Iran releases campaigner after over week in jail--family



PARIS — Iran has released a prominent freedom of expression campaigner who was jailed for over a week as parliament prepares to further restrict internet freedom, activists and his family said on Thursday.

Hossein Ronaghi, a journalist and rights activist, vanished on February 23 and was then held in Tehran's Evin prison where he went on hunger strike.

But he was released on bail late on Wednesday, his brother Hassan wrote on social media channels.

Ronaghi was detained a day after tweeting on February 22 a lengthy thread denouncing the so-called "User Protection Bill" which he said had been ordered by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

UN human rights experts on Tuesday issued a statement urging Iran not to adopt the legislation, which they said would "effectively isolate the country from the global Internet".

A dozen rights groups, including freedom of expression group Article 19 and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), issued a joint statement welcoming Ronaghi's release but expressed concern that he still appeared to be charged.

They said Ronaghi had been informed through his lawyer while in detention that he was charged with propaganda against the state and seeking to disturb national security.

"The charges arise from peaceful exercise of his human rights, including his criticism of the dire human rights situation in the country and the looming legislation that will further shrink people's rights," their statement said.

The groups called for his bail to become an "unconditional release, with the charges dropped."

Ronaghi had in October published a lacerating op-ed in the Wall Street Journal accusing Western media of knowingly turning a blind eye to the extent of rights abuses by Tehran.

He said the image of Iran presented to the outside world by Western media was "defined by a pesky nuclear negotiation" while the reality "is much worse".

The rights groups said Ronaghi had also attended the funeral of Baktash Abtin, a poet and filmmaker who died in detention in Tehran in January after falling ill with Covid-19, which turned into an anti-government protest.