Thailand returns detained Iranians in botched 2012 bomb plot
Published on: Thursday, November 26, 2020
By: AFP
Suspect Saeid Moradi threw a bomb at police but blew his own legs off instead. (AP pic)
BANGKOK: Thailand confirmed Thursday it had returned three Iranians jailed over a 2012 bomb plot in Bangkok, in an announcement that came after Tehran freed an Australian-British lecturer imprisoned for alleged spying.
The kingdom’s corrections department said two of the men – Masoud Sedaghatzadeh and Saeid Moradi – were transferred as prisoners while the third, Mohammad Khazaei, was granted a royal pardon in August.
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Thai officials have not explicitly linked the transfer with the release of Middle East scholar Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who returned to Australia after two years in detention in Iran on espionage charges.
But Iranian state TV said Wednesday that Moore-Gilbert was swapped for three Iranians.
The trio freed by Thailand had all been jailed over a botched bomb plot that Israel linked to a spate of attacks on its diplomats around the world.
The plot came to light on Valentine’s Day 2012 when a huge explosion ripped the roof off a house in suburban Bangkok after bombs apparently detonated accidentally inside.
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Moradi threw a bomb at police as he fled the scene but succeeded only in blowing his own legs off, while Khazaei made it to the airport before being apprehended.
In 2013 a Bangkok court jailed Moradi for life for attempted murder and sentenced Khazaei to 15 years for possession of explosives.
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Sedaghatzadeh fled to Malaysia before being extradited some years later. Details of his conviction and sentence were not immediately available.
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