Two Iranians deny Abbas Yazadan kidnapping

Dubai: Two of six Iranian suspects claimed in court on Sunday that they were outside the UAE when the alleged abduction of British-Iranian businessman Abbas Yazadan took place in June 2013.

The two men, 52-year-old K.G. and 55-year-old N.A., have been accused of aiding and abetting the four main suspects in assaulting Yazadan, drugging him and kidnapping him in what prosecutors described as an act of revenge.

The four main defendants are H.B., B.N. and I.N., who all remain at large, and 32-year-old R.A. “No, I did not kidnap or steal or have any connection to this incident. I was in Iran when this took place,” argued N.A. when he entered an innocent plea before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Sunday.

Meanwhile K.G. contended before presiding judge Maher Salama Al Mahdi: “I don’t know anything about this incident. All that I did was help a person called Fatimi rent the villa but I am not connected to this case at all. I didn’t participate in the kidnapping and have nothing to do with it.”

In the previous hearing, R.A. admitted that he drove the car used to transport the victim [Yazadan] whom he claimed was kidnapped him over financial demands.

Jail wardens produced K.G. and N.A. in courtroom three on Sunday after they missed the previous hearing.

Presiding judge Al Mahdi ordered Dubai prosecutors to implement the arrest warrants that he issued earlier against the runaways H.B., B.N. and I.N.

Chief Prosecutor Khalid Al Zarouni, Head of Al Rifaa Prosecution, has asked for life sentences for all the suspects.

According to the charge sheet, R.A., H.B., B.N. and I.N. kidnapped Yazadan on June 25, 2013. Yazadan was in their custody for more than a month. They rented a villa in Al Baraha, rented cars and purchased various tools that they used in the kidnapping. They monitored Yazadan for nearly five months before they [R.A., H.B., B.N. and I.N.] attacked him outside his office.

Prosecutors said the four men immobilised the businessman and drugged him. They then put him in the back seat of his vehicle that R.A. drove. The suspects wrapped him in a plastic sheet and took him to a ship that was sailing to Iran. Records said the abductors had arranged in advance with the ship’s captain to smuggle Yazadan out of the UAE.

The men were also charged with stealing the businessman’s bank and health cards in addition to his driving licence and other personal belongings. They were also accused of assaulting and endangering his life by drugging him.

Presiding judge Al Mahdi said the court will appoint two lawyers to defend K.G. and N.A. when it reconvenes on June 25.

A lawyer has already been appointed.

The businessman’s British wife told prosecutors that her husband was kidnapped on June 25, 2013, shortly after he called her around 5pm to inform her that he was returning home.

According to his wife, Yazadan was scheduled to testify in an overseas court trial on June 26, 2013.

A police captain testified to prosecutors that primary interrogations revealed that a main Iranian suspect, identified as S.H., had preplanned the kidnapping.

Records said S.H. died in custody.