Six of 18 fishermen held in Iran freed

Karwar: An Iranian court, on Saturday ordered the release of six fishermen of the 18 detained for venturing into Iranian waters here while the case for the remaining 12 fishermen is likely to be taken up today.

Inayath Kadir Shamali, Ajmal Musa Shamali,  Mohammed Ilyas Hussain Ambadi, Iliyas Kasim Mulla, Kashim Ismail Shaikh and Abdullah Suleman Dangi, all from Uttara Kannada district were sent back to the boat, which has been anchored in a dockyard for the last two months, after their release from jail on Saturday.  

The news of their release was confirmed telephonically by Yakub Ismail Shamali who has been under  ‘boat arrest’ since August 25. It is Yakub who mentioned that the case for the other twelve fishermen would come up for hearing today while expressing optimism about them being released. 

Iranian officials had detained the 18 fishermen, hailing from Bhatkal, Honnavar and Kumta taluks in two separate incidents on July 27 and August 25. However, the incident came to light only on October 10 when few fishermen managed to inform a leader from Bhatkal about the detention.

The release of the six fishermen, belonging to the second group of which Yakub was a part, was facilitated with the help of a lawyer hired by Dubai sponsor Ali Suhail Butti Alayali for whom the fishermen were working.