Judicial sources said that, as soon as Milan’s appeals court received the request presented by Justice Minister Carlo Nordio to revoke his arrest, the appeals judges in charge of the case met and ordered the release of the 38-year-old.
Abedini took a flight to Tehran shortly after his release, according to the sources.
On Sunday morning, the justice ministry said in a note that Justice Minister Carlo Nordio had filed a request to the appeals court of Milan to revoke Abedini’s arrest.
“Under article 2 of the extradition treaty between the government of the United States of America and the government of the Italian Republic, only crimes that are punishable according to the laws of both contracting sides can lead to extradition, a condition which, based on the state of documents, can’t be considered as existing,” said the ministry.
It added that the charge pressed against Abedini of criminal association to violate the International emergency economic powers act - a US federal law - did not correspond to any conduct recognised by Italian law as a crime.
Referring to two other charges against Abedini, “of ‘criminal association to provide material support to a terrorist organisation with ensuing death’ and of ‘provision or attempt to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organisation with consequent death’, no elements as of today support the charges,” it said.
The note explained that existing evidence only showed Abedini was in charge, through companies he operated with, of the production and trade with his country of “technological instruments with potential, but not exclusive, military application,” according to the note.
Abedini was arrested by Italian authorities on a US warrant on December 16, three days before Italian journalist Cecilia Sala’s detention in Tehran.
The 38-year-old engineer, who is accused of exporting drone parts allegedly used to kill three US servicemen in Jordan a year ago, was in a Milan jail awaiting a house arrest hearing on January 15.
Sala, 29, a freelance reporter for Il Foglio newspaper and a podcaster at Chora News, returned to Italy Wednesday after being released by Iran.
Tehran has denied that it imprisoned Sala to pressure Italy into releasing Abedini.
ANSA
