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Kenya drops terror-related charges against 2 Iranians

Xinhua, December 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

A Kenyan court on Wednesday dropped terror-related charges against two Iranians and a Kenyan, and ordered the Iranians deported.

The suspects had been charged with collecting information for a terrorist act after filming the heavily-guarded Israeli embassy in Nairobi, capital of Kenya.

The charges were dropped after a request from the country's Director of Public Prosecution.

Prosecutor Duncan Ondimu said the decision to drop the charges against the trio was reached during deliberations with the Iranian embassy.

The accused had spent two weeks in custody to allow investigations by the anti-terrorism police unit.

Among the accused is a Kenyan driver, who was accused of aiding a terrorist act.

The three men were in a car belonging to the Iranian embassy when they were arrested on Nov. 29. Diplomatic status of the two Iranians was unclear.

Tehran earlier said the two Iranians were lawyers of two other Iranians who were arrested in June 2012 in Kenya on charges of possessing explosive and who were suspected of having links with a network planning bombings in Nairobi.

Kenya has tightened security following leads that Somalia-based Islamist group Al-Shabaab and the Islamic State (IS) militant group are planning attacks in the country. Al-Shabaab has staged a series of deadly attacks in Kenya in recent years. Endit