Qasemi: Kenyan envoy vows speedy probe into arrest of 2 Iranians

EghtesadOnline: Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi said on Friday that Kenyan Ambassador to Tehran Ruqyah Ahmad Sabu had promised to speedily follow up the arrest of two Iranians detained in Kenya and inform Iranian Foreign Ministry of the result.

News ID: ۷۷۱۹۱۶

04 December 2016

General Diplomacy and Media Center of Foreign Ministry quoted Qasemi as saying on Friday that the Kenyan Ambassador had been summoned to Foreign Ministry on Thursday in that connection.
Qasemi said the two Iranians, namely Abdolhossein Safaie and Seyed Nasrollah Ebrahimi, who are official attorneys of the Justice Ministry and university instructors, had travelled to Nairobi as lawyers of families of two Iranian prisoners in Kenya to probe into the case of the inmates and provide them with legal advice.
According to IRNA, he added that the two Iranians were questioned by police out of misunderstanding as they returned after a meeting with the prisoners on Tuesday. They were, however, released after measures taken in that connection and removal of misunderstanding, according to Qasemi.
The spokesman went on to say that however, due to abuse and interference of certain third parties in the affair, the two attorneys were re-arrested by the Kenyan police on Thursday.
Following the event, as Iranian Embassy to Nairobi followed up the issue through foreign ministry and police of the area, Kenyan Ambassador to Tehran was invited to Iran Foreign Ministry on Thursday evening to be informed of Tehran's protest to the hostile intervention into a settled case by the third party, that undoubtedly tried to harm the Iran-Kenya good relations, said Qasemi, adding that Tehran asked the Kenyan party to seriously look into the issue, while emphasizing prompt release of the two Iranian citizens.
The Iranian diplomatic organ's spokesman announced that the Kenyan Ambassador had at the meeting vowed to speedily follow up the issue and inform Foreign Ministry of Iran of the result of her actions.
Concluding his remarks, Qasemi expressed hope that regarding the known identity of the said attorneys, the procedure to investigate the case would not be affected by the publicity of the ill-wishers of the two countries' ties.
He hoped that in light of serious follow-up and responsible interaction of Kenyan government and judiciary, the two Iranian citizens will be rapidly released.