MESOP REPORT : Iran Rejects Transfer of Kurdish Prisoner to KRG – Mariwan Kirkuki has served four years in Iranian prison

Basnews | Hersh Rahman – 12.07.2015 – KARAJ – The Intelligence Ministry of the Islamic Republic of Iran will not allow an Iraqi Kurdish prisoner to be transferred to Kurdistan Region.The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Iranian Consul General to the region signed an agreement last week to exchange prisoners. But Mariwan Kirkuki, a Kurdish citizen from Kirkuk has not been granted permission by the Iranian Intelligence Ministry to return and serve his sentence in Iraqi Kurdistan. Kirkuki was sentenced to 33 years in prison by Iranian judicial authorities. He was convicted of crossing the Iranian border and undertaking illegal activities inside the country. He is currently in Rajyi-Shahr Prison in Karaj and has already served four years in prison. Kirkuki wrote to the Iranian judiciary and Iraqi Embassy in Tehran, requesting his return to the Kurdistan Region; but Iranian authorities have refused his request so far.