DUBAI: An Iranian suspected of helping kidnap a British-Iranian businessman in Dubai has been arrested in Thailand and deported to the United Arab Emirates, an official source familiar with the matter said yesterday.
Ali Rehmat Assadi will stand trial in the UAE on charges of abducting Abbas Yazdi, who went missing in June, the source added. Yazdi’s wife, Atena, has told UAE media she feared he might have been kidnapped by Iranian intelligence officers.
Iran has denied any role in Yazdi’s disappearance.
UAE authorities said in January that they had detained three Iranians suspected of being part of a group that had kidnapped Yazdi, a businessman who owns a general trading company in the emirate.
The official source said yesterday that Assadi, the subject of an Interpol “red notice” or international wanted persons alert requested by Dubai, was the fourth principal member of the group. There was no immediate word on why Assadi had been in Thailand.
The Iranian and British governments had been informed of Assadi’s arrest in line with diplomatic and consular regulations, the source said.
Britain’s Foreign Office said in August that it was in touch with the Dubai and Iranian governments over the case of Yazdi, who was 44 years old at the time of his disappearance. Reuters
