Over 50 Iranians Being Held in US Prisons, Judiciary Official Says


TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The deputy head of the Iranian Judiciary’s Human Rights Council said that more than 50 Iranian nationals are currently being held in US prisons.

In remarks released on Sunday, Kazem Gharibabadi said as many as 56 Iranian citizens are now in US jails on various charges.

He added that some of them have been imprisoned on trumped up charges like bypassing Washington’s sanctions against Tehran.

The official went on to say that some other Iranian nationals have been jailed on the same charge in other countries at the request of the US government.

In July, Iran’s Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani called on the US to immediately free Iranian citizens held in its prisons.

“For (about) forty years, the Americans have violated the rights of our people,” he said at the time, adding that they have kept innocent citizens of the Islamic Republic in their prisons.

“These moves are illegal and contrary to norms and international laws,” the judiciary chief stressed.