Iran Summons Kenyan Envoy to Tehran

TEHRAN (defapress)- The Foreign Ministry summoned Kenya's Ambassador to Tehran Rukia Ahmed Subow to deliver Iran’s protest against non-judicial intervention in the court process of two of its nationals who are held in detention in the African country.

News ID: 76262

Date: 18 March 2019 - 13:34

After revocation of an earlier ruling to release the two Iranians, Ahmad Abolfathi and Seyed Mansour Mousavi, Iranian Foreign Ministry's Director General for African Affairs summoned the Ahmed Subow on Saturday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Sunday.

He added that the Iranian official expressed the Islamic Republic's "dissatisfaction" with the "unfair" ruling and noted that the Kenyan envoy was recalled for consultations.

However, he added, with non-judicial intervention in the process, the Kenyan police prevented the release and return of the two prisoners to Iran, and unfortunately the Supreme Court of Kenya overturned the decision to acquit the two Iranians.

The Kenyan ambassador said she would inform Kenya's government about the Islamic Republic’s protest and dissatisfaction, the Iranian spokesman said.

Kenya's Supreme Court on Friday overturned a Court of Appeals decision acquitting two Iranian terror suspects sentenced to 15 years after they were found guilty of three terrorism-related charges.

Abolfathi and Mousavi were arrested in June 2012 in Nairobi following a short visit to the coastal town of Mombasa. In May 2013, a court sentenced the two Iranian nationals to life in prison over allegations of plotting attacks against Western interests in Kenya.

The two Iranians have since served five years and will now be taken to Kamiti Maximum Prison to serve the remaining years of their sentence.

Early in December 2016, Iran's Ambassador to Nairobi Hadi Farajvand announced that the country's mission is seriously pursuing freedom of the two detained Iranian nationals in Kenya, stressing that the media ballyhoos on the case are aimed at distorting the good relations between the two countries.

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