Azerbaijani student arrested in Iran to be sentenced in coming days

Farid Safarli, 27, an Azerbaijani student of the University of Jena in Germany, detained in Iran on espionage charges, has talked to his family members on the phone.

His mother Dilara Asgarova told APA that she spoke to her son on the phone twice: "My son is fine, he has no dissatisfaction with the conditions of detention. His trial was held three times. At the first trial, he was provided with an interpreter, but at the last two trials, he was not provided with an interpreter because he knows Farsi. He himself is unhappy about this because although he knows Farsi, he does not understand legal terms. I told him that he has the right to demand both a lawyer and an interpreter from the court. My son used to be held in solitary confinement, but lately, he has been in the mass cell and speaks Farsi there.

Dilara Asgarova noted that her son will be sentenced in the coming days: "Farid said that the trial is coming to an end. However, neither the trial nor the investigation revealed a single fact of his espionage. According to Farid, the girl for whom he went to visit in Iran and her family did not testify against him. However, the Iranian side is suspicious of Farid because of his multilingual skills and the fact that he studied in Europe and that's why he was accused of espionage. At present, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry and our Consulate in Tabriz are also working with Farid. Consular representatives met with him and enquired about his condition".

Safarli went to Iran on February 20 and contact with him was broken on March 4.

Although the Iranian authorities earlier denied having information about Farid's whereabouts, on June 1, they confirmed the detention of Farid Safarli, who faced espionage charges.