Sajjad al-Din Mir Damadi Released from Evin Prison

Reports indicate that Sajjad al-Din Mir Damadi, a journalist and political activist in Iran, who was sentenced to prison for 'propaganda against the regime' and 'collusion against national security,' was released from prison on Tuesday, March 15. According to 'Kalemeh,' a website close to Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mr. Mir Damadi was released under 'conditional release and the implementation of Article 58 of the Islamic Penal Code.' According to this article of the Islamic Penal Code, serving part of the prison sentence is a condition for granting conditional release. Under this law, convicts with sentences of less than 10 years who have served one-third of their sentence are eligible for conditional release. This law stipulates that the issuance of conditional release 'is contingent upon the proposal of the prosecutor or the judge of execution and the agreement of the court that issued the conviction.' Sajjad Mir Damadi, who served as the Deputy Director General of Elections at the Ministry of Interior during Mohammad Khatami's government from 1999 to 2002, returned to Iran from France in the winter of 2013. After his return to Iran, Mr. Mir Damadi was repeatedly summoned and interrogated by security forces and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He was ultimately arrested in May 2014. Sajjad al-Din Mir Damadi was tried on charges of 'propaganda against the regime' and 'collusion against national security' on Tuesday, July 21, 2014, in the Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Abolqasem Salavati. In this context, concerns were raised about Sajjad al-Din Mir Damadi's situation in Evin Prison, where he was sentenced to six years in prison. The court for Sajjad Mir Damadi was presided over by Judge Salavati, and he was held in the security ward of Evin.