TEHRAN (MNA) —- An informed source in the southern city of Khorramshahr said here Monday that some 150 Iranians are currently detained under unpleasant conditions in Iraq's southern city of Basra. The arrested people are mainly pilgrims visiting the Iraqi holy shrines who have illegally passed the Iran-Iraq border, the source who wanted to remain anonymous told the Mehr News Agency. Certain Iraqi sources have also said that the detainees are treated badly. Some high-ranking Iraqi officials have been trying to label the arrested as trouble-makers or terrorists, the sources were quoted as saying. | Ya don't say? Not just innocent holy pilgrims? |
The local people say some Iranian and Iraqi human traffickers take pilgrims from certain borderline areas of the Arvand River to Iraq after receiving large sums of money from them and then leave them helpless there. |