Israel Matzav

Imposters?

YNet is reporting this morning that Ziba Asghari, the 46-year old wife of former Iranian deputy defense minister Ali Reza Asghari, showed up yesterday at the Turkish embassy in Tehran along with her two daughters and son and her husband's brother, demanding information about her husband's whereabouts and claiming he had been 'kidnapped' by someone in the West.

His wife Ziba Asgari, 46, contended Western reports that Asgari was a spy and smuggled his family out of Iran prior to his escape. “We are here. Those are mere rumors being spread by the enemies,” she said.

His 20-year-old daughter Alham told journalists she was certain Israel or the United States kidnapped him, as they are Iran’s main enemies. “My father worked hard for the regime and he had many enemies due to his position,” she was quoted by Fars, the Iranian news agency.

According to the Fars report, Asgari’s wife, two daughters, son and brother arrived at the Turkish embassy in Tehran Monday seeking information on his whereabouts and met with Deputy Ambassador Dorim Ozturk.

Asgari’s brother demanded answers from the Turkish representatives, who noted that the matter was being examined and vowed to help as much as they could.

“We tried to check for ourselves if there was any new news. We’re very concerned. I really miss my father,” Alham told reporters.

There are many more discrepancies between this report and the reports that have previously appeared in the media:

Ziba, 46, said the since her husband retired from military positions, he was an olive and olive oil merchant in Syria. She said the family had last been in contact with him in December.

On December 7, she said, Asgari traveled from Damascus to Istanbul and checked into a hotel. Two days later, they lost contact with him.

“We were in touch with him until Friday, December 8, but on Saturday, we lost contact. His cell phone was turned off and we started to be concerned,” Ziba said.

She rejected outright various reports that her husband defected to the West after smuggling his family to a safe place.

“He had no problems in Iran that would make him want to escape. Someone seeking refuge takes his family with him,” she said.

Just to point out some of the discrepancies.... They claim not to have had contact with him since December, but the reports indicate that Asghari disappeared in February. Second, I have already reported that those who arranged Asghari's escape also arranged for his family to leave Iran, which means that these people are imposters or that the reports were incorrect. Or that Asgheri has a second family - which is also possible given that Muslim men may have more than one wife.

Is this story true? I have my doubts.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:39 AM