Jailed German Freed in Swap Deal
EghtesadOnline: Iran has freed a German citizen sentenced to three years in prison, the judiciary said on Tuesday, a day after Tehran said a detained Iranian accused of violating US sanctions returned home from Germany.
“On Monday, a German citizen returned home. He was arrested a while ago and was sentenced to three years in jail for taking pictures from sensitive places,” Judiciary Spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaeili said in a news conference on Tuesday, ISNA reported.
According to Financial Tribune, he added that the Foreign Ministry and the judiciary made efforts to ensure the return of the Iranian national and “the ground became prepared for the exchange”.
“We insisted that first the Iranian citizen should return home ... then the German citizen was allowed to leave Iran on Monday,” Esmaeili said.
Iran said on Monday that Ahmad Khalili, who was arrested in Germany on a US request and subject to extradition to the United States, flew home on Sunday with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who had been in Germany to attend a security conference in Munich.