Narges Mohammadi, an Iranian prominent human rights activist, was freed Wednesday after serving 8 years in prison following conviction on plotting to harm the security of the Islamic republic, reports say.
Mohammadi, according to judiciary official Sadegh Niaraki, sentenced to 10 years in 2016 and is released based on a law that allows a prison sentence to be commuted if the related court agrees, reports say.
She was reportedly sentenced in Tehran’s Revolutionary Court on charges including planning crimes to harm the security of Iran, spreading propaganda against the government and forming and managing an illegal group.
She served her sentence in a prison in the northwestern city of Zanjan, some 280 kilometers (174 miles) northwest of the capital Tehran, The New Arab reports.
Human Rights groups condemned her arrest. In July Amnesty International requested her immediate release because of serious pre-existing health conditions and showing suspected Covid-19 symptoms, the London-based media notes.
The Iranian activist was close to Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, who founded the banned Defenders of Human Rights Center. Ebadi fled Iran following the disputed election of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009, also marked violent crackdown by the regime.
Engineer and Physicist by profession, Mohammadi won the 2018 Andrei Sakharov Prize in recognition of her outstanding leadership or achievements of scientists in upholding human rights, The New Arab reports.
Iran releases prominent rights activist charged for plotting to harm national security
