Iran’s Deputy Justice Minister for International Affairs announced the release of eight Iranian sailors by Qatar on Monday.
The sailors, imprisoned for entering Qatari territorial waters, have already returned to Iran, according to Askar Jalalian.
The sailors, primarily from the southern provinces of Bushehr, Hormozgan, and Khuzestan, often enter neighbouring countries’ waters due to lack of information or storms, Jalalian explained.
This is the third group of sailors released and returned to Iran this year, following efforts by the Iranian embassy in Qatar and the Ministry of Justice.
Details on the duration of their imprisonment were not disclosed. In a similar incident last year, Qatar released 17 Iranians detained for unintentionally entering Qatari seas.
Separately, in May 2023, two Iranian prisoners detained in Qatar for drug offences were transferred to prisons in Iran.
