ATHENS - The Greek government is mulling withdrawing the diplomatic passport of disgraced Jerusalem Partiarch Ireneos I after his dismissal over a land sale scandal, a government spokesman said on Thursday.
"The decision (to remove the passport) has yet to be taken, but I don't rule it out," Theodore Roussopoulos told a news conference.
Ireneos I had been under pressure to resign since the report of an alleged multi-million-dollar transaction in which ideologically motivated Jewish businessmen acquired church land in a predominantly Palestinian area of the Old City, part of occupied east Jerusalem.
After rejecting a dismissal from his own Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem May 7 a pan-Orthodox synod was organised and on Tuesday it voted overwhelmingly to remove him from the seat.
Born on the Greek island of Samos, he was appointed to the seat in Jerusalem in 2001.
05/26/2005 15:16 GMT