Iran: Two Detained Citizens in Kenya Were Official Lawyers

Iran says that its two detained citizens in Kenya are official lawyers and has urged the Kenyan government to release them promptly. Kenya accused the two Iranian citizens, who were arrested on Thursday while 'filming the Israeli embassy in Nairobi,' of 'planning a terrorist act.' In response, Bahram Qasemi, the spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry, announced on Friday, December 3, that the two Iranians detained in Kenya are 'a university professor and an official lawyer' who traveled to Nairobi to provide 'legal follow-up and consultation for two Iranian prisoners in Kenya' at the request of their families. He identified the detainees as Abdolhossein Safaei and Nasrollah Ebrahimi, adding that they were 'questioned by the police due to a misunderstanding' after returning from visiting the prisoners on Tuesday, but were released after the misunderstanding was resolved. Qasemi further claimed that 'unfortunately, the misuse and intervention of some third parties in this matter led to the renewed arrest of the two lawyers by the Kenyan police on Thursday.' The two prisoners mentioned by the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Ahmad Abolfathi and Mansour Mousavi, were arrested in 2012 on charges of planning terrorist attacks in Kenya and possessing explosives, and were sentenced to life imprisonment. This sentence was reduced to 15 years in a Kenyan court last March, and at that time, news agencies reported that both defendants expressed satisfaction with the reduction of their prison sentence. The arrest of these two Iranian citizens occurred shortly after the visit of Mohammad Reza Rahimi, the then First Vice President of Iran, to Kenya, and the then spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry described Mr. Rahimi's trip to Nairobi as 'successful,' stating that the arrest of these Iranian citizens, who entered Kenya 'with valid tourist visas,' was 'based on a pre-designed conspiracy.' Iran's protest against 'third-party intervention' The spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry also announced on Friday that the Kenyan ambassador in Tehran had been summoned, and Iran's protest against 'the malicious intervention of a third party' in this case was communicated. Qasemi also stated that the Islamic Republic's embassy in Nairobi had been in contact with the Kenyan Foreign Ministry and local police to follow up on the matter. He expressed confidence that what he described as 'the malicious intervention of a third country' was intended to 'damage the good relations between Iran and Kenya.' The spokesperson did not name the 'third country' he referred to, but his reference could be to Israel, as the recent arrest of the two Iranian citizens occurred 'while filming' the embassy of this country in Kenya. In recent years, Israel has also accused Iran of planning terrorist operations in Kenya. The arrest of these two Iranian citizens, as well as the conviction of two other Iranian citizens in Kenya, are not the only such cases in recent years. In October 2014, a Kenyan court sentenced two Iranians who had been arrested in September of that year for entering the country with 'fake Israeli passports' to two years in prison or a fine. At that time, Reuters reported that these two Iranians, a man and a woman, were arrested on September 27, 2014, on suspicion of conspiracy to carry out terrorist operations by the Kenyan anti-terrorism police at Nairobi airport. According to Reuters, the destination of this Iranian man and woman was Belgium. In December 2015, the Kenyan police arrested two of its citizens on suspicion of 'designing terrorist attacks' and connections with Iran's Quds Force, stating that they 'intended to attack targets belonging to Western countries in Kenya.' However, the Iranian embassy at that time denied any connection of the detainees with the Islamic Republic while expressing readiness to cooperate with the Kenyan government to 'clarify the matter.'