Iran signs major judicial agreements on extradition of prisoners: Minister

Tehran, Aug 31, IRNA – Iran’s Minister of Justice Ali-Reza Avayi told IRNA on Monday that the Government reached major judicial agreements with foreign countries which led to extradition of 2,988 Iranian and foreign prisoners over the past seven years. Iran has signed 84 judicial agreements with other countries, 32 of which have been signed under President Hassan Rouhani, Avayi said. He added that in the past one-and-a-half-year, 307 Iranian convicts have been returned home from other countries and 806 prisoners have been extradited to their countries. The cause of many of the Iranians kept in prisons of other countries was their ignorance of the the laws of the host country and for example they took medicines with themselves that had been illegal there, he said, adding that now that the coronavirus outbreak has provided a legal ground, Iran is trying to extradite more convicts. Avayi also said that prisons in some countries have bad conditions, but the Iranian prisons, despite problems, provide better services, health, and education. The minister of Justice said that some people reprimand Iran saying that the country’s prisons are more like hotels, saying that the convicts have slipped and committed crimes; they are not supposed to be tormented.