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Iran releases seized Maersk cargo ship

UPDATED: Iran has confirmed the release of the Maersk Tigris cargo vessel seized by its patrol boats in the Strait of Hormuz last week over a business dispute.

Published: 7 May 2015 09:14 CEST
Updated: 7 May 2015 11:32 CEST
Iran releases seized Maersk cargo ship
Photo: Torben Huss/Scanpix
Iranian authorities said Maersk's cargo ship was given permission to leave after the Danish group, which chartered the Marshall Islands-flagged vessel, promised to abide by an Iranian court decision.
 
"After obtaining judicial authorisation, the ship was released on May 7," Iran's Ports and Maritime Organisation said in a statement.
 
The seizure was in connection with an Iranian court order for Maersk to pay $3.6 million (3.2 million euros) in damages to Iranian firm Pars Oil Products Talayieh over cargo that allegedly was not delivered.
 
The move caused concern for the security of shipping lanes in the strategic strait and prompted the United States to send vessels to monitor the situation.
 
In a sign of reduced tensions, the Pentagon said Wednesday that the US Navy had halted a mission to accompany American-flagged vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
 
US warships will however remain in the area to conduct "routine maritime security operations," spokesman Colonel Steven Warren told reporters.
 
On Wednesday Tehran denied it had detained the ship's 24 crew members, saying they were benefiting from diplomatic assistance.
 
Iranian state TV reported that the crew members were from Bulgaria, Myanmar, Romania and Britain. There were no Danes on board.

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TRIAL

Danish terror trial begins against Iranian separatists

Three leaders of an Iranian Arab separatist group pleaded not guilty to financing and promoting terrorism in Iran with Saudi Arabia's backing, as their trial opened in Denmark on Thursday.

Published: 30 April 2021 08:09 CEST
Danish terror trial begins against Iranian separatists
File photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

The three risk 12 years in prison if found guilty.

Aged 39 to 50, the trio are members of the separatist organisation ASMLA (Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz), which is based in Denmark and the Netherlands and which Iran considers a terrorist group.

The three, one of whom is a Danish citizen, have been held in custody in Denmark since February 2020.

Gert Dyrn, lawyer for the eldest of the three, told AFP that in his client’s opinion “what they are charged with is legitimate resistance towards an oppressive regime.”

“They are not denying receiving money from multiple sources, including Saudi Arabia, to help the movement and help them accomplish their political aim,” Dyrn said. 

His client has lived as a refugee in Denmark since 2006. 

According to the charge sheet seen by AFP, the three received around 30 million kroner (four million euros, $4.9 million) for ASMLA and its armed branch, through bank accounts in Austria and the United Arab Emirates.

The trio is also accused of spying on people and organisations in Denmark between 2012 and 2020 for Saudi intelligence.

Finally, they are also accused of promoting terrorism and “encouraging the activities of the terrorist movement Jaish Al-Adl, which has activities in Iran, by supporting them with advice, promotion, and coordinating attacks.”

The case dates back to 2018 when one of the three was the target of a foiled attack on Danish soil believed to be sponsored by the Iranian regime in retaliation for the killing of 24 people in Ahvaz, southwestern Iran, in September 2018.

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Tehran formally denied the attack plan in Denmark, but a Danish court last year jailed a Norwegian-Iranian for seven years for his role in the plot. 

That attack put Danish authorities on the trail of the trio’s ASMLA activities.

Sunni Saudi Arabia is the main rival in the Middle East of Shia Iran, and Tehran regularly accuses it, along with Israel and the United States, of supporting separatist groups.

Lawyer Gert Dyrn said this was “the first case in Denmark within terror law where you have to consider who is a terrorist and who is a freedom fighter.”

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