TEHRAN – A diplomat with the Lebanese embassy in Tehran has confirmed the release of Lebanese-American national Nizar Zakka from a prison in Iran and his extradition to Beirut.

On Tuesday, ISNA quoted “an official in the Lebanese embassy” as providing the information, saying that he had left Tehran for Beirut “minutes ago”, accompanied by Abbas Ebrahim, the head of the General Directorate of General Security of Lebanon.

The dual-national Zakka had traveled to Iran four times to attend official meetings before he was arrested in 2015 on charges of “cooperating with foreign governments against Iran’s national interests”, according to ISNA.

He had been sentenced to 10 years in prison and payment of $4 million.

Last week sources quoted Michel Aoun, the Lebanese president, as saying that he had negotiated Zakka’s release with Tehran.

On Tuesday, Keyvan Khosravi, the spokesman for Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said that Zakka had been released following a request by Aoun as well as mediation by Hezbollah Secretary-General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah.

SP/PA