By Angelo Amante and Emilio Parodi
ROME, Jan 12 (Reuters) – Iranian businessman Mohammad Abedini, who had been detained in Italy on a U.S. warrant, on Sunday left jail and returned to Iran after Rome’s justice minister filed to revoke his arrest.
Abedini was arrested in Milan last month for allegedly supplying drone parts that Washington says were used in a 2024 attack that killed three U.S. service members in Jordan. Iran denied involvement in the attack.
ANALYSIS: The Hostage Trade Is Central to Iran’s Foreign Policy
Italian media linked his case to the detention of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, who was seized in Tehran three days after Abedini was arrested. She returned home on Wednesday. Iran dismissed allegations it had imprisoned her to pressure Rome to release Abedini.
“Mohammad Abedini was detained due to a misunderstanding which was resolved through … Iran‘s foreign ministry efforts and negotiations between the concerned departments of the intelligence ministry of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Italian intelligence services,” reported Mizan, the news agency of Iran‘s judiciary.
Iran‘s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei and the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency confirmed that Abedini had arrived in Iran on Sunday.
A source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters that he had been released on Sunday morning, after Justice Minister Carlo Nordio filed his request to Milan’s Court of Appeal. Under Italian law, courts must abide by the request.
“Now my client is a free person and can smile and hope again,” Abedini’s lawyer, Alfredo De Francesco, said in a statement.
In a statement, the Italian justice ministry said that legal conditions were not in place to extradite Abedini as that could only be done for offences punishable both in Italy and in the United States.
The statement said violations of the U.S. International Economic Emergency Powers Act did not correspond to conduct recognisable as a crime under Italian law. It added there was no evidence corroborating the other charges of supporting a terrorist organisation.
In an interview published on Thursday, Nordio said that the U.S. had not yet submitted a formal request to extradite Abedini.
(Reporting by Angelo Amante in Rome, Emilio Parodi in Milan; additional reporting by Alfredo Faieta in Milan and Elwely Elwelly in Dubai; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Ros Russell)
