Prominent Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh was released today from Evin Prison, where she has been held since September 2010. She was one of several men and women freed today after being jailed for their political beliefs.
Nasrin Sotoudeh told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that once she was brought outside the prison, she was told that she was free to go and she did not have to sign a pledge to return, which is customary for prisoners going on temporary leave.
Sotoudeh was arrested in the wave of arrests that targeted political activists, journalists and human rights activists in the aftermath of the controversial 2009 election. Sotoudeh was sentenced to six years in prison and a 20-year ban from the practice of law.
Reports from Iran indicate that prominent jailed journalists Issa Saharkhiz and Ahmad Zeidabadi have also been released.
Feizollah Arabsorkhi, Mohsen Aminzadeh and MirTaher Mousavi are reportedly also among the political prisoners who have been released.
Reports also point to the release of several female political prisoners such as Mahsa Amrabadi.
Christian converts Maryam Jalili and Mitra Rahmati were among the female prisoners released, according to reports from Iran.
The release of political prisoners has been one of the public’s chief demands of the new administration of President Hassan Rohani.
