Iranian admits role in Abbas Yazadan kidnapping

Dubai: One of six Iranian suspects accused of being involved in the abduction of British-Iranian businessman Abbas Yazadan pleaded guilty in court on Wednesday.

“I drove the car used to transport the victim [Yazadan]… we kidnapped him over financial demands,” 32-year-old suspect, R.A., told the Dubai Court of First Instance.

Prosecutors charged R.A. and three of his countrymen, H.B., B.N. and I.N., with assaulting Yazadan, drugging him and kidnapping him in what was an act of revenge.

Two other men, 52-year-old, K.G. and 55-year-old, N.A., were accused of aiding and abetting the four main accused.

According to prosecution records, H.B., B.N. and I.N. remain at large and have been declared runaways.

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

K.G. and N.A. were not presented in court on Wednesday.

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 backseat 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.

During Wednesday’s hearing, R.A. denied his accusation at first and contended: “I am just a driver… I was present but I did not that they were kidnapping the victim.”

“If you were driving the car then how come you were not aware that they intended to kidnap Yazadan? Didn’t you see the assault or the drugging or the kidnapping? Why did they kidnap him?” presiding judge Maher Salama Al Mahdi asked the present defendant. “I participated with them but I had nothing to do with the beating or drugging. I only drove the car. The victim owed one of the suspects money… and they went there to recover that money,” replied R.A. in courtroom three.

“Did you transport the victim with them to the port from where he was boarded on a ship and smuggled out of the country?” the judge asked R.A.

R.A. said: “No I did not go with them to the port.”

During Wednesday’s hearing, presiding judge Al Mahdi issued an arrest warrant against H.B., B.N. and I.N. and adjourned the case until K.G. and N.A. are presented in court on June 15.

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.

The trial continues.