Iran Urges Immediate Release of Lawyers in Kenya

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Friday that Abdolhossein Safaei and Nasrollah Ebrahimi are “attorneys-at-law at [Iran’s] Justice Ministry and university professors who have traveled to Nairobi upon the request of the families of two Iranian prisoners in Kenya to follow up on their case and provide legal counselling.”

He added that the two lawyers were arrested on Tuesday by the Kenyan police because of “a misunderstanding” but were released later in the day after being questioned.

However, the Kenyan police once again detained the lawyers on Thursday following the intrusion of “some third parties” into the case, the Iranian spokesperson explained.

He said the Kenyan ambassador to Tehran was invited to the Iranian Foreign Ministry to hear Tehran’s protests about the “spiteful interference of a third party in a closed case with the indisputable purpose of destroying the good relations between Iran and Kenya.”

Qassemi expressed hope that investigations into the case would not be affected by false propaganda spread by those seeking to mar Iran-Kenya ties and the two lawyers would be immediately released given their good reputation and through the cooperation of the Kenyan government and judiciary.