Iran, which is a signatory to the Geneva Convention, is blatantly violating it by showing the captured British sailors on TV. They’ve just published a “confession” that one of the sailors made, saying they were in Iraqi waters.
One of the 15 British service members held captive in Iran appeared Friday on state television and said he apologized “deeply” for entering Iranian waters, and the country released a third letter supposedly from the one woman in the crew saying she has been “sacrificed” by Britain.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose government has insisted that its navy personnel were captured in Iraqi waters, immediately condemned Iran’s treatment of the captives, saying it “doesn’t fool anyone.”
In the video Friday, Royal Marine rifleman Nathan Thomas Summers was shown sitting with another male serviceman and the female British sailor Faye Turney against a pink floral curtain. Both men wore camouflage fatigues with a label saying “Royal Navy” on their chests and a small British flag stitched to their left sleeves. Turney wore a blue jumpsuit and a black headscarf.
“We trespassed without permission,” Summers said, adding he knew that Iran had seized British military personnel who strayed into their waters three years ago.
“This happened back in 2004 and our government said that it wouldn’t happen again,” Summers said. “And, again, I deeply apologize for entering your waters.”
From Article 13:
Likewise, prisoners of war must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity.
One of the 15 British service members held captive in Iran appeared Friday on the government’s Arabic-language TV and said he apologized “deeply” for entering Iranian waters without permission.
Iran also released a third letter supposedly from the only woman in the group saying she has been “sacrificed” to the policies of the British and U.S. governments.
I fully expect to hear all the human rights watchdogs protesting this blatant violation of the captured sailors’ human rights.
Well, no, not really. Because I searched Human Rights Watch’s website, and found nothing at all regarding the illegal capture and holding of the British soldiers. I found nothing at all about forcing the only woman sailor to “confess” that she was in Iraqi water and write notes home. I saw nothing at all about the British sailors being repeatedly shown on TV in direct violation of the Geneva Convention.
We heard plenty about the Guantanamo detainees being pictured in the media, and we heard about it from every corner of the globe—yet we still have exactly zero calls by Human Rights Watch for the return of Gilad Shalit or Eldad Reged and Ehud Goldwasser, the two soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah. The Red Cross says it has been trying to get access to Gilad Shalit, but Hamas constantly denies them the right to visit the prisoner—another violation of the Geneva Conventions that goes overlooked by most of the world. Ditto for the soldiers being held by Hezbollah, an army that claims to speak for Lebanon—which makes Lebanon in violation of the Geneva Conventions.
I guess the Conventions only count when they are able to be used against the West.
I am afraid that given past experiences with Hezbollah, the two guys are already dead. They figure Israel will trade just as easily for dead soldiers as it will for live ones.
We have not heard rage from the organized Jewish community either – a rage which should be getting louded and louder as each day passes without a word about their fate. What exactly should we expect from the world organizations, who hate us to begin with, if we fail to speak out ourselves in the hopes of appeasing these very organizations that hate us?
I’m afraid that they’re still alive: that would be crueler, and you can generally count on Hezbollah (and Hamas and Fatah) to go for the crueler option.
Meryl these fanatics laugh at the Geneva Convention. They have one aim – to make the world accept Islam and we all know it !
My anger is directed at the enabling left wing and especially our misguided self loathing Jews. What the hell does it take for you to wake up and see what is going on. Are you so blind that you do not understand the ultimate goal of Islam is to either convert you to their religon or kill you! They will never accept Israel as an equal and will only try to destroy her and the Jewish people slowly until they think they have the capability to finish their mission.
Kidnapping hostages is just one of their ancient perverted tools, then they wait for a response, or, in the case of the UK the response is a show of weakness, further embolding the savages.
The last enemy the USA had whom we could normally expect to treat our captured prisoners in accordance with the Geneva Conventions was the Nazis. Ever since, from the Japanese, to the North Koreans and Chicoms, to the Vietnamese Communists, to Saddam and his consiglieri in the two Gulf Wars, to our present enemies of various radical Islamist flavors, all tortured, bruatlized, starved and murdered our people whom they took prisoner. And from the supposed international do-gooders there is resounding silence about these matters coupled with shrill denunciations of the US (and Israel) for fictitious misdeeds. Somebody tell me what the worth of these conventions is to civilized people now. It is almost inconceivable that we would fight any enemy who would actually treat our people in conformity with these international laws as we do.
For sixty years we have faced, and continue to face, enemies who are more criminal in these matters than were the Nazis. That’s really saying something.