A Tehran public court has sentenced two members of a gang found guilty of forging Saudi visas to serve five-and-a-half years in prison, and sentenced 16 other co-defendants to jail terms ranging from six months to one year, the government-run daily Iran reported Tuesday.
The official Iranian news agency, IRNA, cited the paper as saying that the defendants had also been sentenced to pay a cash fine of from three million rials ($375) to 2,800 million rials ($350,000).
In March, Iran's Intelligence Ministry announced that it had broken up a Tehran-based ring engaged in forging visas for Muslims wanting to make the pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia allows a certain number of people from each Muslim country to visit its holy sites under a quota system – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
