Two of freed engineers arrive in Tehran

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Two of the 7 abducted Iranian engineers in Syria arrived in Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport Thursday morning.

Ahmad Sohrabi Kartabad and Majid Qanbari Bidromi were abducted on their way to Jondar power plant in the Syrian province of Homs on Tuesday morning December 20.

The Two have been delivered to Iran’s Embassy in Ankara before their return home.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast thanked Turkey's efforts and its positive role in the release of abducted Iranian citizens and voiced hope that other kidnapped Iranian citizens, including the rest of the seven Iranian engineers, who were there to serve the Syrian nation, too, would be freed soon.

The kidnapped Iranian pilgrims and engineers are reported to be in bad living conditions in the armed opposition jails.

The released Iranian pilgrims have complained about bad condition of Syrian opposition’s prisons after their freedom.

Gholam-Hassan Darvishi and Ali Mahmoudi made the remarks in an interview with IRNA.

“I was abducted by the Syrian armed opposition during a trip from Aleppo to Damascus and I was abused and jailed in a deserted village under bad conditions; I was released because of bad health conditions but hostage-takers promised the release of all other abducted Iranian pilgrims,” Darvishi expressed.

Mahmoudi, another released pilgrim told IRNA that they have been under bad living conditions under intense control of the Syrian armed opposition for months.

After the incident, Mapna Combined-Cycled Power Plants Construction and Development Company appealed to the United Nations to help free Iranian engineers kidnapped from Jondar power plant in Syria.

In a letter to United Nations Resident Coordinator Consuelo Vidal, Mapna Managing-Director Mohammad Ibrahim Mosalla said that five Iranian technicians – Sajjad Amirian, Ahmad Sohrabi Kertabad, Hassan Hassani, Majid Ganbari Bidromi, Kioumars Gobadi working for Zagros industrial company, a subsidiary to Mapna, were kidnapped on their way to Jondar power plant in the Syrian province of Homs on Tuesday morning December 20.

Mosalla said that a day later another engineer Pejman Bouyeri from Parsian Post Company, a contractor to Mapna and Abdul Khaleq Sahneh, Health and Safety Executive, were also kidnapped when they were looking for their colleagues.

He said that Tehran-based Mapna has been the main contractor of the project adding that the company is a reputable power plant executive which has been placed on the United Nations Vendor list.

Mosalla said that Mapna has also undertaken to implement another power plant in Tishrin.

He appealed to the UN resident coordinator to exploit every international channel to help release the innocent people who were working on specialized energy sector.

The contract to build 484 mega watt combined cycle power plant on the suburb of Homs was signed by the then Syrian minister of energy and Mapna managing director in 2009.

Currently, the executive works at Tishrin power plant are completed and it is passing the guarantee stage and 70 percent construction works at Jondar power plant in the city of Homs has been implemented and it will be completed next summer if the situation permits.

Meanwhile, Iranian Embassy in Damascus has taken legal action with Syrian government to secure release of the kidnapped technicians.

In addition to abduction of Iranian engineers, the Syrian armed gangs have kidnapped tens of Iranian pilgrims in Syria.

Islamic Republic of Iran's Embassy in Damascus while terming all Iranian nationals kidnapped in Syria as civilians said that the armed gangs in Syria practice extortion, passport theft and stealing the personal belongings of Iranian pilgrims.

Since the beginning of 2011, the Muslim world has witnessed popular uprisings and revolutions similar to what happened in Iran in 1979. Tunisia saw the overthrow of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in a popular revolution in January, which was soon followed by a revolution which toppled Hosni Mubarak in Egypt in February.

Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Yemen have since been the scene of protests against their totalitarian rulers, who have resorted to brutal crackdown on demonstrations to silence their critics.

Bahrain however, has experienced the deadliest clashes. Anti-government protesters have been holding peaceful demonstrations across Bahrain since mid-February, calling for an end to the Al Khalifa dynasty's over-40-year rule.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March with organized attacks by well-armed gangs against Syrian police forces and border guards being reported across the country.

Hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have been killed, when some protest rallies turned into armed clashes.

The government blames outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups for the deaths, stressing that the unrest is being orchestrated from abroad.

In October, calm was eventually restored in the Arab state after President Bashar al-Assad started a reform initiative in the country, but the US and Zionist regime plots could spark some new unrest in certain parts of the country.

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