Iran releases fourth Iranian-American on bail News
Iran releases fourth Iranian-American on bail

[JURIST] The Iranian government ended the four-month detention of Iranian-American peace activist Ali Shakeri [advocacy website] Monday, releasing him on bail in the amount of 1 million rials (approximately USD$110,000). Shakeri, a founding member of the University of California, Irvine, Center for Citizen Peacebuilding [advocacy website], is the fourth dual US citizen Iran has detained in recent months on charges of endangering Iranian national security. According to a spokesperson for the Iranian judiciary, Shakeri may be granted judicial approval to leave Iran, where he has been detained in a Tehran prison since visiting family in May.

The four Iranian-Americans have now all been released or allowed to depart the country by Iranian authorities. Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, and Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh and Radio Farda correspondent Parnaz Azima [JURIST reports] have each been formally charged with anti-government conduct by Iran. Tajbakhsh was released [JURIST report] last week and Esfandiari was released [JURIST report] earlier this month. Azima, who was never imprisoned, has been permitted to leave the country [JURIST report] as well. AP has more.