Iran

Iranian FM Urges Immediate Release of Former Diplomat


The Iranian foreign ministry reiterated the country’s call for the immediate release of a former diplomat who was accused of conspiring to supply military hardware to Iran and has recently won a High Court battle to avoid extradition to the US.

Reacting to the ruling of a UK High Court on non-extradition of Nasrollah Tajik, 59, to the US, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast called for his speedy release and return to Iran.

He said Tajik was subjected to false charges almost six years ago and since then he has been under house arrest in unfavorable conditions.

The Foreign Ministry official said the pressures exerted on the diplomat had resulted in some physical and mental problems for him, whose evidences were made available to the UK judicial officials and confirmed by Iranian and British physicians.

He stressed that while welcoming the UK Court ruling, the Islamic Republic of Iran considers the move, through taken with a delay of six years, as a right one, and calls for his immediate release.

Tajik was the target of an American sting operation in London six years ago and was wanted for conspiring to export US defense night-vision weapons to Iran without a license.

The ex-Iranian ambassador to Jordan, turned engineering scholar, was arrested in 2006 after agents from the US Department of Homeland Security pretended to be co-conspirators.

There have been long and controversial delays in the extradition process amid fears that sending Tajik to America for trial could cause further diplomatic problems between the UK and Iran.

Lord Justice Moses, sitting with Mr. Justice Sweeney, ruled that Mr. Tajik “has escaped extradition” because of a failure to “show reasonable cause” for the delays, Sky reported.

He will now be set free unless the Home Secretary and US government attempt to take the case to the Supreme Court, the highest court in the UK.

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