Jailed journalist Serajeddin Mirdamadi and jailed children’s rights activist Saeed Hosseinzadeh were released from Evin Prison on Monday March 14.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reports that Mirdamadi has been granted a conditional release, while Hosseinzadeh has been released for medical reasons.
MIrdamadi was released based on Article 58 of the Islamic Penal Code, which allows prisoners to be released after serving half or even a third of their sentence on the basis of “good behaviour” on the condition that they commit no other crimes after release.
Mirdamadi returned to Iran after the election of Hassan Rohani as president in 2013. His passport was confiscated at the airport and after several interrogation sessions he was arrested last May and charged with “activities against the regime” and “assembly and collusion for committing a crime against national security”. He was sentenced to five years in jail, which was later reduced to two years.
Hosseinzadeh is suffering from several ailments including rheumatism, asthma, cardiac problems and stomach ulcers. He was arrested in 2013 by the Revolutionary Guards and sentenced to four years in jail for “insulting the leader and propaganda against the regime”.
Earlier he issued a statement announcing that he is going on a hunger strike to protest his dire state in prison.
