UK panel slams decision to let sailors sell stories about Iran capture

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A British parliamentary committee said Friday that one or more people should have been disciplined for allowing Royal Navy sailors to sell stories to newspapers about their capture by Iran earlier this year. Fifteen sailors were captured in March by an Iranian force in waters off Iraq and held for nearly two weeks. Some of the sailors accepted payment for media interviews after they returned to Britain. "It is clear that the decision to allow the service personnel to sell their stories was a serious mistake and deeply damaging to the reputation of the Royal Navy," said the report by the House of Commons Defense Committee. "We were told that no action had been taken against individuals, military or civilian, for failings relating to media handling. Given the catalog of serious mistakes made, we think this is unacceptable," the report added.