Drunk driving Saudi diplomat barred from leaving Iran

An Iranian lawmaker says the Saudi diplomat responsible for the deadly drunk driving accident in Tehran has been barred from leaving the country until the case is closed.

Member of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Safar Naeemi-Raz said on Sunday that the case was reviewed in Majlis last week and submitted to Saudi Arabia for legal action against the diplomat.

He said the Saudi diplomat is being prosecuted both in Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The Iranian lawmaker added that Saudi officials have been trying to pull this diplomat out of Iran over the past few months and have held numerous rounds of talks with Iranian authorities in this regard, but their efforts have been in vain.

Naeemi-Raz stated that the Iranian Foreign Ministry and Judiciary have barred the Saudi diplomat from leaving until his file is closed and a verdict is handed down.

On March 18, an intoxicated Saudi diplomat killed an Iranian driver and injured a passer-by in a car accident in Tehran. The Saudi diplomat rammed his vehicle into the Iranian car before veering off the road, killing the Iranian driver on the spot. Four bottles of alcoholic beverage were found in the Saudi diplomat’s car.

Former Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, said on March 19 that the Foreign Ministry was pursuing the matter via judicial and diplomatic channels and that Tehran had strongly protested the guilty diplomat’s behavior.

Mehmanparast announced the cause of the accident as violating Iranian laws, exceeding the speed limit and driving under the influence.

Press TV