (Egypt)

Shahram Amiri, an Iranian nuclear scientist, who had been allegedly kidnapped while performing pilgrimage in Medina, Saudi Arabia around May/June 2009.

The Iranian government accused the US government of kidnapping him, while reports by ABC News and Haaretz newspaper suggested that Amiri “wanted to seek asylum abroad.” And recently on 13 July 2010, the BBC reported that Shahram Amiri had resurfaced and taken refuge in the Iran interests section of the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington DC, seeking help to reach Tehran and return to Iran.

Shahram Amiri specialized at creating radioactive isotopes for medical research at the Malek Ashtar University of Technology, being a prominent researcher there. Albeit Iran would not confirm him being a nuclear scientist, also denying him being involved/working for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran.

On October 7, 2009, Iranian Press TV reported Mottaki stated “We have evidence of a U.S. role in the disappearance of the Iranian national in Saudi Arabia. There is evidence to suggest the United States was involved in Amiri’s disappearance.”, Iran had also accused Saudi Arabia of collaborating with the CIA and aiding in his alleged abduction, accusations which Saudi Arabia have denied.

Although Western media reported that sources from Washington and the CIA confirmed that Shahram Amiri was an American spy in Iran for several years, after which he had traveled to Saudi Arabia and with the CIA’s help was able to arrive to the United States, a defected scientist, as part of the CIA’s “Brain Drain” defection program against Iran.

What strikes you as odd is the revelation of a second uranium enrichment facility near the city of Qom, as his disappearance came three months before the facility was revealed in the news, raising the possibility that Amiri may have given the West information on it or other parts of the nuclear program, either willingly or through the use of torture.

On June 7, 2010, IRIB aired a poor quality webcam video apparently from Tucson, Arizona and recorded on April 5, 2010, in which a man alleged to be Shahram Amiri said that he had been kidnapped by force in Saudi Arabia through a combined effort of American and Saudi intelligence services. He further said that after being carried to the U.S., he had been tortured and pressured to publicly state that he had willfully defected and that Iran had a secret nuclear weapon program. He called on international organizations and human rights groups to pressure U.S. for his release and expressed his wish to return to Iran.

A second video was released hours later on YouTube, The second video shows Amiri well dressed and manicured with a globe – turned to North America – and chess set behind him as he appears to read from a teleprompter. He says, in Farsi, that he is happily living in the U.S. and going to school. He also denied having worked in the Iranian nuclear program and made a plea to his wife and son. ‘I want them to know that I never abandoned then, and that I will always love them.’ According to one U.S. official, the CIA intended to produce the video and launch it on the internet before the Iranians had a chance to air their version.

IRIB interviewed Amiri’s wife later in June, in which she expressed serious doubt that Amiri had gone to the U.S. of his own volition. The interview also made clear that despite more than one year of disappearance, strangely enough Amiri had not contacted his wife and their seven year old son.

On Tuesday June 29, BBC reported that Iranian state TV had shown a video of a “man who says he is an Iranian nuclear scientist” and “claims to have escaped after being abducted by US agents.” In the video, the man states “I, Shahram Amiri, am a national of the Islamic Republic of Iran and a few minutes ago I succeeded in escaping US security agents in Virginia. Presently, I am producing this video in a safe place. I could be re-arrested at any time.” BBC quoted him as saying he is not free, is not permitted to contact his family, that human rights organizations should pressure the U.S. for his release and use the right of habeas corpus, and asserting that “The second video which was published on YouTube by the US government, where I have said that I am free and want to continue my education here, is not true and is a complete fabrication. If something happens and I do not return home alive, the US government will be responsible.”

After learning of the developments in the case, and with Shahram Amiri being involved in the process of his repatriation into Iran, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, “Mr. Amiri has been in the United States of his own free will and he is free to go.”

On July 15, 2010, he returned to Iran and was welcomed by Iranian officials, including Foreign Affairs Ministry officials and his family. At a special press conference in Tehran, he said that he had been psychologically mistreated by the US intelligence Agency after it had kidnapped him. “They offered me $50 million to cooperate with them and tell the media that I am a very important person in Iran’s nuclear programme and have escaped from Iran and politically that I’m a refugee to the US. They wanted me to show a laptop on the TV and say we have obtained very important information on Iran’s nuclear weapon programme. But I promised myself not to tell in such a manner anything against my country.”

However, according to the Wall Street Journal, an unnamed Iranian who is familiar with Amiri’s case had said that Iranian authorities had threatened to hurt Mr. Amiri’s family if he did not return to Iran. “His family has been under tremendous pressure, they even threatened to kill his son. He had no choice but to play the script the regime has given him and return to Iran.” a spokesman of Iran’s UN mission had declined to comment on such a report.

So now it comes down to the question despite the facts being very murky, is Shahram Amiri a traitor? Or is he a true national of Iran who has been abducted and tortured by the U.S.?