AFP: Iran has released award-winning journalist and human rights campaigner Emadeddin Baghi on bail after six months in prison, his lawyer told the ISNA news agency on Wednesday.
TEHRAN, June 23, 2010 (AFP) – Iran has released award-winning journalist and human rights campaigner Emadeddin Baghi on bail after six months in prison, his lawyer told the ISNA news agency on Wednesday.
The bail posted was 200,000 dollars, Saleh Nikbakht said, adding that Baghi is charged with “propaganda against the establishment and plotting against national security” and was expected to stand trial on July 4.
Baghi was arrested last December 28, a day after opposition protests on the Shiite festival of Ashura when eight people were killed in one of the deadliest crackdowns on anti-government demonstrators.
The opposition charges that a June 12 presidential election last year was rigged to keep Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power, and the authorities cracked down hard on critics, arresting scores of reformists, journalists and rights activists.
Some have stood trial and sentenced to lengthy jail terms.
Baghi has been campaigning against the death penalty and is the founder of a rights group defending prisoners. He won the prestigious Martin Ennals Award for human rights activists in 2009.
