Two members of the Peoples Mujahedeen who have lived...

Two members of the Peoples Mujahedeen who have lived in Britain as political refugees for decades were recently arrested in Syria and handed over to the clerical regime in Tehran, the Iranian opposition movement said.
Abrahim Khodabandeh and Jamil Bassam, both members of the Mujahedeen's foreign affairs committee, were detained on April 18 while in Syria to visit relatives, the group said in a statement received in Nicosia.
It said the pair were flown to Iran aboard a Syrian Airways flight on June 12 and turned over to agents of the intelligence ministry.
It alleged they "are now under the most barbaric tortures and facing execution" and slammed what it called "a deplorable deal."
It added that attempts by the British embassy in Damascus and several MPs, as well as members of the US Congress, to prevent them being handed over to Iran had been unsuccessful.
It charged Syria also bore responsibility for the fate of the two men.
The Peoples Mujahedeen said it had asked the British government to offer consular protection "to ensure that the two political refugees are not tortured or executed and that they would be returned to Britain without delay."
A Foreign Office spokesman in London confirmed to AFP that the dissidents were being detained by Iran, but it was not immediately clear what could be done for them.
"We are trying to urgently confirm their national status, as that will impact on the kind of assistance we can give them," he said.