CNN) — The tens of thousands of diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks and released Sunday are full of policy discussions and geo-strategic issues — but they also tell some fascinating human stories.
One such cable, sent from the American embassy in Turkey last year, tells of an elderly U.S. citizen’s escape from neighboring Iran — on a horse.
The cable, sent on February 11 2009, says that 75-year old Hossein Ghanbarzadeh Vahedi had been refused permission to leave Iran to return to the United States after visiting relatives the previous year.
Vahedi — a dentist from Los Angeles, California — had traveled to Tehran in early May 2008 and spent four weeks with family and friends without incident.
