TEHRAN (FNA)- Three Iranian nationals who had been arrested in Malaysia and received death penalty have been exonerated and will be freed soon, the foreign ministry announced on Saturday.
"Three Iranian nationals who were sentenced to death in Malaysia, including a woman and two men, have been exonerated from the accusations against them due to the efforts made by the Iranian embassy in Malaysia and the foreign ministry and after hiring an attorney for them," the Foreign Ministry's Director-General for Iranian Expatriates' Affairs Seyed Kazzem Sajjadi told FNA on Saturday.

He said that the three people are now in a camp in Malaysia and will be freed and return to Iran soon after going through the needed legal procedures.

Noting that 86 Iranian nationals are waiting for death penalty in Malaysia, Sajjadi said the foreign ministry is pursuing their cases and no Iranian has yet been executed in the Southeast Asian country.

Also in April, the Iranian foreign ministry expressed the hope that Malaysian courts would issue non-political verdicts for the Iranian citizens and exonerate them.

"Unfortunately, in recent years we have faced a phenomenon in which the US administration entraps some of our countrymen in foreign states and creates fake stories which leads to their arrest by the relevant government," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Abbas Araqchi said in Tehran.

He said that three Iranian nationals had been entrapped in the US administration's fake stories in Malaysia based on the unfounded accusation of trying to buy the goods banned by the sanctions against Iran, and Washington has called for their extradition to the US.

Stressing that Iran was confident about the Malaysian political and judicial officials' good will and wisdom, Araqchi said that Tehran was sure that the three Iranian nationals, Sajjad Farhadi, who entered Malaysia as a tourist, and the other two who live in the country on student visas, would be tried non-politically and would return to Iran soon.

His remarks came after Farhadi's counsel, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, said the Malaysian authorities should not be seen as overpleasing the US or bowing to any international pressure on the matter.

Shafee made the remarks while submitting a stay application by the Home Ministry and three others over the High Court's decision in April to grant a writ of habeas corpus to Farhadi.

However, Farhadi was rearrested by Immigration officers in the courtroom, which sparked strong objection from Shafee.

By Fars News Agency

 

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