Germany and Iran Exchange Prisoners One-to-One for Release

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] It has been reported that Germany and Iran have exchanged and released one detainee each. One Iranian national imprisoned in Germany returned to Iran, and one German national detained in Iran was released.

According to foreign media, on the 18th (local time), the Iranian judiciary announced that it had released one German national imprisoned in an Iranian prison and that one Iranian national detained in Germany had returned home. Gholamhosein Esmaili, spokesperson for the Iranian judiciary, said at a press conference that "On the 17th, one German national returned to Germany," adding, "He was serving a three-year sentence for taking unauthorized photos and videos of security-sensitive locations in Iran."

Earlier, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Ahmad Halili, an Iranian trader arrested by German authorities at the request of the United States for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran, was released just before being extradited to the U.S. Halili returned on the 16th together with Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iranian Foreign Minister, who attended the Munich Security Conference. Spokesperson Esmaili explained, "We demanded that Germany release our national first without forcibly extraditing him to the U.S. so that the German national could leave Iran, and we succeeded. After our national returned on the 16th, the German detainee was sent back on the 17th."