Guluzade: Iran held citizens of Azerbaijan Khalida and Guseinov in breach of international law

The Azeri writer Khalida Khalid and her driver and assistant Shamkhal Guseinov, released on June 3 inIran, had been held in this country for over a month in violation of the Convention on Diplomatic Service and the rights of the detainees, said Vafa Guluzade, a former state adviser on foreign policy.

Mr Guluzade told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that Iranian authorities failed to motivate the arrest of the Azerbaijani citizens. Moreover, contrary to the above Convention, for more than a month they did not let Azerbaijani diplomats to them.

"This is not the first time that Iran arrests Azerbaijani citizens for no reason and without explanation. A few years ago our physicist was arrested there. Last year, two young poets were arrested there. In Iran the international law only work when the respective instructions come from the country's leadership," said Guluzade.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 30 Khalida Khalid and Shamkhal Guseinov were detained in the city of Tabriz in Northern Iran together with four activists of the movement for the rights of Azerbaijanis of the South (Iranian) Azerbaijan by agents of the Iranian secret service named ETTELAAT. According to Iranian media, Khalida and Guseinov were accused "of illegal actions and establishment of illegal ties"; then, reports appeared that they had been charged with espionage.

No comments were available from the Iranian Embassy to Azerbaijan about the release of the Azerbaijani citizens.