Vadodara: Ten sailors released from an Iranian jail reached their native places in Gujarat and have been reunited with their family members.
The ten released sailors are Captain Ali Aamad T Madiar, Umar Hussain Thaim, Palin Suleman Madiar, Kasam Mama Karani, Ibrahim Umar Juneja, Siddique Adam Madiar, Hussain Abdul Hamid, Mausin Darun Ruknali, Aasif Mamad Madiar and Aamada Kasam Andhar.
"We thank Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and independent Rajya Sabha MP Parimal Nathwani for making efforts to ensure our release, after languishing in jail in Iran, for the last five months," Captain Ali Aamad Madiar told PTI today.
The development comes after Nathwani requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on October 15 to help secure the release of the ten Indian sailors languishing in an Iranian jail since May 23.
"We belong to Mandvi taluka of Kutch district in Gujarat and we were detained by Iran Marine Security Agency on May 23 when our ship 'Al Hudd' was seized after straying into Iran's territorial waters," Madiar said.
He said that the ship was on its way to Oman from Dubai, when the Iranian security agency alleged that the ship had violated the international maritime boundary.
"We were put behind bars after the Iranian security agency seized our ship," he said.
The Iranian agency had also charged the ship which was owned by a Dubai-based businessman Ali Suleman Abdul Raheman.
"We were produced in a local court in Iran, where a fine of Rs 41 lakh was imposed on the ship owner. Besides, each sailor was ordered to pay a Rs 19,800 fine," he said.
The sailors were not allowed by Iranian jail authorities to make international calls and it became for them to convey the news of their detention to their family members in Gujarat, he said. Also, Iranian jail authorities knew only Persian and no other language.
"We succeeded in conveying the news to our family members in Gujarat after seven days, when the counsel of our ship owner contacted us in jail. Through him, the news of our detention was was conveyed," he said.
The matter got complicated further when, in a bid to evade fines, Raheman, the Dubai-based owner of the seized ship, misguided the jailed crew members and obtained their signatures on a letter written in Persian, which said that entering Iranian waters was the crew's mistake and the ship owner was not responsible for it.
Later, the ship owner produced this letter in court.
"Fortunately, jail authorities in Iran treated us well due to the country's good relationship with India and we had no reason to complain," he said.
However, after Nathwani's request to the Prime Minister on October 15, things moved quickly and Iranian jail authorities released the crew on October 24.
"We were lodged in a jail in Babrabad about 500 km away from Iran capital city of Tehran. The Indian embassy staff based in Babrabad approached us and booked our air tickets to fly to Dubai from Iran on October 24. They offered some financial assistance and the rest of the money for the tickets were paid by us, since we had carried money with us on our way to Oman from Dubai on May 23, when we were arrested," he said.
President of the Kutch Mandvi Vahanvata Association president Adam Siddique Thaim told PTI that "We are thankful to the PM, Nathwani and others for ensuring the release of ten sailors from jail in Iran".
Federation of All India Sailing Vessels Industries Association president Afzal Amin also thanked Prime Minister Singh, and Nathwani for securing the release of these sailors.
