| Submit your comments on this article |
| Africa Subsaharan |
| Nigeria Court Convicts Iranian of Illegal Arms Shipment |
| 2013-05-14 |
| [An Nahar] A Nigerian court on Monday sentenced an alleged member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and his Nigerian accomplice to five years in jail each over an illegal arms shipment. Azim Aghajani and Nigerian Ali Abbas Jega were tossed in the slammer Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! in 2010 when authorities at a Lagos port discovered 13 containers of weapons that had been declared as construction materials. The case attracted wide international attention, in part because it raised questions over whether Iran had violated United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... sanctions on weapons sales. West African governments also warned that Iran may have been seeking to send weapons to rebel groups in the region. "I now pronounce them guilty as charged," said Federal High Court Judge Okechukwu Okeke, convicting the two on four of five criminal counts. While the crimes in question carried a potential life sentence, the judge said he was swayed by a plea for leniency from the defense and by the conduct of the pair while in detention. "In sentencing the accused I have taken into consideration the plea for mercy by the defense team, but the law has to take its course," Okeke said. The sentence will be counted retroactively from February 2011, when their trial began, meaning the men will walk free in under three years. Aghajani has denied having links with Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, insisting he was a private businessman conducting a legitimate transaction. The defense argued that the weapons were just passing through Nigeria and were ultimately headed to the tiny nation of Gambia ... The Gambia is actually surrounded by Senegal on all sides but its west coast. It has a population of about 1.7 million. The difference between the two is that in colonial days Senegal was ruled by La Belle France and The Gambia (so-called because there's only one of it, unlike Guinea, of which there are the Republic of Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, New Guinea, the English coin in circulation between 1663 and 1813, and Guyana, which sounds like it should be another one) was ruled by Britain... as part of a legal sale. Gambia denied it was the intended recipient and cut diplomatic ties with Iran over the dispute. The case also sparked a stern response from Senegal ... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees... , which accused Iran of trying to deliver weapons to separatist rebels in its southern Casamance region. The United Nations added Aghajani to a blacklist last year, labeling him a Revolutionary Guard member tied to "Iranian support for terrorism and extremism worldwide". The United States has also put Aghajani on its national sanctions list. Addressing the court before his sentence was read out, the Iranian described his time in Nigerian jails as "agony." "It has been a very sad experience for me for three years," he said. Judge Okeke denied a request by Aghajani's lawyer for the sentence to be served in Iran. Jega claimed he was told the cargo contained construction materials and said he was hired by the Iranian as a middle-man to help clear the shipment through the Nigerian port. "I did not know what was there were arms. If I had known I would not have waited to be nabbed Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! by the police," he said on Monday before sentencing. "I ask for leniency." The arms, which include heavy weaponry, are to be given to the Nigerian government, the court ruled. |
| Posted by:Fred |