British Council worker freed from Iranian prison, back in UK
An Iranian employee of the British Council jailed for more than three years in Iran and sentenced to 10 years in prison over widely criticised espionage charges has returned to the United Kingdom after being freed, the organisation said.
Aras Amiri won her appeal to Iran’s Supreme Court, the British Council announced on Wednesday. She was arrested in March 2018 during a private trip to visit family in Tehran that did not involve her work at the government-founded cultural organisation, it previously said.
“We have always refuted the original charges made against Aras,” the council said in a statement. “We are very proud of her work in our London office as an arts programme officer supporting a greater understanding and appreciation of Iranian culture in the UK.”
Due to tensions with Western powers, Iranian authorities banned cooperation with the British Council in 2019 and warned that such activity would result in prosecution.
There was no immediate word on her release from Iranian authorities.
But from Tehran, Amiri’s lawyer Hojjat Kermani, confirmed her acquittal to The Associated Press news agency, saying that Iran’s Supreme Court had determined that her earlier espionage conviction in the country’s Revolutionary Court was “against Shariah”, or Islamic law. He did not elaborate.
Kermani said Amiri flew out of Tehran on Monday but had been free in recent months as she appealed a travel ban.
After holding Amiri for months, Iran in 2019 sentenced the British Council worker to 10 years in prison on charges of spying on cultural activities in Iran.
Her arrest highlighted the dangers faced by those with Western ties in Iran after former US President Donald Trump abandoned Iran’s landmark nuclear deal with world powers and piled crushing sanctions on the country.
Add Comment