On March 29, immigration police had detained a group of 32 Iranians who had arrived in Malta on a flight from Tunis. All of them were in possession of false Schengen visas – with the exception of Ali Reza Farzkenari. In addition, the other Iranians were seeking Mr Farzekenari’s assistance when they were detained, and he was suspected to be involved in the operation.

The other Iranians all admitted to using false visas when arraigned in court. Mr Farzkenari himself, meanwhile, held a valid Dutch passport. He explained that he obtained refugee status in the Netherlands, and subsequently married an Iranian woman who had Canadian citizenship and resided in the North American country.

He said that he returned to Iran to bring his family members to Europe, making arrangements with a travel agency to reach Malta via Tunis. When they were detained, he said that he assisted the group because he could speak English well, and that he had not known them prior to arriving in Tunis.

His testimony was corroborated by that of the other Iranians, who said that they paid a certain Hamid, who claimed to represent a travel agency, €3,000 to make the arrangements. They denied that Mr Farzkenari had anything to do with their travel arrangements.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera noted that the defendant’s testimony was credible, and that the evidence provided by the prosecution did not indicate that Mr Farzkenari had anything to do with human trafficking.

He was thus acquitted of the charges brought against him.

Inspector Nezren Grixti prosecuted, while lawyer Chris Bonnett appeared for Mr Farzkenari.

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