Hosseyn Derakhshan, Iranian Blogger, Released Following Khamenei's 'Pardon'

On Thursday, November 29, the Mehr News Agency reported the release of Hosseyn Derakhshan, an Iranian blogger, after serving six years of a nearly 20-year sentence. Mr. Derakhshan attributed his release to the 'pardon of the Supreme Leader.' According to the news agency, on Wednesday, Hosseyn Derakhshan wrote on social media about his release: 'After my two-week leave was not extended and I was ordered to return to prison, I had just arrived at Ward 8 of Evin Prison at 6 PM and was greeting everyone when it was announced that the remainder of my sentence had been pardoned by the Supreme Leader.' In this message, he thanked 'Ayatollah Khamenei' for agreeing to his release from prison but did not mention the special attention the Supreme Leader had given him. In an interview published alongside the news of his release, Mr. Derakhshan noted that Ayatollah Khamenei had issued 'positive directives' regarding him on several occasions. Hosseyn Derakhshan, who has had contradictory political positions over the years, returned to Iran from Canada in October 2008 and was arrested in November of that year. In October 2010, he was sentenced by the 15th branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court to 19 years and six months in prison, along with a five-year ban from party membership and media activities. At that time, in addition to international human rights organizations, several conservative Iranian bloggers criticized the issuance of this sentence in letters and notes. In March 2009, 35 conservative bloggers wrote a letter to the head of the judiciary criticizing the arrest of Hosseyn Derakhshan, calling his positions before returning to the country 'a compensation for the past.' Hosseyn Derakhshan, who is referred to by some as the 'father of Iranian blogging' for his efforts to encourage young Iranians to blog, held an anti-Islamic Republic view until a year before his return to Iran and published many articles on his blog about Iran's 'disorderly situation.' However, in 2007, he changed his political stance and supported Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government and its domestic and foreign policies. He also accused the United States and Israel of seeking regime change in Iran. Following the mass trials of protesters against the results of the 2009 presidential election, rumors circulated in cyberspace accusing Mr. Derakhshan of 'collaborating' with the Islamic Republic's security apparatus to 'draft these indictments' and of 'internet collaborations to identify cyber activists opposed to the government.' In November 2010, however, a source close to Mr. Derakhshan denied the accusation of collaborating in drafting these indictments. Meanwhile, in recent years, letters attributed to Hosseyn Derakhshan from 'inside prison' have been published addressed to some Iranian journalists and officials of the Islamic Republic. In one of these letters attributed to him, Mr. Derakhshan expressed hope that the Islamic Republic would create a television network like 'Al-Mayadeen' for journalists whom he described as 'tired and exhausted outside Iran.' The Mehr News Agency published an interview with him, reportedly conducted two years ago by Shahab Esfandiari, a university professor and film critic. Iranian conservative media refer to Shahab Esfandiari, whom Hosseyn Derakhshan also thanked in his release news, as a film critic and former deputy of the Farabi Cinema Foundation during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government and former program manager of the first channel of state television. Hosseyn Derakhshan stated in this interview that 'his defense of the Islamic Revolution is entirely theoretical and conceptual.' The Mehr News Agency also published a poster introducing him as a 'teacher' of a cinema training course in 2013 for two semesters. The publication of this poster comes at a time when Mr. Derakhshan was sentenced to serve his designated prison term in 2013.