ATHENS, April 4: Three more Pakistanis stepped forward on Tuesday with claims they were abducted and interrogated in Greece after last year’s London bombings, bringing the total to 15, their lawyer said. Advocate Frangiskos Ragoussis said that Khalid Irfan, Mohammad Saeed and Ijaz Ahmad Keyzani were abducted and interrogated in July 2005 by armed plainclothesmen who presented themselves as Greek police officers.

Irfan claimed at a news conference that he was struck on the head and interrogated on possible links to Al Qaeda and about acquaintances in London and Dubai.

Greek authorities have been investigating the alleged case since December.

In addition to the 15 Pakistanis who have testified so far about alleged abduction and interrogation, another 16 claim to have suffered maltreatment, the lawyer said.

Two of them, Gul Nawaz and Nazir Ahmad, said they had received 1,300 euros in the presence of Pakistan’s ambassador in Athens to retract their testimony, and were later given another 5,000 euros by three Pakistanis “close to the embassy”, who also threatened them.

The Pakistani embassy declined to comment on the bribery claims. Another plaintiff, Radza Farakat, claimed on Tuesday that an English-speaking man was among the July 2005 interrogators.

The British government has denied any involvement.

In January, the Greek government revealed that over 5,000 immigrants were monitored at the behest of British intelligence for possible links to the July 2005 London attacks, but no links to extremist activity were discovered.—AFP