Washington’s jailing of Iranian citizens unacceptable: Spokeswoman

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham on Sunday slammed the United States for detaining and jailing Iranian nationals on baseless charges.

She said Washington’s recent move to sentence an Iranian citizen to over eight years in prison is “completely unjust”, describing the US government’s detention and imprisonment of Iranians on “groundless and unfounded” charges as “unacceptable”.

On Friday, a court in the US State of Connecticut sentenced Mozaffar Khazaei, an Iranian-American engineer, to eight years and one month in prison and ordered him to pay a $50,000 in fines for allegedly breaching anti-Iran sanctions.

Afkham said the Islamic Republic of Iran has always stressed that it considers the detention of its citizens for “breaching sanctions” illegal and in violation of international laws.

“Unfortunately, a number of our citizens are in jails in the US and some other countries for unjustified reasons and on charge of violating the illegal and illegitimate (anti-Iran) sanctions,” she said, adding that efforts have been and will continue to be made through legal and political channels to prove these individuals’ innocence and secure their freedom.

Stressing that these Iranian nationals are innocent, Afkham called for their “immediate and unconditional release”.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry says 19 Iranians are in custody in the US on unfounded charge of violation of US-imposed sanctions.