Bishop urges Iran's supreme leader to release British sailors

Published: 2007-04-03

LONDON (CNS) -- The head of Great Britain's military diocese has urged Iran's supreme leader to release 15 captured British sailors and marines. Bishop Thomas Burns of the Bishopric of the Forces issued an appeal April 2 to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Islamic republic's supreme leader, asking him to authorize the release of the 14 men and one woman seized by Iranian naval units during a routine patrol of contested waters March 23. "Ayatollah Khamenei, in the name of his nation and in the name of Islam, has the unique opportunity to gain the world's respect for its Islamic laws and values," Bishop Burns said. "As one religious leader to another, I therefore ask him to show generosity by allowing one Navy to return the sailors and marines of another to their mother ship." Both nations then could break "the impasse that currently exists between them," he said.

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