Lankan businessman arrested for assaulting Iranian Ambassador outside Colombo mall

Colombo, May 20 A Sri Lankan court on Monday charged a local businessman with attempt to murder after he assaulted Iran's Ambassador to the country, Alireza Delkhosh, over a parking issue last week.

The police produced the 33-year-old suspect, arrested for allegedly attempting to run over the Iranian Ambassador inside the car park of a shopping mall following an altercation over parking, in court on Monday.

Police investigators informed the court that the suspect had an argument with the foreign diplomat in a car park and later grabbed the Ambassador's neck and also assaulted him.

Following the incident, the suspect - a businessman residing in Colombo - tried to flee in his vehicle, but the Ambassador stopped him by placing his hand on the car's bonnet.

However, the suspect kept on driving, throwing the Ambassador on the car's bonnet and carrying him on it for nearly 15 metres until several onlookers and the mall's security staff intervened.

The suspect was later produced before a local court under the suspicion of assault and attempt to murder.

Iran and Sri Lanka share close diplomatic ties for over six decades. Teheran started its mission in Colombo in 1975.

Last month, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a tragic helicopter crash on Sunday, visited the island nation and signed five agreements covering various fields.

The late President also inaugurated a $514 million hydropower project and pledged to help Sri Lanka which is going through its worst-ever economic crisis.

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