Baku, Azerbaijan, April 26
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
About 86 Iranian citizens in Malaysia are waiting to be executed mainly due to drug trafficking charges.
About six women are among the citizens that have been sentenced to death, consul general of Iran to Malaysia, Morteza Javdan said, Iranian IRNA news agency reported on April 26.
Javdan made the remarks during a press conference in Embassy of the Islamic Republic in Kuala Lumpur on April 25.
The consul went on to say that 221 Iranians are jailed in Malaysia, mostly for drug-related offences, with some 31 persons of those people are women.
He added that the issue of Iranian prisoners in Malaysia has been one of the main challenges for Iranian officials in Malaysia in recent years.
In October 2013, Iranian deputy foreign minister for Consular, Parliamentary and Expatriates' Affairs Hassan Qashqavi called on the Malaysian government to refrain from executing two Iranian women who have been accused of drug trafficking.
"The execution of the two Iranian women in Malaysia will have a negative impact on bilateral relations," Qashqavi warned.
He reiterated that Malaysia should avoid carrying out the executions so that the cordial relationship between the two countries would continue.
In the meantime, Commander of the anti-narcotics squad of Iran's Law Enforcement Police General Ali Moayyedi said that smugglers deceive people by offering them free trips to Southeast Asian countries in exchange for carrying suspicious packages and delivering them to certain individuals in that country. The people unaware of the contents of the packages fulfil the request for free trips and as a result arrested by police.