Thailand blasts: 5 Iranian suspects to be tried

Bangkok: Five Iranians accused of being involved in the botched bombings here in February will be tried in a criminal court, a top police official said today. Deputy police chief Gen Pansiri Prapawat said the case against the suspects was submitted to the court on 2 April. He said the Foreign Ministry, Office of the Attorney-General and Royal Thai Police Office had also sent additional documented evidence to Malaysia to extradite Masoud Sedaghatzadeh, one of the suspects. [caption id=“attachment_269387” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Mohammad Khazaei was arrested when he attempted to flee to Malaysia. Reuters”]  [/caption] Sedaghatzadeh was arrested by Malaysian authorities in Kuala Lumpur on February 15, a day after the Bangkok blasts. The Malaysian court will decide on 16 April whether to extradite Sedaghatzadeh to Thailand as requested, he said. Twenty-eight-year-old Saerb Moradi, one of the suspects, set off three blasts in central Bangkok, blowing off his legs while one of his compatriots Mohammad Khazaei, 42, was arrested when he attempted to flee to Malaysia. Four locals were also injured in the blasts. The fourth suspect is a 32-year-old woman, Leila Rohani, who has fled to Iran, while the fifth accused is 52-year-old Iranian man named Nikkhahfard Javad, local media reported. Israel claims that the Iranian suspects involved in the blasts were part of the same network of assailants who targeted the Israeli embassy staff in India and Georgia. Thailand, however, has not determined if there were any links between the events in Bangkok, New Delhi and Tbilisi. Iran has denied any link with explosions here. An Israeli woman diplomat was injured in an attack in New Delhi but a similar attack in Tbilisi was averted when the explosive device was discovered. PTI