Iranian daily: Kuwaiti police tortured Iranian workers

The Iranian daily Iran reported on Wednesday that 26 Iranian workers were exposed to torture by Kuwaiti policemen before they were deported to Iran.

The paper said that the "Iranians were deported to Iran in a very miserable condition."

The paper quoted a policeman as saying that one of the expelled workers, identified as Asfindiar Abdullah Zada, "had traces of torture on his hands and legs and he was stripped of his property." The paper added that Zada was detained for 13 months despite the fact that he had been legally employed in Kuwait for six years.

The paper also quoted Iranian Judge Nasser Seraj as saying that from time to time groups of Iranian workers return to their country after being exposed to "physical and psychological torture by the Kuwaiti authorities."

He added that his department had informed the Iranian Ministry of Labor, the judicial authority and the National Security Council about the "behavior of the Kuwaiti officials." Kuwait regularly announces the arrest of illegal workers who come from Iran.