Tehran Expounds on Death of Iranian National in Switzerland

Asked by reporters about the death of Iranian national Behnam Bahrami Taghanaki in Switzerland, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyyed Abbas Mousavi said on Thursday, “According to the information we have received, the deceased had gone to the consular department of the Iranian Embassy in Switzerland in December 2018, declared that he had left Iran in 2015 and then applied for asylum in Switzerland and that he had lost his passport on his way to that country in the Turkish and Greek waters. He had applied for a new passport, which was issued and delivered to him.”

“The Swiss Police sent a letter to Iran’s Embassy in Bern in December 2019, said they have found the body of the deceased in his private dwelling, cited suicide as the initial cause of his death, and emphasized that the body of the deceased had been taken to the Geneva forensic medicine,” he added.

“Immediately after receiving the Police report, the Iranian Embassy in Switzerland and the ambassador himself pursued various methods to contact the family of the deceased and ask about their decision on transferring the body to Iran. A letter from the father of the deceased giving his approval to the body of his son being buried in Geneva was sent to the Iranian Embassy in Switzerland via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ office in the holy city of Mashhad on December 18, 2019. Accordingly, the deceased was interred in Switzerland in cooperation with the Geneva Islamic Centre and in conformity with the Islamic affairs,” Mousavi explained.

The spokesman finally noted that the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Embassy in Switzerland is still in contact with the relevant Swiss authorities to receive the official report from the forensic medicine office about the cause of Mr. Bahrami’s death.