TEHRAN — In a sign that Iran’s government is loosening its grip on domestic security, several political prisoners, including a prominent human rights lawyer, were released Wednesday. TEHRAN — In a sign that Iran’s government is loosening its grip on
TEHRAN — In a sign that Iran’s government is loosening its grip on domestic security, several political prisoners, including a prominent human rights lawyer, were released Wednesday.
Nasrin Sotoudeh, a lawyer who had been accused of insulting the government, was among those freed. Her husband, Reza Khandan, notified news agencies of Sotoudeh’s release and posted the news on his Facebook page.
Sotoudeh had been convicted of acting against national security and spreading propaganda against the government. She was serving a six-year sentence that began in 2010.
She has defended several well-known political activists in Iranian courts and is a member of the Defenders of Human Rights Center, which was co-founded by the Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi.
In all, 11 prisoners were freed Wednesday, including journalists and reformist politicians.
Among them was Mohsen Aminzadeh, a founding member of the main reformist political party who had been convicted on charges similar to those against Sotoudeh in the aftermath of Iran’s disputed 2009 presidential election.
With the new Iranian president, moderate cleric Hassan Rouhani, set to travel to New York to attend the annual U.N. General Assembly session, the prison releases appear to be part of broader plans by Iranian authorities to ease security restrictions in the country, one of Rouhani’s campaign promises.
Still unclear, however, is whether Wednesday’s releases will have any bearing on the fates of the two main leaders of the 2009 opposition movement, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who have been under house arrest since 2011. Mousavi and Karroubi were presidential candidates and had contested the validity of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s reelection.
During his presidential campaign, Rouhani told the London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat in June that “I will do my best to secure the release of those who have been incarcerated following the regrettable events of 2009,” although he noted that his powers were circumscribed. He also said he would try to “improve the present situation of Mr. Mousavi and Mr. Karroubi.”
In western Tehran on Wednesday night, the newly freed Sotoudeh was visited by a stream of friends and relatives.
“This is heroic leniency,” Sotoudeh said, borrowing a term used in a speech Tuesday by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The term is being interpreted as signaling a softened position by authorities on issues of national security and foreign policy.
In an interview, Sotoudeh pointed to the continuing incarceration of other political inmates.
“I expect all prisoners to be freed,” she said. “Actually, I was expecting this process to be started earlier. I am happy, but I’m worried for my friends who are still in prison without having committed any crimes.”
Khandan, Sotoudeh’s husband, agreed. “Those of us related to political prisoners have become a big family, and honestly I cannot be totally happy until they are all released,” he said.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said the United States welcomed Wednesday’s news. “We hope that one day all prisoners of conscience in Iran will be released,” she added.
Analysts see the releases as a savvy move ahead of next week’s General Assembly session, indicating that Rouhani intends to make good on campaign pledges, even on sensitive and highly charged issues. The move also suggests that Rouhani takes Iran’s international critics seriously, analysts said.
“The expectations from constituents that Rouhani would get prisoners released has understandably been huge, and he has tried to manage those expectations,” said Rouzbeh Parsi, a senior lecturer in human rights studies at Lund University in Sweden who visits Iran regularly.
But for Sotoudeh, who spent three years behind bars, there is still work to be done.
“If this new approach that began last night continues, then I can say, yes, Rouhani is sending a message to the world and he is engaging, first with his own people and then with the rest of the world, and we will welcome this gesture,” she said.
