Iran to Free Captured Britons

World | April 4, 2007, Wednesday // 00:00
Bulgaria: Iran to Free Captured Britons Royal Marine rifleman Nathan Thomam Summer, left, Faye Turney and another British soldier are pictured here on Iranian TV. Photo by www.foxnews.com

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he has pardoned the 15 British sailors and marines detained last month and will set them free.

He made the announcement at a news conference, in which he also awarded medals to the commanders who captured the British personnel in the Gulf.

"I declare that the people of Iran and the government of Iran -- in full power to place on trial the military people -- to give amnesty and pardon to these 15 people and I announce their freedom and their return to the people of Britain," Ahmadinejad told a news conference.

He said the Britons would be taken to the airport after the news conference. The action was a goodwill gesture for the Iranian new year which began last week, he said.

"Unfortunately the British government was not even brave enough to tell their people the truth, that it made a mistake," Ahmadinejad said.

The fifteen British Royal Navy sailors and marines were seized last month while conducting a routine inspection of a merchant vessel at the northern end of the Persian Gulf. Iran said they had strayed into Iranian territorial waters, a claim which the UK vehemently denied.

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