Political activist Majid Tavakoli, also a student leader in the 2009 protests in Iran, has been released on bail after being incarcerated for nearly three months in Tehran’s Evin Prison after being arrested during riots over the death of young Mahsa Amini.
«We are happy about this news, but our happiness will be complete when all our loved ones who are in prison are released,» his brother Mohsen Tavakoli, who posted a photo of the Iranian activist with a bouquet of flowers on his Twitter account, assured early this morning.
Tavakoli is a prominent student leader who was already arrested in 2009 after attending a university rally as part of the anti-government protests that followed the disputed presidential elections in June of the same year.
The activist was sentenced in 2010 to eight and a half years in prison on several charges, including spreading propaganda against the Iranian state. He was considered a «prisoner of conscience» for being imprisoned for his political views, according to Amnesty International.
Although he was released in 2015, the authorities imposed against him a five-year disqualification from political activity and banned him from leaving the country. Tavakoli was arrested on September 23 during the protests over Amini’s death along with two journalists, since when he has been held in solitary confinement.
The death of the young Amini, arrested for improperly wearing the veil and died in police custody, has led to a series of protests nationwide and harshly repressed by the authorities. These episodes have led to sanctions by Western nations.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
