Iran envoy to Kenya denies pushing for release of terror suspects

Iran ambassador to Kenya Hadi Farajvand has denied working closely with two Kenyans to secure the release of two Iranian nationals who were serving life imprisonment in Kenya.

Last Friday, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) arrested two suspects Wesley Kiptanui Kipkemoi and Shemgrant Agyei who claimed have been representing the Ministry of Interior during their meeting with Mr Farajvad.

Speaking at the Iranian Embassy in Lower Kabete, Mr Farajvad said that the two suspects has reached out to him and defrauded him off an uknown sum of money in the pretext that the Kenyan Government would release the two terror suspects.

“They said the terror suspects were going to be freed by the government of Kenya and that they were contacting me on behalf of the Ministry of Interior, which I found suspect because the said ministry could have contacted us directly. They, however, did not reveal their names,” , Mr Farajvad said in part.

Drama apparently began when he demanded to know their identities and threatened to report them to the police.

The two suspects who are now in police custody reportedly threatened to go to the media if they were reported.

“I told them that I would give their mobile phone contacts to the police if they failed to disclose their names, but they threatened back, saying they would go to the media if I reported them,” he added

The unfolding drama began in 2012 after two suspects, Ahmad Abolfathi Mohammed and Sayed Mansour Mousavi were arrested to the possesion of RDX- a lethal explosive.

The two had come into the country as tourists and were accused of planning a terror attack. A Nairobi court slapped them with life imprisonment.

The sentence was later reduced to 15 years after the two appealed their sentences at the High Court and later quashed by three judges at the court of appeal.

The two have however been in police custody after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) requested the court to hold the ruling until a decision on their fate is made.

Kenyan authorities believes the two are part of Quds Force, highly trained Iranian Revolutionary Guard that carries out unconventional warfare and intelligence activities and responsible for extraterritorial operations like terror attacks.