A second video has surfaced of Iranian university lecturer Shahram Amiri, who was abducted last year, contradicting his previous message.
The authenticity of the new footage could not be verified, but the timing of its release has raised questions whether this video was made under normal circumstances.
Qanbar Naderi, a journalist from Iran Daily, in an interview with Press TV on Tuesday compared the two videos.
Press TV: What is your take on the new video?
Naderi: Well, it is very easy to see that this has been staged. It is artificial. You see that he is not blinking. He is reading from a text prepared for him in advance. He does not make any grammatical mistake and he is reading it fluently. As you see, he is obviously in a controlled environment to make such a comment.
Press TV: How was the difference between the two videos?
Naderi: Well, I saw both of them. The first one was genuine, because in the first one he clearly talks to the camera, he makes mistakes, when talking he makes pauses, he keeps blinking and he is talking in a very natural environment. He has been abducted by secret Saudi and American agents. He has been transferred to Arizona and the way he is speaking shows that he is not happy with the situation. So, all I am saying is that if he is not happy with the situation, how is America claiming that he has defected to the US, which is not the case.
The second issue is, when you look at it, as I told you, it is staged. He talks about returning home and says that he misses his family. He wants to come back home. He is just a health and safety researcher at the nuclear site. He does not like nuclear weapons. He has not conducted studies on nuclear weapons. So all I am saying is that all points and facts and figures point to the fact that he has been abducted by Saudi and American agents. That is the end of the argument.
Press TV: As you said in your comments, you could see some light spots in his eyes and his eyes are moving in a way as if he is reading from something.
Naderi: If you are familiar with film-making, especially in a closed environment like a studio, you can see that he is reading from the monitor. Everything has been ordered to read. My argument is that, OK, let's assume that America is right and he has been defected to the US, but we need a reason to justify that. Is it an economic or political reason? In both videos he confesses that he is not a political person. Therefore there are no political justifications for him to defect. At the same time he is a scientist and researcher and he is a well-paid man. He misses his family so much. So this means that there are no economic reasons behind his defect. Therefore he is not an economic migrant. So is there any other justification for him to defect? No, the point is that these two reasons are not sufficient enough for him to defect and he has been abducted indeed.