Iranian filmmaker and journalist Mohammad Nourizad was released today after nearly two years in prison.
Last week, Nourizad’s wife Fatemeh Maleki reported that her husband had been on a hunger strike for more than 40 days, refusing all calls and visitors. He had told the prosecutor’s office that he would continue with his strike until his demands were met.
Nourizad was arrested following the 2009 presidential election in Iran and sentenced to three and half years in prison and 50 lashes for “insulting public officials and propaganda against the regime.”
Nourizad’s release was announced on his personal website but with no indication whether the release is conditional.
The charges against Nourizad were in response to a series of critical letters that journalists wrote to the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
The Kaleme opposition website described Nourizad as a “staunch opponent of the reform movement” prior to the 2009 presidential elections who nevertheless joined the legion of government critics following the disputed re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Nourizad was a columnist for the state-backed daily Keyhan before his arrest.
