Iran frees HMS Cornwall sailors after 13-day crisis

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran released 15 British sailors on Wednesday as a "gift" to the people of Britain in a dramatic end to a two-week ordeal that had triggered a new diplomatic crisis between Tehran and the West.

"Although Iran has the right to prosecute them by following the model of the prophet the 15 people were pardoned and their freedom given as a gift to the British people," Ahmadinejad said at a Tehran press conference.

The announcement was welcomed by Britain and governments across the world as well as joyous relatives of the captives, some of whom had been paraded on state television "confessing" to trespassing in Iranian waters.

An Ahmadinejad aide said the 14 men and one woman were currently at the foreign ministry and would be handed over to the British embassy on Thursday and then fly out of Tehran.

Read the rest at Yahoo News

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