The family
of a British-Iranian woman jailed after watching a men's volleyball match in
Tehran says she has been released on bail. Ghoncheh Ghavami had been in prison
since her arrest in June.
Ghavami, a
25-year-old law graduate from London, was released on bail pending a decision
by the Court of Appeal on her sentence, according to media reports on Sunday.
Her
brother, Iman Ghavami, told news agency AFP she had been freed "just a
couple of hours ago and she will stay with my parents" in Tehran.
However, he
said there was a chance she could return to jail, as the court was still to
decide how she should serve out her full sentence.
"It
was unexpected that she was released, it was out of the blue," Iman
Ghavami said.
Ghoncheh
Ghavam was first arrested at the Azadi or "Freedom" Stadium in Iran's
capital on June 20, while attempting to watch a men's volleyball match between
Iran and Italy.
According
to human rights organization Amnesty International, Ghavami tried to enter the
stadium with around a dozen other women to protest against the law banning
women from attending male-only matches.
She was
released after just a few hours, but was re-arrested days later. According to
her family, Ghavami spent at least 41 days in solitary confinement at Tehran's
Evin prison before going on trial in late October. She also staged a two-week
hunger strike during her detention.
Good news: reports that #GhonchehGhavami has been released on bail today, the day before her 26th birthday http://t.co/41XAKIbqeV
— Amnesty UK (@AmnestyUK) November 23, 2014
On November
2, Ghavami's lawyer, Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaei, said he had been shown a
draft of the verdict stating Ghavami had been sentenced to one year in prison
after being found guilty of "propagating against the ruling system."
However, no verdict or sentence was issued.
Ghavami's
brother told AFP that the verdict had been handed down just a few days ago, and
that she had been sentenced to one year, as well as two years of "travel
restrictions."
On
Wednesday, the judiciary issued a statement cited by Iranian news agency ISNA
saying Ghavami had been detained because of her links to the opposition, not
for attending the volleyball match.
Ghavami's
arrest was "not linked to her presence at a stadium where she wanted to
watch a volleyball match," the statement said. "After investigation,
it seems she had participated in propaganda against the regime, had links with
satellite TV channels, including BBC Persian, and the opposition based abroad
and participated in demonstrations against the regime."
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