News-Info-Alerts

Re: Repatriation 20 Years Later

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Date: July 24, 2002

"Iran Pays Tribute to 570 Dead Soldiers Repatriated by Iraq
By Ali Akbar Dareini Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Thousands of black-clad Iranians beat their heads and chest in mourning Wednesday during a funeral procession for 570 soldiers, most of whom perished in Iraqi captivity after the 1980-88 war.

The soldiers remains were repatriated to Iran on Sunday in an exchange in which Tehran gave Iraq 1,166 bodies.

Tearful men and women threw flowers on coffins draped in the red, white and green colors of the Iranian flag and carried on open trucks as the procession moved for hours along the main Enghelab Avenue in downtown Tehran. The event was broadcast live on state-run TV.

An estimated 1 million soldiers died on both sides in the war.

Iran says Iraq still holds 2,806 of its prisoners. Baghdad denies the claim.

Since the 1988 cease-fire, Iran has released more than 60,000 Iraqi POWs, while Iraq has freed 40,000 Iranians, said Gen. Abdollah Najafi, an Iranian army official.

In Wednesday's procession, the first coffin belonged to pilot Abbas Dowran, who plunged his fighter jet into Baghdad in 1982, "destroying Iraqi hopes to host the Non-Aligned Movement summit" that year, state-run television reported.

Dowran was identified in the funeral ceremony as Iran's "national hero" for his daring Baghdad mission. In his honor, Tehran TV aired a movie Wednesday that dramatized Dowran's mission.

Those remains that have been identified were to be buried in the soldiers' hometowns. Unidentified remains - official did not say how many - will be buried at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Tehran."