Expatriate fishermen languishing in Iran jail

Manama : Thirty Indian expatriate fishermen, who were arrested by Iran Navy last year, are still languishing in a jail on Kish Island in the Arabian Gulf. Of these 30 fishermen, 15 were working for Bahrain while the rest of them were engaged in fishing for Dubai companies.  The fishermen who went from Bahrain are identified as George (35), Kiruba (39), Varghese Varma (42), Sreejith (30), Antony Jacob (30), Ravi (36), Sirinu (29), Kenneday (45), Sagar (30), Cloudin (49), Saleth Raja (33), Vincent (30), Antony (30), Prasanth (26) and Rajesh Kumar (35). They hail from Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Ramanathapuram districts in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. These fishermen went for fishing from Bahrain and were arrested on October 20, 2016 by the Iran Navy on charges of encroaching into their waters. 

The other 15 fishermen who worked for Dubai companies were arrested on December 27, 2016 by the Iran Navy on charges of encroaching into their waters and  kept them in the same Kish Island. All these Dubai fishermen are from Ramanathapuram district , Tamil Nadu.  Justin Antony, President of International Fishermen Development Trust (INFIDET) has urged the Indian embassy in Iran to take necessary steps to get them released from jail. 

“As these detained fishermen are languishing without basic facilities, food, water and medicine on the island and their families to whom these fishermen are the only bread winners are worried, and are very eager to know the status of the  fishermen,”  Justin Antony said.

“Our Mission in Tehran is working on the matter for their repatriation. The embassy has taken up the matter with our embassy in Tehran to expedite the case,” the Indian embassy in Bahrain said in response to a query by INFIDET.