France to deport alleged Iranian killer

The French government is going to deport an Iranian man convicted of assassinating former Iranian Prime Minister Shahpour Bakhtiar under a decree signed Monday by the French interior minister.

Iranian man Ali Vakili Rad was convicted of the assassination in 1991 and was sentenced to life imprisonment in December 1994 by a French court.

On Sunday, French media reported that he has been released several months ago, but the French government has yet to make a formal statement on Tuesday.

On Monday, local media quoted an anonymous aide to Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux as saying that the minister has signed a deportation decree earlier in the day, paving the Iranian prisoner's way back home.

The decision was made one day after 24-year-old French woman lecturer Clotilde Reiss was released by Iran authorities under a commuted fine of 285,000 U.S. dollars, instead of previously two terms of five years in prison.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner denied via local radio on Sunday that there was any secret "horse trading" concerning Reiss' release and insisting "France didn't influence the decision of judges."

Source: Xinhua