Kurdish language teacher freed from Iranian jail

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Kurdish language teacher who had been sentenced to five years in jail in Iran on national security charges was freed Friday night, having served one year of her sentence. Her release came at the same time as several other high profile prisoners following a general amnesty.

Zara Mohammadi was charged with “establishing a committee and group that is against the stability and security of the system” and sentenced to five years in prison in February 2021. She began serving her sentence in January 2022.

In a video shared Friday night by human rights watchdog Hengaw, Mohammadi said she had been freed without any explanation. “Without informing my attorney, they released me in a hurry,” she said, adding that she had not asked for a pardon and never would.

After serving more than a year of her five-year prison sentence, Kurdish teacher Zara Mohammadi was freed from Sanandaj Correctional Center on the evening of Feb 10, 2023.

"Without informing my attorney, they released me in a hurry," Zara said.#JinaAminipic.twitter.com/t9gqyrqmlR

— Hengaw Organization for Human Rights (@Hengaw_English) February 10, 2023

Mohammadi co-founded Nojin Cultural Association, which teaches Kurdish language and literature. At the time of her arrest, she was teaching Kurdish to hundreds of children in and around Sanandaj. She was accused of cooperating with Kurdish opposition groups, according to Amnesty International.

At least two other high profile prisoners were also released from Iranian jails on Friday.

Iranian-French academic Fariba Adelkhah had been detained in 2019 and was serving a five-year sentence on national security charges. France’s foreign ministry welcomed her release, saying she had been “unjustly detained in Iran’s Evin prison.”

Farhad Meysami had been jailed since 2018 for supporting women protesting against Iran’s mandatory headscarf policy. He was on hunger strike for more than a month and images of his emaciated form emerged earlier this month, drawing condemnation of the Iranian regime.

“Following the approval of the leader of the revolution [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] with the recent amnesty, Farhad Meysami was also included in this amnesty and was released from prison an hour ago,” tweeted Iran’s judiciary on Friday.

On Sunday, Khamenei approved pardons and sentence commutations for tens of thousands of prisoners, timed with the 44th anniversary of the Islamic Republic.