Iran HR council concerned over Iranian death in Philippines

Iranian Judiciary's High Council for Human Rights has expressed “deep concern” over the “suspicious” death of an Iranian national in a jail in the Philippines.

In a statement on Tuesday, the council called on the Philippines to shoulder responsibility for the sudden death of Parviz Khaki and remain committed to its international obligations.

Khaki was arrested in March 2012 in Manila airport at the request of the US government. He remained in Manila prison for 27 months until he died on August 18, 2014 because of heart attack, according to the Filipino government.

Washington was reportedly seeking Khaki’s extradition to the US to stand trial there and even threatened his lawyers to stop handling his case.

The Iranian rights council said in the statement that it had been concerned about the US interference in Khaki’s case.

“Allegations raised by US officials against the Iranian national are seriously doubted and therefore are not justified,” the statement added, noting that the US administration’s apparent interference has distorted the unbiased investigation of the case.

Iran Foreign Ministry summoned the Philippine ambassador to Tehran Eduardo Martin Menez last month to express Tehran’s anger over Khaki’s death, saying that the US and Philippines should be held accountable for the incident.