Iran Lodges Protest To Georgia

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said Tehran has lodged a strong protest with Georgia over the alleged problems some Iranian passengers faced at Tbilisi airport.

This reaction came in response to reports that several Iranian passengers had their Islamic headscarves removed during a security check for a flight from Tbilisi to Iran’s city of Isfahan.

“After the release of a report by the Foreign Ministry’s representative office in Isfahan and after the authenticity of the report was confirmed through phone contacts by the Iranian Ambassador to Georgia with a number of the passengers on board the flight, the Iranian Embassy in Tbilisi expressed its strong protest at the Georgian Foreign Ministry and Tbilisi Airport security police,” said Qassemi.

He added that Iran’s Embassy in Tbilisi continues to follow up the issue at the Foreign Ministry’s Department General for Consular Affairs as well as the ministry’s Mission in Isfahan.

Qassemi also stated that Georgian authorities have been asked to pursue the matter and prevent Iranian passengers from being subjected to such treatments again, saying that he hopes security police at Tbilisi will exercise utmost care concerning the necessity of respecting Muslim women’s privacy.

By Shawn Wayne