Foreign Ministry to Allocate Budget to Release of Iranian Prisoners Abroad

Hassan Qashqavi, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister, highlighted the considerable increase in the countryโ€™s services given to the Iranians living abroad including those incarcerated.

Qashqavi recently appeared on a live interview with IRIBโ€™s international TV channel, Jame Jam, and gave details about the services the country gives to the Iranians living overseas including those imprisoned.

โ€œStatistics gathered from the countryโ€™s embassies and agencies throughout the world indicate that Iranians living abroad are enjoying an increased amount of services inasmuch as 20 to 30 per cent,โ€ Qashqavi stressed, as reported by ISNA and translated by IFP.

Services to Iranian Inmates Abroad

Qashqavi hailed Iranโ€™s attempts to protect the rights of Iranian prisoners overseas and said, โ€œAround 800 inmates incarcerated in 40 to 50 countries are released annually.โ€

Iranโ€™s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asked the Parliament to allocate part of the countryโ€™s next year budget for supporting prisoners abroad.

โ€œProviding further support for Iranian prisoners, hiring defence lawyers, and holding negotiation for their freedom are among the services planned to be provided by the Ministry,โ€ he added.

โ€œThanks to the attempts made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to have Iranian prisoners released, we have been successful in some cases,โ€ he noted.

โ€œSome have been swapped and a few others are spending their sentence terms in Iran.โ€

Qashqavi pointed to the Iranian families living abroad and said, โ€œIf members of their families are imprisoned there, hereby I give them an assurance that officials in Iranian embassies will spare no effort to help them if they refer to our embassy in that country.โ€

 

Fast Consular Services

Qashqavi emphasized that most Iranian agencies abroad provide consular services within a span of one day, except for a few countries where it takes one week at most.

โ€œVisa is also issued very quickly because the government does it electronically,โ€ he stressed.

Iran is one of the few countries that issues visas at the airport, he noted, adding, โ€œExcept for 10 countries including the US, Britain, Canada and a few others, which act in accordance with the Law of Reciprocal Actions, travellers from other countries can receive 90-day visas on-arrival.โ€

 

Diplomatic Relations with Britain and Canada

Regarding the status of diplomatic and consular relations with Britain and Canada, Qashqavi pointed to the legislation passed in the Parliament and said, โ€œAccordingly, Iranโ€™s diplomatic relations with Britain is at the level of charge d’affaires. Meanwhile, efforts by both sides to improve relations are in progress.โ€

โ€œConsular services for Iranians are agonisingly slow, though,โ€ he regretted.

โ€œAlthough there have been changes in Canadaโ€™s approach towards Iran, the process of visa issuance is still unaffected,โ€ he argued.

Therefore, he added, Iranians who want to obtain visa to travel to Canada are required to refer to the countryโ€™s Interests Section or try neighbouring countries.โ€

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