Iran has condemned Britain's decision to release a convicted terrorist involved in the London 1980 hostage- taking at the Iranian Embassy.
Iran has condemned Britain's decision to release a convicted terrorist involved in the London 1980 hostage- taking at the Iranian Embassy. “Iran strongly condemns the release of the terrorist Fowzi Badavi Nejad who took part in the attack on Iran's London embassy, the hostage taking and the murder of two Iranian diplomats,” read a statement released by the Embassy on Friday. Fowzi Badavi Nejad was one of the six terrorists who took over the Iranian Embassy in London on May 1980 and took 26 people hostage, including embassy personnel, visitors and two BBC journalists.
After the gunmen threatened to kill a hostage every half hour, the British Special Air Service (SAS) stormed the building and ended the siege. During the six-day incident, the gang killed two hostages and pushed the body of one out onto the Embassy steps. The gunmen were members of a separatist Iranian group called the Democratic Revolutionary Front for Arabistan, which was financed by the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. In 1981, the only-surviving gunman, Badavi Nejad, was convicted of conspiracy to murder, manslaughter, false imprisonment and possessing a firearm by a British court and sentenced to five life sentences.
A British Foreign Office official, who asked to remain anonymous, revealed last week that Badavi Nejad had been granted parole. The release of the convicted terrorist and the permission granted to him to stay in the UK has angered the former hostages and created security concerns for Iranian diplomats in Britain and their families.
Police officer Trevor Lock, who was a hostage in the 1980 siege, said he had written to the Government objecting to Nejad's release, but his request had been ignored.
“He shouldn't be allowed to stay in this country… He will be living off the UK taxpayers,” he said. “He commits a major crime, goes to prison, comes out and is allowed to stay in the country where he committed it - madness,” said Lock.
Badavi Nejad's release comes just days after another attack on the Iranian embassy. On September 22, the embassy's door was damaged in an assault that forced the London Metropolitan Police to launch an investigation into the incident.
After the gunmen threatened to kill a hostage every half hour, the British Special Air Service (SAS) stormed the building and ended the siege. During the six-day incident, the gang killed two hostages and pushed the body of one out onto the Embassy steps. The gunmen were members of a separatist Iranian group called the Democratic Revolutionary Front for Arabistan, which was financed by the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. In 1981, the only-surviving gunman, Badavi Nejad, was convicted of conspiracy to murder, manslaughter, false imprisonment and possessing a firearm by a British court and sentenced to five life sentences.
A British Foreign Office official, who asked to remain anonymous, revealed last week that Badavi Nejad had been granted parole. The release of the convicted terrorist and the permission granted to him to stay in the UK has angered the former hostages and created security concerns for Iranian diplomats in Britain and their families.
Police officer Trevor Lock, who was a hostage in the 1980 siege, said he had written to the Government objecting to Nejad's release, but his request had been ignored.
“He shouldn't be allowed to stay in this country… He will be living off the UK taxpayers,” he said. “He commits a major crime, goes to prison, comes out and is allowed to stay in the country where he committed it - madness,” said Lock.
Badavi Nejad's release comes just days after another attack on the Iranian embassy. On September 22, the embassy's door was damaged in an assault that forced the London Metropolitan Police to launch an investigation into the incident.
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