Iran prisoner release marks further break with Ahmadinejad era
It’s the clearest indication yet that Iran’s new President, Hassan Rouhani, is making a clear break with his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
This afternoon, eleven political prisoners – three men and eight women – were released in Tehran.
Lawyer Nasrin #Sotoudeh with her family after being released earlier today. #hope #iran #progress pic.twitter.com/I8rk49JAEP
— Meet Iran (@MeetIran) September 18, 2013
Most of them were already on bail, but the most well-known, the human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, was in solitary confinement in the notorious Evin prison.
“It’s fantastic. It’s just great,” her husband Reza Khandan told Channel 4 News. “She’s been inside for three years.”
Ms Sotoudeh was brought home by car, after being told her release was permanent – she would not be returned to jail. No reason was given.
After the disputed elections in 2009, hundreds of Iranians, some prominent politicians others ordinary voters, were imprisoned.
Nasrin Sotoudeh represented them until she too was jailed.
She was charged with spreading propaganda and conspiring to harm state security. In January 2011 she was sentenced to 11 years in prison, but her sentence was later reduced to six years with a ten year ban on practising law.
A campaign for her release garnered support across the world.
President Rouhani, who will go to New York for the UN General Assembly next week, clearly wants to show the world that Iran is changing.
He has exchanged letters with President Obama and indicated that he’s open to negotiations on the country’s nuclear programme.
The NBC network has done the first foreign television interview with the new President – who has already given us a flavour through twitter. But unlike his foreign minister, Javad Zarif, Mr Rouhani doesn’t write his tweets himself:
“#Rouhani backs social media in @AnnCurry interview but (unlike @JZarif) doesn’t personally sit & pen tweets” @HassanRouhani tweeted this afternoon.
He retweeted the names of political prisoners who had been released, and indicated that he wants Iran’s notorious religious police to stop harassing women.
“Once again President #Rouhani urges Police to respect human #dignity & avoid radical conduct in pursuing matters related to Islamic covering,” he tweeted.
It’s hard to think of a greater contrast with the austere, relentlessly unmodern President Ahmadinejad.
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