ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Relatives of two Iranian teenage boys at the center of a row with Saudi Arabia said the pair was physically abused in Jeddah by airport officials but not sexually harassed.
Ahmad Amirabadi, an MP from the holy city of Qom, told the ISNA news agency that he had spoken to the families of the two boys and had received a different account to what was widely reported.
“We have spoken with the families of these teenagers and they completely refute the issue of sexual harassment,” ISNA quoted Amirabadi as saying. He added that the families complain the boys were “beaten and insulted.”
Earlier this month Iran’s foreign ministry said that two Iranian teenage boys, aged 14 and 15, had been stopped at Jeddah airport by officials and subjected to “sexual abuse.”
The pair had flown to Jeddah in March for the ritual Umrah pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.
Hassan Subhani Niya, a member of Iran’s National Security Committee, also told Iranian media there was no evidence the boys had been sexually abused.
Earlier, President Hassan Rouhani had asked the foreign ministry to investigate the matter “and prepare an inclusive report on the subject.”
According to Iranian media reports, while performing a body search on passengers Saudi officers allegedly took the teenagers away, citing suspicions, sounded off the alarm at the gate and subjected them to abuse.
The Iranian government said last week that Saudi officials had arrested the airport officers responsible for the act, but there has been no such confirmation from Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile on Saturday, a small group of demonstrators staged a protest outside the Saudi embassy in Tehran, demanding that Riyadh prosecute the errant airport officials. Demonstrators waved banners that called Saudi Arabia “the kingdom of terror” and labeled the newly-ascended King Salman a “war criminal.”
Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia have a decades-old history of bitter ties.
Tensions have recently exacerbated over Saudi allegations of Iranian military support for anti-government Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen, where Riyadh has also stepped in militarily.
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