The Iranian engineer Mohammad Abediniarrested in Italy since December 16 on a US arrest warrant, He got out of jail this Sundayafter the request of the Minister of Justice, Giancarlo Nordioin a case linked to the release of journalist Cecilia Sala, who had been imprisoned in Iran.
The Italian Minister of Justice, Giancarlo Nordiofiled this Sunday with the Court of Appeal of Milan (north) the petition to revoke the detention of the Iranian engineer Mohammad Abedini, whom the United States accuses of provide drone components to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
A few hours later, as the lawyer confirmed to the Italian media, Abedini “was a free man” and left Opera prisonin Milan, and returned to Iran todayalthough he was temporarily residing in Switzerland at the time of his arrest.
In a note issued this Sunday, the minister justified his decision to request the release of Abedini and therefore not grant extradition, considering that by virtue of the agreements between the United States and Italy, “can only be granted for crimes punishable under the laws of both contracting partiesa condition which, as things stand, cannot be considered to exist.”
They allege that the United States’ accusation of “conspiracy” against the Iranian “does not correspond to the cases provided for and punished by the Italian criminal system.”
Likewise, Italy, faced with accusations of “conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization resulting in death” and “supply and attempted supply of material support to a foreign terrorist organization resulting in death,” points out that “no element has been presented to substantiate the accusations madesince only production and trade with your country has emerged with certainty.”
For his part, the spokesman for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esmail Baqai, announced “the release of Mohamad Abedini Najafabadi, an Iranian citizen detained in Italy, and his return to his country,” the ministry said in a statement.
Iranian justice had previously announced Abedini’s imminent return to Tehran.
Mizan Onlinethe press office of the Iranian judiciary, indicated that Abedini’s “release” and “return” were possible thanks to the intervention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Negotiations between “the intelligence services of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Italian intelligence services”, he added.
For analysts, it was evident that Iran had detained the Italian journalist as an attempt to pressure Italy to obtain the release of the Iranian.
The Italian journalist Cecilia Sala was arrested and imprisoned on December 19 on a generic accusation of “violating the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”“, according to a statement from the general department of foreign media of the Ministry of Culture, and she was released on January 8.
The release also came after the trip that the prime minister, Giorgia Melonimade a surprise meeting with the president-elect of the United States, donald trumpwhich for some analysts had as main objective to ensure that Abedini was not extradited.
(With information from EFE)
