Shafaq News- Tehran

Iran transferred 159 of its nationals from Iraqi prisons on Sunday to serve the remainder of their sentences at home under a bilateral prisoner-transfer agreement, the Iranian Justice Ministry said.

Askar Jalalian, Iran’s deputy justice minister for human rights and international affairs, said the Secretariat of the Committee for the Transfer of Convicts completed the procedures in coordination with the Foreign Ministry, the judiciary’s international affairs department and the Justice Department in Khuzestan province.

Jalalian said the large number of Iranians traveling to Iraq, combined with violations of local laws by some travelers and strict Iraqi enforcement, had contributed to the number of Iranian nationals imprisoned in the country, according to ISNA.

He warned Iranians against carrying packages for other people or traveling with prohibited or legally restricted medicines and pills, particularly sedatives and products containing codeine, as well as narcotics even in small quantities. Such offenses, he said, could result in lengthy prison terms and substantial fines.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said last week that the 159 prisoners would be transferred on Sunday through the Shalamcheh border crossing to complete the remainder of their sentences in Iranian prisons.

The transfer came days after another group of Iranian prisoners returned through the Mehran crossing. Iran’s Justice Ministry put the previous group at 49 prisoners, including four women, while a Foreign Ministry official said 48 inmates had been transferred.

Iran and Iraq signed the prisoner-transfer agreement in 2014, allowing convicted nationals to serve the remainder of their sentences in their home countries.