DUBAI, July 27 (Reuters) – Iran has given bail to BritishIranian green activist Morad Tahbaz, who is accused of security transgressions, as stated by his lawyer in the semi-official ILNA news agency on Wednesday.
This information emerged a day subsequent to the statement of the European Union’s chief of foreign affairs about him proposing a refreshed draft to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement. Read full story
“Mr. Tahbaz was freed on bail along with an electronic tracking tool,” lawyer Hojjat Kermani claimed. Tahbaz is also a US citizen.
Tahbaz got arrested back in 2018 and received a ten-year sentence for “gathering and collusion against Iran‘s national security” as well as espionage for the United States.
The Revolutionary Guards ofIran, an elite group, over the last few years, have taken many dual nationals and foreigners into custody, mainly on spying charges. Rights defenders argue that Iran is using these detainees as trading commodities. Iran, which does not validate dual citizenship, refutes holding hostages for gaining diplomatic advantages.
Iran’s IRGC Intelligence agents have displayed British-American-Iranian wildlife preserver Morad Tahbaz, currently incarcerated at Evin Prison, clandestine footage of his daughter Tara at a cafe in New York, threatening her life if he does not cooperate. @IranIntl has uncovered pic.twitter.com/bHjYYmFvYq
— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) June 21, 2022
In March, Tahbaz was momentarily let out on leave when two dual nationals, including British-Iranian humanitarian worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, got permission to depart from Iran.
After Tahbaz was re-incarcerated in March, a representative for Britain’s foreign affairs department mentioned they received information from Iran indicating Tahbaz was taken back to Evin prison to fit an ankle monitor and would be given leave in the forthcoming hours.
(Reported by Dubai press room; edited by John Stonestreet and Bernadette Baum)