April 09, 2007	Monday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 20, 1428

TEHRAN, April 8: The families of five Iranians held for three months in US detention in Iraq met an International Committee of the Red Cross representative on Sunday to ask for news about their health, state media said.

The meeting came after an Iranian diplomat kidnapped in Baghdad in February said after his release last week that he had been tortured “day and night” and interrogated by CIA officials. Washington denied the claims.

“The families of the five kidnapped diplomats asked the ICRC to play a more active role in alleviating their concerns,” state radio reported.

“The families asked for video footage of the detained diplomats to reduce their concern,” the radio said, adding that the ICRC had described the request as beyond the organisation's authority.

“The ICRC representative reassured them over the detainees' physical condition and expressed a willingness to transfer their families' letters to them,” it said.

Foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said earlier that no Iranian official has so far visited the men, who were arrested in northern Iraq in January on accusations of seeking to stir the insurgency.—AFP