Azernews.Az

Two Azerbaijani poets who were detained in neighboring Iran in early May were released on Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Elman Abdullayev said.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast confirmed that the Azerbaijani citizens were transferred on Tuesday afternoon at the Consulate General of Azerbaijan in Tabriz, Iran's Mehr news agency reported. It is expected that the released poets will return to Baku on Wednesday.

The poets, Farid Huseyn and Shahriyar Hajizada, were arrested after arriving in Iran in late April to participate at a poetry festival. Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry sent five diplomatic notes to the Iranian government over the case. The Iranian Foreign Ministry later confirmed the arrest of the two Azerbaijani citizens, saying they were accused of "attempting to commit a crime", without elaborating. Afterwards, an Iranian state TV channel reported that officials had interrogated the two Azerbaijani nationals on espionage charges, claiming that the detained poets were on a mission to recruit dissidents in Iran to promote separatism. Iranian news websites claimed that the Azerbaijani poets were accused of drug trafficking and spying for Israel. Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry dismissed the spying charges as unfounded.