Page 2 - ARUBA TODAY

A2 UP FRONT
Tuesday 4 april 2017

Russian subway blast kills 11; 2nd bomb defused

IRINA TITOVA Islamists. station, and others bleed- American held in Iran released
JIM HEINTZ The National Anti-Terrorism ing and weeping just after on bail amid 18-year sentence
Associated Press Committee said it was look- the damaged train pulled
ST. PETERSBURG, Rus- ing for the “perpetrators in. JON GAMBRELL
sia (AP) — A bomb blast and organizers of the terror “Everything was covered in Associated Press
tore through a subway attack.” smoke. There were a lot of DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An Iranian-
train deep under Russia’s St. Petersburg, a major tour- firefighters,” Maria Smirno- American serving an 18-year prison sentence in Iran
second-largest city Mon- ist destination famed for its va, a student on a train be- for “collaboration with a hostile government” has
been released on bail after staging a weeks-long
hunger strike protesting his imprisonment alongside
other dual nationals targeted by hard-liners, activists
said Monday.
Robin Shahini of San Diego was freed from prison in
recent days on bail of 2 billion rials, which is about
$62,000, said Hadi Ghaemi, the executive director of
the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran.
It’s unclear whether Shahini can leave the country.
“Shahini’s release on bail is good news as his pros-
ecution did not produce any credible evidence jus-
tifying charges against him,” Ghaemi told The Asso-
ciated Press. “He is an innocent man who appeared
to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and his
detention and prosecution was motivated by his
dual nationality more than anything else.”
Iranian officials and state media did not comment
on Shahini receiving bail. The Iranian mission to the
United Nations and the U.S. State Department did
not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Shahini, who traveled to Iran to see his mother who
was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, was de-
tained on July 11. He left Iran in 1998 and has lived
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, lays flowers at a place near the Tekhnologichesky Institut in San Diego for 16 years. He graduated in May 2016
subway station in St.Petersburg, Russia, Monday, April 3, 2017. A bomb blast tore through a sub- from San Diego State University with a degree in
way train deep under Russia’s second-largest city Monday, killing several people and wounding International Security and Conflict Resolution and
many more in a chaotic scene that left victims sprawled on a smoky platform. had been accepted to SDSU’s graduate program in
(AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky) Homeland Security.
At his trial, prosecutors apparently used social media
day, killing 11 people and imperial palaces and lav- hind the stricken one, told pictures of Shahini standing near prominent Iranian
wounding more than 40 ish art museums, had been independent TV station Do- exiles to secure his conviction. Hard-liners have been
in a chaotic scene that spared previous attacks. zhd. using such cases to challenge the administration of
left victims sprawled on a “From now on, I will be Within two hours of the moderate President Hassan Rouhani ahead of the
smoky platform. Hours lat- scared to take the sub- blast, authorities had found country’s coming May presidential election. Rou-
er, anguish and fear rose way,” said Marina Ilyina, and deactivated another hani is expected to run in the vote next month.
again when police found 30, who brought flowers to bomb at another busy sta- Iran does not recognize dual nationalities, meaning
and defused a shrapnel- the station where the train tion, Vosstaniya Square, that those it detains cannot receive consular as-
packed explosive device stopped after the bomb- the anti-terror agency said. sistance. In most cases, dual nationals have faced
at another St. Petersburg ing. “We in St. Petersburg That station is a major trans- secret charges in closed-door hearings before Iran’s
station. thought we wouldn’t be fer point for passengers on Revolutionary Court, which handles cases involving
There was no immediate touched by that.” two lines and serves the alleged attempts to overthrow the government.
claim of responsibility for The explosion occurred in railway station to Moscow. Analysts and family members of those detained
the attack, which came midafternoon as the train Russian law enforcement have suggested that hard-liners in the Islamic Re-
while President Vladimir Pu- traveled between stations agencies confirmed the public’s security agencies want to negotiate an-
tin was visiting the city, his on one of the city’s north- device was loaded with other deal with the West to free the detainees. A
hometown. In the past two south lines. shrapnel, and the Interfax prisoner exchange in January 2016 that freed Wash-
decades, Russian trains The driver chose to con- news agency said it con- ington Post journalist Jason Rezaian and three other
and planes have been fre- tinue on to the next stop, tained up to 1 kilogram (2.2 Iranian-Americans also saw the U.S. make a $400 mil-
quent targets of terrorism, Technological Institute, a pounds) of explosives. lion cash delivery to Iran the same day.
usually blamed on Islamic decision praised by the In- Interfax cited an unidenti- Among the dual national held are Iranian-American
militants. vestigative Committee as fied law enforcement of- businessman Siamak Namazi and his octogenar-
News reports initially said aiding evacuation efforts ficial saying that investiga- ian father, Baquer Namazi, who are serving 10-year
police were searching for and reducing the danger tors think the suspected sui- prison sentences for “cooperating with the hostile
two suspects, and Russian to passengers who would cide bomber left the bomb American government.” Another is Nazanin Zaghari-
state television showed a have had to walk along at the Vosstaniya Square Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian woman sentenced to five
photo of one suspect wear- the electrified tracks. station before blowing him- years in prison on allegations of planning the “soft
ing what appeared to be The National Anti-Terrorism self up on the train. toppling” of Iran’s government while traveling with
a skullcap characteristic Committee said the death The agency said authori- her young daughter.
of Russia’s Muslim regions. toll was 11, with another 45 ties believe the suspect, Yet to be tried is Iranian-American Karan Vafadari,
However, the Interfax news people being treated for a 23-year old who came an art gallery manager held along with his Iranian
agency later cited unspec- wounds in hospitals. from ex-Soviet Central Asia wife. Iranian-Canadian national Abdolrasoul Dorri
ified sources as saying po- Amateur video broadcast and was linked to radical Esfahani, a member of the country’s team that ne-
lice now suspect the blast by Russian TV showed peo- Islamist groups, carried the gotiated the nuclear deal, is believed to have been
was the work of a suicide ple lying on the platform of explosive device onto the indicted.q
bomber linked to radical the Technological Institute train in a rucksack.q