Gunmen free Syrian

Press, 6 May 1980, Page 8

Gunmen free Syrian

, NZPA-Reuter London The Iranian Embassy siege , went into its sixth day in i London yesterday with no ’ early end in sight, but with British officials heartened by I the release of a fifth hostage ■ by gunmen holding the mission. Attempts to end the siege and free the remaining 19 or 20 hostages are expected to continue today on the diplomatic front, but informed British sources said that no dramatic developments could be expected immediately. . The Foreign Ministry earlier called in representatives of Jordan, Kuwait, and Syria to discuss the situation after the gunmen demanded Arab envoys should be involved in negotiating a peaceful end to the occupation. The gunmen have identified themselves as Arabs from Iran fighting to gain autonomy for .Arab-speaking areas of southern Iran which they refer to as Arabistan and which is known in Iran as Khuzestan.

The Foreign Office said that the Minister of State (Mr Douglas Hurd) had a useful exchange of views

i with the envoys after all sides had stated their Governments’ positions. A few other ambassadors from the Middle East are ex--1 pected to be invited for similar discussions today. The gunmen, believed to number five,' had also asked for the Iraqi envoy in London to be involved in the mediation effort and the Iraqi Ambassador (Mr Hisham Ibrahim Shawi) said he was holding himself ready. But British sources said he was not invited as his country had expressed support for the siege and because the Iranian Government was opposed to Iraqi involvement. London policemen have conducted most of . the negotiations with the gunmen so far and said they had been extremely encouraged by the release of two hostages On Saturday and another on Sunday. The latest to be freed was a Syrian journalist, Mustapha Karkouti, aged 37. None of the captives released so far has been allowed to talk to journalists. The police said the hostages had all - been treated well by the gunmen. .... In Teheran, the Iranian ■

I Foreign Minister (Mr Sadeq • Qotbzadeh) has told his country’s diplomats held ; hostage at their London Em- • bassy that if necessary tens of thousands of Iranians would march into the misi sion to end its occupation. I He did not elaborate. He said the Iranian Govi ernment and nation felt ■ themselves to be alongside the captive diplomats. The Foreign Minister said Iran knew the hostages were ready for martyrdom and did not want their Government to give in to the gunmen’s demand for the release of 91 prisoners held in Khuzastan. He added: “You must be certain that we will never neglect any actions for your freedom, and if it will be necessary, and you wish it, tens of thousands of Iranians are ready to enter the embassy without weapons and shouting ‘Allah-o-akbar’ (God is great) and pay out these criminal mercenaries of the Iraqi regime.” The Iran Government has blamed Iraq for the attack, although the newspaper of the country’s main party,, ■the Islamic Republicans, has said it is a British-American plot.