Jordan denies handing over Iranian opposition members to Tehran

The Jordanian government yesterday denied reports that indicated that it had handed over five members of the Iranian "Mujahedi Khalq" opposition movement to the Iranian authorities.

The Jordanian news agency Petra quoted a high ranking official at the foreign ministry as saying that the "five persons who are interrogated are still in the camp," on the borders between Jordan and Iraq.

The official was replying to reports that stressed that the Jordanian authorities handed over five members of the movement to Tehran. The five interrogated persons are among more than 1000 persons, most of them members of the movement, who are stuck in a camp on the Iraqi- Jordanian borders since they had fled from the Iraqi territories in April.

The UNHCR failed to convince the Jordanian government to permit the entry of the Iranian activists and others who were evacuated and to enable them to stay in Jordan.