“I wish to ask for your immediate intervention to seek the release of two members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), Messrs. Hossein Pouyan and Mohammad-Ali Zahedi, who were abducted by Iraq’s Interior Ministry Special Forces at 12:30 pm, Thursday, August 4, 2005, in Baghdad’s Karradah Street. Both individuals are "protected persons" under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Witnesses on the scene, local residents and shop owners in the area said the abductors were riding in two Iraqi police vehicles. According to the local police precinct, both cars belonged to the Ninth Badr Brigade and the Interior Ministry’s Special Forces. Reports indicated the two PMOI members were first taken to a floor at the Interior Ministry.
As I am led to believe, so far, all inquiries to the police and Iraqi government officials have been futile and no one in the Interior Ministry is accepting responsibility. There is no information available on the fate of those abducted. There is also no possibility of an error or mistaken identity as the situation has developed in the past four days.
I regard this as a matter of great seriousness and ask for your personal and imminent intervention to have these two individuals released.