Seventeen days after receiving their release order, 15 Indian fishermen who were in custody of Iranian authorities have boarded their boats to Bahrain. They are expected to reach the country on Monday around 5 pm.
“We are happy. We want to thank all those who worked for our release. We have called our family, too. Finally, we are out of trouble,” M Sathya Sagar Vijiya Babu, one of the fishermen, told Scroll.in.
They were among 37 fishermen from Tamil Nadu who had been taken into custody by Iranian authorities on October 22, 2016, for allegedly straying into the country’s territorial waters while on their way to Sharjah from Bahrain. They were handed their “freedom order” on March 17 after an Iranian court ruled that the case against the men had “been lifted”, and that they were free to leave “if there are no other offences against them”. Their release was delayed because of technical and bureaucratic reasons.
However, this leaves 22 more Indian fishermen in Iran’s custody.
After spending a few days in jail following their arrest in October 2016, Sagar and his friends had been shifted to boats in Kish Island and kept under strict surveillance. They said Iranian authorities had provided them little food and water.
This was even after their Bahraini sponsor had paid the fines imposed on them by an Iranian court. Other formalities for their release had also been completed. Their employer had paid a fine of Rs 10 lakh per boat in November 2016.
Josephine Valarmathi from the non-profit National Domestic Workers Movement in Chennai had filed official complaints with the government on behalf of the fishermen’s families. She said she had spoken with the fishermen and was happy to learn that they had been released. “It took a long time. But I’m thankful to the government. It has happened at least now,” she said.
Of the 22 other Indian fishermen waiting to return, five were working in Saudi Arabia and the remaining 17 in Dubai. The five were arrested in August 2016 and the group from Dubai in January this year.
Scroll.in was first to report the plight of the stranded fishermen with a video pleading for early release.
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