Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Nigerian court convicts Iranian of illegal arms shipment

 

Nigerian court convicts Iranian of illegal arms shipment

http://www.yourmiddleeast.com/news/nigerian-court-convicts-iranian-of-illegal-arms-shipment_15033

 

A Nigerian court on Monday sentenced an alleged member of the Iranian

Revolutionary Guard and his Nigerian accomplice to five years in jail each

over an illegal arms shipment.

 

Azim Aghajani and Nigerian Ali Abbas Jega were detained in 2010 when

authorities at a Lagos port discovered 13 containers of weapons that had

been declared as construction materials.

 

The case attracted wide international attention, in part because it raised

questions over whether Iran had violated United Nations sanctions on weapons

sales.

 

West African governments also warned that Iran may have been seeking to send

weapons to rebel groups in the region.

 

Federal High Court Judge Okechukwu Okeke pronounced the two "guilty as

charged" on four of five criminal counts, with the sentences for each count

to be served concurrently.

 

While the crimes in question carried a potential life sentence, the judge

said he was swayed by a plea for leniency from the defence and by the

conduct of the pair while in detention.

 

"In sentencing the accused I have taken into consideration the plea for

mercy by the defence team, but the law has to take its course," Okeke said.

 

The sentence will be counted retroactively from February 2011, when their

trial began, meaning the men will walk free in under three years.

 

Jiti Ogunye, a Lagos-based lawyer and commentator who followed the case,

told AFP he was "shocked" by the light jail terms, especially by the

decision to have the sentences served concurrently.

 

"Given how the case was going and the avalanche of evidence...everybody was

expecting a conviction with a heavy sentence," Ogunye said.

 

"It shows there is something very, very wrong with our criminal justice

system," he continued.

 

"When a verdict in any case falls short of the expected outcome, there are

bound to be worries...that something improper might have happened," he said.

 

He explained that Nigeria's judiciary has long been plagued by systemic

problems, including corruption and political pressures heavily influencing

verdicts, but he could not comment directly on the Iranian case before

reviewing the decision.

 

Aghajani has denied having links with Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard,

insisting he was a private businessman conducting a legitimate transaction.

 

The defence argued that the weapons were just passing through Nigeria and

were ultimately headed to the tiny nation of Gambia as part of a legal sale.

 

Gambia denied it was the intended recipient and cut diplomatic ties with

Iran over the dispute.

 

The case also sparked a stern response from Senegal, which accused Iran of

trying to deliver weapons to separatist rebels in its southern Casamance

region.

 

The United Nations added Aghajani to a blacklist last year, labelling him a

Revolutionary Guard member tied to "Iranian support for terrorism and

extremism worldwide".

 

The United States has also put Aghajani on its national sanctions list.

 

Addressing the court before his sentence was read out, the Iranian described

his time in Nigerian jails as "agony".

 

"It has been a very sad experience for me for three years," he said.

 

Judge Okeke denied a request by Aghajani's lawyer for the sentence to be

served in Iran.

 

Jega claimed he was told the cargo contained construction materials and said

he was hired by the Iranian as a middle-man to help clear the shipment

through the Nigerian port.

 

"I did not know what was there were arms. If I had known I would not have

waited to be arrested by the police," he said on Monday before sentencing.

"I ask for leniency."

 

The arms, which include heavy weaponry, are to be given to the Nigerian

government, the court ruled.

 

C AFP 2013

 

==========================================

(F)AIR USE NOTICE: All original content and/or articles and graphics in this

message are copyrighted, unless specifically noted otherwise. All rights to

these copyrighted items are reserved. Articles and graphics have been placed

within for educational and discussion purposes only, in compliance with

"Fair Use" criteria established in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976.

The principle of "Fair Use" was established as law by Section 107 of The

Copyright Act of 1976. "Fair Use" legally eliminates the need to obtain

permission or pay royalties for the use of previously copyrighted materials

if the purposes of display include "criticism, comment, news reporting,

teaching, scholarship, and research." Section 107 establishes four criteria

for determining whether the use of a work in any particular case qualifies

as a "fair use". A work used does not necessarily have to satisfy all four

criteria to qualify as an instance of "fair use". Rather, "fair use" is

determined by the overall extent to which the cited work does or does not

substantially satisfy the criteria in their totality. If you wish to use

copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you

must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

 

THIS DOCUMENT MAY CONTAIN COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL. COPYING AND DISSEMINATION IS

PROHIBITED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

 

 

 

 

No comments:

Post a Comment