43 Iranian prisoners to fly home
Forty-three Iranian inmates have been approved for transfer to serve their remaining time behind bars in their home country, said Corrections Department chief Narat Sawettanan on Wednesday.
The prisoner transfer committee permitted the transfer of the drug offenders, of whom 23 would fly to Iran today (Wednesday), with the other 20 following tomorrow.
Iran's embassy adviser Mohammad Taghi Soltan Mohammadi took responsibility for the handover, he said.
The exchange was conducted under the Procedure for International Cooperation in the Enforcement of Penal Sentences Act 1984 and the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced People, signed by 37 countries, including France, Spain, Canada, the UK, the US, Germany, Nigeria, Cambodia and Japan.
Narat said that the department had transferred 1,118 prisoners to their home countries since 1990 while 17 Thais had been transferred back.
A foreign prisoner must obtain approval from the prisoner transfer committee and must have their case finalised in court as well as having served more than one-third of the sentence and still have at least a year left in the home country.
The prisoner transfer enabled inmates to be near their families to help improve behaviour and reduce the chances of reoffending, Narat added.