Iran releases British-American Morad Tahbaz on bail

The 66-year-old environmentalist, who additionally holds Iranian citizenship, was arrested in January 2018, accused of espionage.

Morad Tahbaz's sister had accused the UK authorities of abandoning him earlier this yr [Courtesy: Morad Tahbaz/Facebook]

Tehran, Iran –  An environmentalist holding British and American citizenship has been launched on bail by Iranian authorities, in keeping with his lawyer.

Hojjat Kermani instructed the Emtedad and ILNA information web sites on Wednesday that 66-year-old Morad Tahbaz, who additionally holds Iranian citizenship, was launched with an ankle bracelet, with out offering additional data.

Tahbaz was arrested in January 2018 on safety prices alongside seven different environmentalists, and was sentenced to 10 years in jail in November 2019.

In March, there was hypothesis that he can be launched from jail and flown in another country together with two different British-Iranian twin nationals.

On the time, the British authorities struck a deal with the Iranian authorities for the discharge of 43-year-old Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and 67-year-old Anoosheh Ansari.

Their launch got here shortly after years of negotiations led to the British authorities repaying a debt of 400 million kilos it owed Iran from earlier than the nation’s 1979 revolution.

The British authorities had claimed in March that Tahbaz was additionally included within the deal that secured the opposite two prisoners’ launch, however he was by no means launched.

“It's a very very troublesome state of affairs. Morad Tahbaz is a tri-national. We pushed very onerous to get Morad out of jail,” the UK’s international minister, Liz Truss, had mentioned within the British parliament about his case on the time.

Tahbaz’s sister had accused the British authorities of abandoning him on the time.

“He continues for use as a pawn on a chessboard. And it’s very distressing, we’re agonising, we’re completely distraught, and we don’t know what the subsequent strikes are,” Tarane Tahbaz mentioned in March.

Tahbaz went on a starvation strike in protest towards his continued imprisonment, however later broke it attributable to well being considerations. He's reportedly a most cancers survivor and has contracted COVID-19 twice up to now.

Tahbaz, who was born in London, has denied prices that he was gathering data for international powers underneath the guise of environmental work.

Iran has been accused of utilizing prisoners holding Western passports as bargaining chips, a cost Iran denies.