A 34-year-old Iranian was yesterday cleared of charges that he financed an organisation to commit a crime, conspiring to commit a crime and helping in the trafficking of illegal immigrants to Malta.

On 29 March, the police were informed that 32 people were stopped on arrival from Tunis. All travellers, except for the accused, Ali Reza Farzkenari, who holds a Dutch passport, pleaded guilty to charges brought against them by the police.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera said that the accused was not known to the police prior to boarding the bus in Tunis to go to the airport to come to Malta.

All 32 had arrived from Iran, but had arrived in Tunis on different aircraft on different days and they were all treated and looked after by a man named Hamid.

They all said that they had given money to Hamid in Iran on behalf of a travel agency. All denied that Mr Farzkenari had made the arrangements for them to come to Malta.

The accused said that he had obtained refugee status in The Netherlands and subsequently married an Iranian woman in Canada who had Canadian citizenship. He also had a residence in Canada.

While in Tunis, he met Hamid who asked him to take care of the group of Iranians, but he had no idea that the Iranians were carrying false documentation.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera said that the examination of the facts, it transpired that the accused was not part of the illegal organisation and the court found the statement released by the accused credible.