Positive news for opponents of the regime. Iranian authorities have released one of the country’s most prominent dissidents from prison, three months after his arrest in connection with protests that have rocked Iran for several weeks, the dissident’s brother announced on Monday. Majid Tavakoli was released on bail from Evin prison in Tehran after spending 89 days behind bars, his brother Mohsen wrote on the social network Twitter on Monday evening.
“Our happiness will be complete when all are set free”
“We are happy with this news, but our happiness will be complete when all loved ones who are in prison are released,” Mohsen Tavakoli said, posting a photo of his brother outside prison clutching a bouquet of flowers.
Dissident Majid Tavakoli was taken into custody shortly after the start of anti-regime protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish boy who died after his arrest in Tehran by vice police who accused him of having broken the dress code strict law requiring women to wear the veil in public.
In response to the wave of protests that followed, Iranian authorities arrested various high-profile figures – lawyers, actors, cultural figures, journalists and activists – as part of a crackdown that, according to the UN, led to the arrest of at least 14,000 people.
A figure of the dissidents
Majid Tavakoli is one of these figures and today enjoys great respect within the activist sphere. The dissident has spent much of the past 15 years bouncing back and forth in prison and gained notoriety as a student leader in 2009, during massive protests following the country’s disputed presidential elections. .
In 2013, he won the student peace prize, awarded every two years in Norway. His release comes after the Iranian authorities already released at the end of November another figure of dissent, the defender of freedom of expression Hossein Ronaghi, arrested on September 24 and who had started a two-month hunger strike.
Journalists, activists and actress still in prison
However, several other influential activists currently remain in prison, starting with lawyer and human rights defender Mostafa Nili, arrested in November. The two Iranian journalists Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi, who helped publicize the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, have been detained since September.
And the imprisonments continue, with the arrest on Saturday of the famous Iranian actress and ardent activist for women’s rights Taraneh Alidoosti, after she supported the protest movement, now entering its fourth month.