Karen Vafadari and his wife, Afrin Nissari, released on bail

According to several human rights organizations, Karen Vafadari, an Iranian-American citizen, and his wife, Afrin Nissari, were released on bail on Saturday, July 30, after two years in prison. The International Campaign for Human Rights, which first reported this news, did not mention the amount of bail paid for their release. Abolqasem Salavati, the judge in the case, had previously set the bail for each of them at fifty billion tomans; however, according to unconfirmed reports, these two Zoroastrian citizens were released on a bail of 40 billion tomans. Karen Vafadari was sentenced to 27 years in prison, 124 lashes, and a fine of over 9 billion rials on charges such as 'acting against national security' and 'promoting immorality' or possessing alcoholic beverages. His wife, Afrin Nissari, was also sentenced to 16 years in prison. Following this ruling, Mr. Vafadari wrote in a letter to his Zoroastrian compatriots that 'do not expect the observance of civil rights.' He, who holds dual Iranian-American citizenship, stated in this letter that he is the 'first Iranian' to have Article 989 of the Civil Code, enacted in 1924, applied to his case. This article deals with citizenship and the conditions for renouncing it, and one of its provisions states that one of the conditions for renouncing citizenship is that the individual must transfer their rights over real estate they own in Iran or may inherit, even if Iranian laws allow foreign nationals to own it, to Iranian citizens in some manner within a year. Meanwhile, Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate, had previously stated in an interview with Radio Farda that the charges against them were a pretext for confiscating the family's assets. After returning to Iran, Karen Vafadari opened the 'An' gallery and cultural foundation in Tehran after living abroad for some time, and his Muslim Iranian wife, who is an architecture graduate and has collaborated with her husband in managing the gallery, holds a green card in the U.S. Several other Iranian-American citizens or American nationals, including Baqer and Siamak Namazi, and Xiao Wang, are still imprisoned in Iran. Meanwhile, based on a proposal presented by Senator Tom Cotton to the Senate on Thursday, July 28, if an American citizen or green card holder is imprisoned in Iran for political reasons, the Islamic Republic officials involved in this matter will be sanctioned, and the families of these officials will not be allowed to enter or remain in the U.S. In this context, Nauert called for the release of all Americans imprisoned in Iran, while The New York Times referred to Iran's proposal for negotiations with the U.S. regarding prisoners as an old story. Karen Vafadari's child expressed concerns about the future of their case in an interview with Radio Farda, and the family of Robert Levinson issued a statement on the eleventh anniversary of his disappearance in Iran. The news of the arrest of an Iranian citizen residing in Sweden upon returning to Iran has been confirmed.