VZCZCXRO8464
RR RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDIR RUEHKUK
DE RUEHAK #0226/01 0421303
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 111303Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8757
INFO RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHAH/AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT 1961
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD 1397
RUEHKB/AMEMBASSY BAKU 1592
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 4298
RUEHSW/AMEMBASSY BERN 0391
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 3282
RUEHDE/AMCONSUL DUBAI 0229
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 5366
RUEABND/DEA HQS WASHDC

Wednesday, 11 February 2009, 13:03
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 ANKARA 000226
SIPDIS
Note - PII information removed from original message.
SENSITIVE
LONDON FOR GAYLE
BERLIN FOR PAETZOLD
ASHGABAT FOR INGBORN
BAKU FOR MCCRENSKY
BAGHDAD FOR BUZBEE
DUBAI FOR IRPO
EO 12958 DECL: 06/02/2019
TAGS CASC, PGOV, PHUM, PINS, PREL, SCUL, SNAR, SOCI, IR, TU, IQ
SUBJECT: ELDERLY AMERICAN SMUGGLED OUT OF IRAN
Classified By: DCM;DOUG SILLIMAN FOR REASONS 1.4(B,D)

¶1. (C) Summary: American citizen Hossein Ghanbarzadeh
Vahedi appeared in the Ankara Consular section around noon on
January 9, 2009. Mr. Vahedi, age 75, told Conoff he had paid
smugglers $7500 to take him across the Iranian/Turkish border
after having been held against his will in Iran for seven
months. Although suffering some aches and pains, he appeared
to be in good health after a harrowing three-day journey from
Tehran to Ankara that included a 14-hour mountain climb on
horseback in freezing temperatures. Embassy staff provided
immediate consular assistance and worked with Turkish
authorities to prevent his deportation back to Iran. Consular
officers escorted Vahedi to the Ankara airport where he
departed on January 13. End summary.

----------
Background
----------

¶2. (SBU) On January, 7, Embassy Bern alerted posts in the
region that American citizen Hossein Ghanbarzadeh Vahedi,
DPOB xx/xx/1933 was trying to escape from Iran and could
possibly surface in Iraq. Vahedi, a dentist from Los Angeles,
instead appeared at the Ankara Consular Section around noon
on January 9, 2009. Although visibly shaken,Vahedi said he
had no major physical problems, but he did break down a few
times when explaining his ordeal. He told Conoff that he had
enough medication and declined local medical attention
preferring to wait until he was back in the United States.

¶3. (SBU) Vahedi has been a resident, then citizen of the
United States since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Aside
from this trip, he has only returned to Iran once about ten
years ago and did not encounter any problems on that visit.
At his wife's urging to visit his parents' gravesite in Iran,
he traveled to Tehran in early May 2008 where he spent four
weeks with family and friends without incident. However,
after clearing customs at Tehran airport on June 6, he heard
his name called on the public address system with
instructions to report to a separate office. At this office,
GOI authorities confiscated his passport and told him he
would not be leaving Iran. When Vahedi pressed as to the
reason, he was dismissed with instructions to follow-up at
the Islamic Revolution Court.

------------------------
Seven-Month House Arrest
------------------------

¶4. (SBU) Thus began a seven-month ordeal in which Vahedi
appeared almost daily at the court to request that his
passport be returned. During this de facto house arrest,
Vahedi did contact Elizabeth Bucher, the Deputy Head of the
Foreign Interest Section at the Embassy of Switzerland in
Tehran. He reported that Ms. Bucher was very kind and helped
him get his heart medications, but was unable to help him
depart the country. He lived with friends and relatives
staying only a few days with each to avoid them being
implicated in his problems.

¶5. (SBU) Vahedi believed his passport was confiscated for
two reasons, the first being simple extortion. It was made
clear to him informally by the authorities at the court that
if he paid a $150,000 fine the process would move more
quickly. Secondly, he was told by GOI officials that he
should use his influence to pressure his American citizen
sons to terminate one of their business ventures. Vahedi's
sons are the owners of Concertino Productions, a Los
Angeles-based entertainment company that promotes, among
other things, the popular Persian pop singers Kamran and
Hooman. In addition to American performances, the duet has
performed in Dubai and other middle-eastern venues. According
to Vahedi, while the singers are simply Persian pop singers,
they have gotten crowds riled up with occasional anti-regime
rhetoric. Also included in these performances are female
dancers whose costumes would not raise an eyebrow in most
countries, but are perceived as immoral by the conservative
elements inside Iran.

¶6. (SBU) Vahedi did not trust that paying the fine would
expedite the return of his passport unless he also convinced
his sons to cancel the next Dubai performance of Kamran and
Hooman. Vahedi spoke of a third party who was pulling the
strings within the Iranian government, particularly in regard
to his son' business. He repeatedly told the officials of the
Islamic Revolution Court that his children had lived in
America all of their lives and as such he exerted no control
over their strong, typically American independent behavior.

---------------
No Empty Spoons
---------------

¶7. (C) Vahedi spoke bitterly about his former country,
especially its lack of a fair judicial system and widespread
corruption. He told Conoff that all government employees
receive free sugar, rice, and cooking oil to ensure their
loyalty to the regime. He also said anyone with any authority
lives by the "why should I put an empty spoon into my mouth"
philosophy. Vahedi reported that regime spies were
omnipresent including taxi drivers, hotel clerks, and
restaurant workers. He also said it was common knowledge that
all new Iranian-made cars had a "Khamenei tax" in the amount
of $3100 that was earmarked for a fund for South Lebanon,
Egypt, and Syria. At his daily appearances at the court, he
came to know the intimate details of the lives of many of the
other visitors, some of whom told Vahedi they had no idea
where their loved ones were, or if they were even alive.
Vahedi also helped one woman whose drug-addicted husband was
incarcerated by paying her rent for the months he was there.
Vahedi reported seeing Iranian citizens watch helplessly as
their family members were hauled off in shackles without any
official charges levied against them.

-----------------------
Picking the Best Option
-----------------------

¶8. (C) Vahedi realized that this situation was not going to
change and alluded to people who knew of his situation from
his daily appearances at the court approaching him with
departure options. Vahedi said he studied the four most
common illegally used routes out of Iran. The first was
crossing as a stowaway on a merchant ship across the Persian
Gulf into the UAE. Vahedi dismissed this plan because he
thought the heavy shipping traffic was too dangerous and they
risked being boarded by the Iranian Navy who were patrolling
the area. The second option was overland through Baluchistan
but Vahedi could not obtain enough facts about the execution
of that plan to seriously consider that route. The third
choice was to enter Iraq heading to Karbala and try to make
contact with a member of the American military stationed
there. Vahedi seriously considered this option, but feared
being discovered by the Iraqis before he could make contact
with an American soldier. That left only the last option:
over the mountains on horseback from Urmia to the Turkish
border.

¶9. (SBU) In spite of temperatures hovering around zero
degrees Fahrenheit, Vahedi chose the early part of January
because it coincided with the Shia commemoration of Ashura
and he thought it likely the police would be more
preoccupied. In the weeks prior to his departure, this
75-year old man trained for strength and altitude by climbing
in the hills north of Tehran. To protect his family and
friends from retribution by the GOI after his absence was
noted, he spoke to none of them of his escape plans. On
January 7 Vahedi boarded a bus from Tehran to Urmia, a city
in the northern range of the Zagros Mountains in West
Azerbaijan, Iran. He used his California driver's license as
identification at each of the approximately 20 stops the bus
made. At Urmia, he and a pre-arranged car and driver drove
into the foothills of the mountains where he met two men with
a single horse who would escort him through the mountain to
the Turkish border.

-----------------
Over the Mountain
-----------------

¶10. (C) The two escorts were paid $5000 at the beginning of
the journey and the three set out as soon as it was dark. For
all his planning, Vahedi did not have clothing appropriate
for the weather and had a very difficult time with the cold.
At one point during the 14-hour ride, the escorts had to
physically hug him to keep him warm. As an inexperienced
rider hours into the climb Vahedi lost his concentration and
fell off the horse tumbling into the woods. He told Conoff
that at this point, he really believed he was going to die by
freezing to death on a mountainside. However, his only
partially-paid escorts came to his aid and put him back on
the horse. Although he had thought he would be able to walk
part way, the altitude proved too much for him and his only
choice was to remain on the horse. Vahedi said that he
believes they were following known dug smuggling routes,
evidenced by the way the horse knew exactly which way to
turn. Vahedi said the horse often led the escorts, even going
off the normal path in what seemed to be the wrong direction.
Knowing that he escorts could also be trying to smuggle drugs
on this trip, he covertly went through the one pack they had
thrown on the horse and said he found nothing.

¶11. (SBU) Once over the Turkish border they were met on
schedule by a man Vahedi described as about 25 years old.
During the handover, Vahedi paid out another $2500 but was
unsure how the three escorts split that payment. The Turkish
escort then brought Vahedi into a home where he was fed and
given time to rest and warm up. In the early evening he was
driven to Van, a major city in eastern Turkey, and waited
there at the bus station for the 0200 bus to Ankara. Vahedi
said he maintained a very low profile and did not talk to
anyone during the 10-hour bus trip. He arrived at the
Consular section around noon on Friday, January 9.
--------------------
Deportation Conflict
--------------------
¶12. (C) As Vahedi had entered Turkey illegally, Conoff
worked with GOT officials to ensure his deportation back to
America. Initially the Chief of the Foreigner's police within
the Ministry of Interior in Ankara told Conoff that because
"we knew Vahedi was coming" he intended to deport him back to
Iran. Post is aware that Iranian and Iraqi citizens have been
deported back to those countries in a fairly brutal manner.
According to UNHCR some have been taken by bus in the middle
of the night to the southern Turkish border and released.
Police have then allegedly shot into the air forcing the
deportees to run across the border into Iraq or Iran with no
food or water to sustain them.
(13) (C) Post contacted Ministry of Foreign Affairs
officials, who subsequently exerted pressure on the Ministry
of Interior to allow this 75-year old American citizen to be
deported back to the United States. Consular staff assured
his security during the four days it took to work through the
departure arrangements and accompanied him through the police
and court proceedings and finally onward to the airport.
Vahedi told Conoff he had never done anything illegal in his
life and that he was ashamed to be seen in policy custody.
Vahedi departed Turkey at 4:00 p.m. on January 13.
-------
Comment
-------
¶14. (C) The problems Vahedi faced as a result of entering
Turkey illegally highlights the tough stand this government
takes on illegal entry. This is particularly true with
Iranian and Iraqi nationals, even those who may also carry
American citizenship. Ensuring Vahedi's return to the United
States, vice deportation to Iran required the intervention of
the embassy's front office.
Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at
http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey
Jeffrey