TEHERAN, Iran, April 25 (UPI) -- Iraqi authorities have reportedly imprisoned more than 1,000 Iranians.
Iran's Baztab Web site, closely allied to Iran's Pasdaran revolutionary guards, reported on April 24 that the families of the prisoners accuse Iranian authorities of doing little to help them contact their loved ones, guarantee their proper treatment or help to secure their release.
Baztab reported that the prison in Kut in southern Iraq alone holds more than 200 Iranian prisoners.
The majority of the Iranian Kut inmates were being held on charges of illegally entering Iraq. Baztab reports Iraq doesn't even have a complete list of the Iranians held in the country's prisons.
Most Iranians imprisoned in Iraq are reportedly pilgrims who entered Iraq without a visa to visit the holy Shiite cities of Najaf and Kerbala.
More than one-fifth of the jailed Iranians are being held on terrorism charges or for smuggling drugs or weapons into Iraq, it said.
