Hossein Noushabadi told Mehr News on Tuesday that Saudi officials have been telling lies and prevaricating about the fate of Roknabadi who was among the pilgrims in a footage recorded; “if the corpse of Roknabadi has not been found yet among the dead, it is possible that he could be kidnapped,” he added, estimating the number of the Iranian pilgrims who were killed as rising still further.
“Given that anyone among the missing had not returned to the delegations, and that there had not been any trace of them whatsoever, the most probable scenario is that they are among the dead bodies,” Noushabadi argued. On the still unknown fate of Ghazanfar Roknabadi, Iran’s former ambassador to Lebanon, he raised gruesome possibility of kidnapping of the diplomat.
“The fact that Saudi officials denied that Roknabadi and other pilgrims were initially among the list of pilgrims landed in Saudi Arabia indicate that they probably know where Mr. Roknabadi and others are; however, they evade the reality of accepting the kidnapping of these pilgrims,” said deputy-minister, “no trace whatsoever has been found of these diplomatic figures among the dead or injured; it is far too obvious that there is a plot and that the fate had been sealed for Roknabadi somewhere in the power corridors of Saudi regime,” he asserted.
“Mr. Roknabadi had been in Saudi Arabia for pilgrimage on his civilian passport; nevertheless, he was the major speaker of the Arafat rite; and the intelligence forces could kidnap him despite the fact that they knew he was a diplomat,” Noushabadi assessed. “The most probability, thus, is that Mr. Roknabadi is now in the hands of a Saudi security body; or a weaker probability is that he belongs to the dead by now,” he concluded.
SH