IMHRO: Iran is responsible for missing American citizen

Iranian Minorities’ Human Rights Organisation (IMHRO)

Ref.IMHRO.39

27/01/09

59 year old Bob Levinson disappeared on Kish Island in March 2007. He is a retired FBI officer. The Iranian government deny any knowledge of his whereabouts and maintain that they do not have any information about him. Bob Levinson had previously worked on an inquiry into the murder of American Paul Klebnikov in Moscow[i].

On 5 September 2007 Iran blocked a US request to allow Swiss diplomats to go to Kish Island to look for the luggage or other traces of Levinson[ii].

According to the International Herald Tribune “Dawud Salahuddin, an American who lives in Iran and is wanted for the 1980 assassination of an Iranian dissident (Tabatabai) outside the diplomat's Maryland home, told The Associated Press in a series of telephone interviews and e-mail exchanges that he met with Levinson two months ago on Iran's Kish Island, a seedy Persian Gulf resort that is a free-trade zone where Americans do not need a visa…Tabatabai, the former spokesman for the Iranian Embassy in Washington, was an outspoken critic of the Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. In a 1995 interview with The Washington Post and ABC in Turkey, Salahuddin said he was hired by Iranian agents to kill Tabatabai for $4,000 (€2,957) and a promise he would be sent to China for medical training.”[iii]

Bob’s wife and family have made a desperate appeal for Bob’s safe return. More information can be found at their website: http://bringbackbob.us/

Iranian government all the time denied any knowledge about his where about. Some reports indicate that he is held in secret prison in Iran.

Reza Washahi, a researcher from IMHRO, has said that “in a country where there are informers everywhere and the government records the names of the books that you have on your shelf and the name of the paper that you buy, it is unbelievable that someone could just disappear without the knowledge of the government.”

IMHRO calls upon the Iranian government to release Bob Levinson and urges the international community to hold Iran to account for case of Bob Levinson.

We also are asking anyone who has any information about Bob Levinson to contact Bob family.

Contact Information
Bring Back Bob Foundation Trust
222 Central Park Ave Suite 1170
Virginia Beach, VA 23462
info@bringbackbob.us
Tell 001-888-234-4198

Actions

Please write to one of the following and express your concern regard of disappearance of Bob Levinson. Ask Iranian government to release Bob Levinson.

Secretary General United Nations
The Honourable Ban Ki-moon
United Nations Headquarters,
Room S-3800, New York,
NY 10017,
USA

Supreme Leader of Iran
Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei,
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Islamic Republic Street - Shahid Keshvar Doust Street
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
E-mail via web site
http://www.leader.ir/

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Ms. Navanethem (Navi) Pillay
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights,
Palais des Nations,
CH-1211 Geneva 10,
Switzerland

Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadi Nejad
The Presidency
Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
E-mail via web site
http://www.president.ir/en/

European Parliament Human Rights Committee
Ms Hélène FLAUTRE
Bureau d'Hélène Flautre au Parlement Européen, 8G130, rue Wierz, B-1049, Bruxelles,
Belgique

Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi Shahroudi
Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh / Office of the Head of the Judiciary
Pasteur St, Vali Asr Ave
South of Serah-e Jomhouri,
Tehran 1316814737, Islamic Republic of Iran


[i] http://bringbackbob.us/facts/


[ii] As above

[iii] http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/10/america/NA-GEN-US-Iran-Missing.php