Iranian woman critical after escape bid ends in balcony fall

A YOUNG Iranian woman is critically ill in hospital after falling from a second floor balcony, apparently while trying to escape from immigration police.

Elaheh Habibzal Aliakbar, 22, sustained serious head injuries in the fall from the Limassol apartment building, when she tried to climb out on realising that police were knocking on her door.

Her husband, Hassan Abdollah Araanfar, 32, had already been arrested on suspicion of burglary. He was remanded by the Limassol court yesterday for three days.

According to police sources, Aliakbar spotted her husband in the police car downstairs and attempted to escape, but fell some seven metres to the ground.

She was rushed to Limassol hospital by ambulance and put in intensive care.

Police also arrested five other foreign nationals in the apartment, all of whom were believed to be in Cyprus illegally.

They also found £3,000 worth of new electrical goods said to have been stolen from a local shop.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.