“The British delegation held no negotiation with the judiciary branch and the judiciary system has not made a decision on it. However, legally the issue is just relevant to the judiciary branch,” said Judiciary Spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei.
The Iranian official made the remarks at his weekly presser in Tehran after questioned by Mehr News reporter who asked, “recently a British delegation visited Tehran with the agenda of negotiating the fate of some prisoners convicted for espionage. After the UK delegation left Tehran, government officials said that the issue is up to judiciary officials and the government just asks for some humanitarian concerns. Now the question is what the judiciary branch will do in regards to swapping these prisoners like Nazanin Zaghari, Foroughi, and the similar cases.”
The Iranian official noted that if the requirements to benefit from conditional release of these prisoners are met, they will be freed. “According to the article 58 of Islamic penal code, it has been devised that those sentenced to more than 10 years in prison, half of their sentence has been served, and they are in an extraordinary situation, they can take advantage of conditional release,” he noted.
“Those who are sentenced to less than 10 years and have at least served one-third of their sentence, if they are in an extraordinary situation, they can use the conditional release law,” added Mr. Ejei.
When Mr. Ejei was asked if Foreign Minister Zarif had requested a meeting with the judiciary chief, he said that he has heard nothing on such request. “These two prisoners are like other prisoners. However Zaghari is having two trials and she has been definitely convicted for one of them. So far we have made no decision,” recounted the spokesperson of judiciary branch.
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