Azerbaijan transferred 22 Iranian prisoners to their homeland in line with an agreement on swapping prisoners already reached between the two countries.
The inmates were handed over to Iranian officials through Astara border checkpoint in northern Iran on Monday on the auspicious occasion of Eid al-Adha.
Head of Consular Affairs Office at Iran’s Embassy in Baku, Nasser Mir-Jamali, told reporters on Monday the released men would be kept in quarantine in a prison in northern Iran and would be then handed over to Iranian judicial and security officials.
He added that these individuals were imprisoned in Azerbaijan mostly on charges of drug smuggling and would have to serve the rest of their prison sentences in jails inside Iran.
The official noted that this was the 24th round of exchange of inmates between the two neighboring countries and said 155 Iranians are still serving their sentences in Azeri prisons.
Iran and Azerbaijan on several occasions have exchanged prisoners over the past years following expansion of political relations between Tehran and Baku.
