Release of Iranian Journalist’s Wife on 300 Million Toman Bail

Saeed Seif, journalist and director of the “Iran Watch” website, announced the release of his wife, Asal Esmaeilzadeh, on a 300 million toman bail.

Mr. Seif announced this news on Monday, July 2, on his Twitter account and thanked several individuals, including members of parliament.

On June 20, he had announced that the Culture and Media Prosecutor’s Office had summoned him for questioning, but after he went to the prosecutor’s office, the judge issued an order to arrest his wife, who had accompanied him to the office.

In his Twitter posts, Mr. Seif had also stated that the investigator at branch two of the prosecutor’s office had asked him to falsely confess to making statements against the Rouhani government, but he refused. He had sought help from several parliamentarians, including Ali Motahari and Mahmoud Sadeghi, for his wife’s release.

Asal Esmaeilzadeh, a media activist, photojournalist, and Mr. Seif’s wife, was arrested by security forces in 2011 and was sentenced by the Tehran Revolutionary Court on charges of propaganda against the system and society and conspiracy to act against national security to four months of imprisonment and eight months of suspended sentence, and was released after serving her sentence.

In recent years, she had not engaged in significant media activities.

Mr. Seif told ILNA: “I was the accused in my own case, but when we went to the prosecutor’s office with my wife, the judge issued an order to arrest my wife, Asal Esmaeilzadeh.”

The reason for Ms. Esmaeilzadeh’s arrest has not yet been announced.

Ms. Esmaeilzadeh’s release came one day after Hassan Rouhani criticized the detention and summoning of people without evidence at the judiciary conference.

Source: Voice of America