19 Indian fishermen to fly home on Sept 17

Iran has ordered the release of 19 Indian fishermen who had been detained for the past nine months, it is learnt. The fishermen – 16 from Kanyakumari and Ramnad in Tamil Nadu (TN) and three from Kerala - were accused of straying into Iranian waters.According to the South Asian Fishermen Fraternity (SAFF), the 19 fishermen have been issued emergency documents by the Indian embassy in Tehran and, accordingly, necessary arrangements have been made so that they can return to India on September 17. The fishermen are scheduled to leave Tehran at 7am (local time) that day on an Iran Air flight and reach Mumbai at 11:50am (local time). SAFF has requested the state governments of both Tamil Nadu and Kerala to receive the fishermen in Mumbai and arrange for their return to their respective places of residence.The 19 fishermen are Sayibu, Kaliappan, Kali Kannadhasan, Chrispinraj, Umaselvam, Mayakrishnan, Mayapandi, Muthu Dharmaya, Vimal Raj, Antony Suresh, Arockia Kebin Raj, Sahaya Michael Antony, Angelo (Sunil), Jeyaseelan, Raja Karupaya and Arockiya Yesu from TN and Mohamed Kasim, Koya and Abdulla Koya Valappil from Kerala, according to a statement issued by SAFF.SAFF general secretary Fr Churchil, Tamil Nadu Fisherwomen Federation president Leema Rose and the families of the fishermen expressed gratitude to the chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, Kanyakumari Member of Parliament (LS) Helen Davidson, the Indian ambassadors in Iran and Saudi Arabia and the overseas affairs minister for the initiatives they took to ensure the release of the fishermen. The families also thanked Doha-based Dr Nizar Kochery, legal adviser to SAFF, for travelling to Iran to secure the release and repatriation of the fishermen.The fishermen had been involved in fishing activities in Saudi Arabia for years. They were detained by the Iranian coast guard for allegedly straying into Iran’s waters while fishing. In July, Fr Churchil, Rose and the families of the 16 Tamil Nadu fishermen requested the TN chief minister’s office to seek the release of the fishermen. The chief minister then raised the matter with the Indian prime minister, urging that the latter request the Iranian authorities to release the fishermen. The TN government also granted a relief of Rs 100,000 each to the families of the 16 fishermen from that state. On September 9, in a meeting arranged by Davidson, Kochery discussed the matter with Indian Ambassador to Iran A N Srivastava. Following deliberations with officials in Tehran, he informed SAFF that the Iranian government had expressed its willingness to release the fishermen without any penalty. Their one-year imprisonment was also cancelled by the government.