Ali Vakili Rad, who was jailed for life in 1994 for the assassination of Shahpour Bakhtiar, was released two days after the liberation of Clotilde Reiss, a French teaching assistant accused of spying by the Iranian courts.
Lizzy Davies in Paris
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 18 May 2010 14.20 BST
The convicted killer of Iran’s last prime minister under the Shah was on his way back to his home country today after a French court freed him from jail amid speculation of a prisoner swap.
Ali Vakili Rad, who was jailed for life in 1994 for the assassination of Shahpour Bakhtiar, was released two days after the liberation of Clotilde Reiss, a French teaching assistant accused of spying by the Iranian courts.
Despite vehement denials from both Paris and Tehran, the timing of the returns has sparked accusations of behind the scenes diplomatic deal-making. After almost a year being held in Iran on espionage charges, 24-year-old Reiss saw her prison sentence commuted to a fine on Saturday and was back in France a day later.
Saying his client had been eligible for release since last July, when his minimum sentence had been served, Vakili Rad’s lawyer Sorin Margulis insisted the breakthrough had not come as a result of Reiss’s return. However Margulis conceded there was a link, claiming that the Reiss affair had slowed his client’s freedom.
The French interior ministry, which signed the Iranian’s expulsion order yesterday, insisted the release had occurred according to usual judicial protocol. However, some observers pointed out it was unusual for the French courts – which gave the final go-ahead for his release this morning – to release someone convicted of such serious crimes after serving a minimum sentence. The court had twice put off the decision since July.
The dual returns prompted calls from France’s leftwing opposition for the government to exercise greater transparency in its diplomatic affairs. A spokesman for the Socialist party, Benoît Hamon, said: “I think the government would do well to explain itself, to state clearly the choices it made … rather than refuting the evidence.”
Last December the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said freedom for Reiss depended largely on the attitude of French leaders. For his part, Nicolas Sarkozy, who welcomed Reiss to the Élysée palace on Sunday, stated his refusal to engage in “blackmail” by Iran.
Vakili Rad, who was found guilty of being part of a three-man unit that stabbed Bakhtiar to death in the French town of Suresnes in 1991, is viewed as a revolutionary hero by the leaders of the Islamic Republic. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, said the country was pleased to have him back.
Margulis said his client hoped to find work in a travel agency.
Source: The Guardian
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