Iran summons UAE official over suspicious death

Iran summoned a UAE diplomat in Tehran over the "suspicious" death in custody of an Iranian in the Gulf state, media reported Friday. "The foreign ministry is seriously following up on the case of Iranian citizen Ali Hosseini, who lost his life while he was detained by UAE security forces," Fars news agency quoted ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham as saying. "In the absence of a UAE ambassador to Tehran, we immediately summoned the embassy's official to express Iran's strong objection," she said, adding that Hosseini had been arrested with two other Iranians in the past two weeks. Iranian experts will soon travel to the UAE to investigate the reasons of Hosseini's death, Afkham said. The report said the three men were arrested on suspicion of kidnapping a British-Iranian citizen named Abba Yazdi, who media reports said went missing in Dubai on June 25. In November, Afkham said any reports connecting Iran with the "alleged (role) of kidnapping or murdering him are ridiculous and sheer lies."