Turkmenistan Promises to Release 283 Iranian Prisoners

Following Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's visit to Turkmenistan on Tuesday, April 7, a local Iranian official announced an agreement between the two countries for the release of dozens of Iranian prisoners in Turkmenistan. Ali Asghar Tahmasbi, the political, security, and social deputy governor of Golestan, stated in an interview with the IRNA news agency on Wednesday that as a result of Rouhani's visit and the agreements made between the two presidents, 283 Iranian prisoners in Turkmenistan will soon be released, of which about 40 are from Golestan. He mentioned that most of the Golestani prisoners in Turkmenistan are fishermen or drivers and will be handed over to Iranian border guards through the Razavi Khorasan border. Tahmasbi's remarks come after the Iranian Foreign Ministry last week demanded an 'immediate and official explanation' from Turkmen officials regarding the killing of two individuals identified as Iranian fishermen and the arrest of two others by Turkmen border guards. Turkmenistan stated that these individuals were involved in smuggling a 'large shipment' of drugs. According to IRNA, some fishermen from Golestan, while fishing in the Caspian Sea, inadvertently enter the waters of the neighboring country due to factors such as storms and losing their way, and are arrested by Turkmen maritime guards. President Rouhani traveled to Turkmenistan at the head of a delegation, where 13 cooperation documents were signed between the two countries, and on Wednesday he entered Azerbaijan for a working visit. Iran and Turkmenistan signed an extradition treaty four years ago. Statistics from the past two years regarding the number of Iranian prisoners in Turkmenistan indicate that if the Ashgabat government fulfills its promise to release prisoners, it is possible that all Iranian prisoners in this country will be freed. It is not exactly known how many Iranians are currently imprisoned in Turkmenistan, but in March 2017, Mahmoud Abbasi, head of the Islamic Republic's convicts transfer working group and deputy for human rights and international affairs at Iran's Ministry of Justice, stated in an interview with Fars News Agency that 'we have 283 convicted prisoners in Turkmenistan.' This figure exactly matches the number mentioned by Tahmasbi regarding Turkmenistan's promise to release Iranians. He noted that countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia have 'harsh and severe' penalties, especially concerning drugs; for example, diclofenac pills, which are legal in Iran, are considered a crime in Turkmenistan and can lead to imprisonment for 2 to 5 years if discovered.