Italy releases Iranian businessman wanted by US over drone attack that killed Americans
By Sharon Braithwaite, Christian Edwards and Adam Pourahmadi, CNN
(CNN) — Iranian businessman Mohammad Abedini, who was detained in Italy at the request of the United States following a drone attack that killed three Americans, has been released.
Abedini, 38, was arrested in Milan in December on a warrant issued by the US and charged in connection with a drone strike that killed three US Army soldiers and injured dozens more in Jordan last year.
The US Justice Department had charged Abedini and Mahdi Mohammad Sadeghi, 42, with conspiring to export the drone technology from the US to Iran.
Italy’s Justice Minister Carlo Nordio on Sunday made a request to Milan’s court of appeal to cancel Abedini’s arrest, saying that Italy could not extradite Abedini to the US because “only crimes punishable under the laws of both (countries)” could lead to extradition.
Abedini’s lawyer, Alfredo De Francesco, told CNN that Nordio’s decision “happily surprised us,” and that he had argued from the outset that there were no conditions for extradition.
“Now my client is a free person and will be able to smile and hope again,” De Francesco said.
Mizan, the news agency for Iran’s judiciary, said Abedini’s arrest was the result of a “misunderstanding,” which various Iranian ministries had resolved.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Abedini had returned home since his release earlier Sunday.
Abedini was arrested on December 16, three days before Cecilia Sala, a journalist with the Italian daily Il Foglio, was detained while on a reporting trip to Tehran and accused of “violating the laws of the Islamic republic of Iran.”
Sala was freed and returned home last week, leading to speculation about whether she was used as a bargaining chip for Abedini’s release.
Sala’s release came shortly after Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited US President-elect Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where she was expected to discuss Sala’s case.
In its statement on Sunday, Italy’s Justice Ministry said the charge against Abedini – criminal association to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act – “does not correspond to the cases provided for and punished by the Italian criminal system.”
The US Justice Department accused Abedini of involvement in a drone attack on a small US outpost in Jordan in January 2024, the first time US troops were killed by enemy fire in the Middle East since the beginning of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. Three US Army soldiers were killed and more than 30 service members were injured.
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