Bayan News – Officials from the interim Taliban government have stated that a delegation from Iran’s Ministry of Justice has arrived in Kabul to conduct talks regarding a prisoner exchange.
Hamidullah Fitrat, the Taliban’s deputy spokesperson, said in an audio message on Thursday (November 14) that the transfer of prisoners from the Islamic Republic of Iran to Afghanistan would be a positive step for both countries.
Meanwhile, Askar Jalalian, the Deputy Minister of International Affairs and Human Rights at Iran’s Ministry of Justice, announced yesterday that a thousand Afghan prisoners would be repatriated to Afghanistan within the next two months.
The Iranian official noted that this transfer of prisoners to Afghanistan is being carried out under an agreement established 18 years ago between the two countries.
According to him, the majority of Afghan prisoners in Iran have been convicted of drug-related offenses.
Iranian officials have indicated that nearly 95% of foreign prisoners in Iran are Afghan citizens. It is reported that there are around eight thousand foreign prisoners in Iranian prisons.
The Iranian deputy minister of justice also stated that fewer than ten Iranian prisoners are held in Afghan prisons.
It is noteworthy that Iran and Afghanistan signed a prisoner exchange agreement eighteen years ago.
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