Freed Iranian diplomat says U.S. tortured him - agency

By Edmund Blair

TEHRAN (Reuters) - An Iranian diplomat freed two months after being kidnapped in Iraq has said he was tortured by U.S. forces while in captivity, Iran's Fars News Agency reported on Saturday.

Iran has previously blamed the U.S. military for his abduction but U.S. officials have denied any role. On Saturday the U.S. military again denied playing any part in kidnapping the diplomat, or in his alleged torture.

The Iranian's comments follow the release of 15 British troops from Iran, where they say they were ill-treated.

"Jalal Sharafi, in an interview with Fars, explained how he had been kidnapped and tortured severely by American forces with the help of (Iraqi) agents ... under the supervision of the CIA," Fars News Agency reported.

"He showed reporters the marks left by torture on his body that are now being treated by doctors," said Fars, which is considered close to Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

Gunmen in Iraqi army uniforms kidnapped Sharafi in February. An Iraqi government official said at the time Sharafi had been seized by 30 gunmen wearing the uniforms of an Iraqi army unit that often works with the U.S. military in Iraq.

When Sharafi was released on Tuesday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said the diplomat was in good health and said he did not know who had held him.

U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Garver said in Baghdad: "Multi-National Force Iraq was not involved in his kidnapping or any kind of claims of torture that he is now stating that he was subjected to."