Hostages tell of ordeal

Tehran - Four European tourists and an Iranian held hostage by Iranian tribal drug smugglers described their 17 days in captivity…

Tehran - Four European tourists and an Iranian held hostage by Iranian tribal drug smugglers described their 17 days in captivity after arriving in Tehran yesterday. "We were locked up in the trunk of a car," said Mr Pedro Garcia. "For about five days it seemed hopeless." He was abducted from a hotel in Kerman on August 14th along with two Spanish priests, an Italian civil engineer and an Iranian national.

Iranian police officers blamed for the attack on a Tehran university dormitory that sparked six days of riots in July will be brought to trial soon, Iran's military court said yesterday.

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said yesterday that anyone questioning basic Islamic principles could face execution, after a newspaper advocated more liberal laws on capital punishment in Iran.