Expulsion order awaits French court ruling on whether to free killer of former Iranian PM

French court may free killer of former Iranian PM

PARIS — The lawyer of a man convicted of the 1991 assassination of former exiled Iranian Prime Minister Shahpour Bakhtiar says Ali Vakili Rad will be freed from prison and sent home to Tehran.

The decision had been considered likely since the French Interior Ministry issued an expulsion order Monday. The Paris prosecutor’s office said Tuesday it was able to order Vakili Rad’s release because he had requested that he be sent back to Iran if he were freed.

Vakili Rad would be the second Iranian freed by French courts in less than two weeks, leading to speculation of a deal between Paris and Tehran to obtain freedom for a young French academic convicted by Iran of spying, who returned home Sunday.