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Journos: US tortured us
03/11/2003 16:36 - (SA)
Tehran - Two Iranian journalists working for state-run television, who were freed on Monday by US forces in Iraq after four months' detention there, have claimed they were subjected to "severe torture" while in American custody.
"The detention was unimaginable. The first 10 days was like a nightmare. We were subjected to severe torture," Saeed Abou Taleb told state television as he and his freed colleague Sohail Karimi crossed back into Iran.
"The other four months were terrifying. I would rather not remember it. It was very bad, very bad," he said as the pair were greeted at the southern Iranian border post of Shalamcheh, near the Iraqi city of Basra.
He did not elaborate on the allegation of torture.
The two journalists work as documentary filmmakers for Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), and were arrested in early July after being spotted filming a US base south of Baghdad.
Coalition sources had suggested the pair may have been spying.
State television showed the pair being greeted by a large crowd of officials, colleagues and family members. Although sporting a wreath of flowers around their necks, both journalists were visibly thinner and exhausted by their 126 days in detention.
Abou Taleb said the pair had been filming in an unrestricted area, and added that a US officer had even apologised to them before they were released and admitted that their arrest had been a mistake.
- AFP
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