Ailing Iranian physics student given 'conditional' release from Evin prison
| Publisher | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| Publication Date | 30 August 2016 |
| Cite as | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Ailing Iranian physics student given 'conditional' release from Evin prison, 30 August 2016, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/57db9a6813.html [accessed 21 September 2016] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
August 30, 2016
Former PhD student Omid Kokabee has been in prison for more than five years in Iran. (file photo)
Iranian state media have reported that a jailed and ailing Iranian citizen who had been a graduate student in Texas has been released after more than five years in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison.
The government-owned IRAN daily newspaper quoted the lawyer for Omid Kokabee as saying that the country's judiciary had granted Kokabee "conditional freedom'" for the rest of his 10-year sentence.
The lawyer, Saeed Khalili, said Kokabee "will not return to prison anymore."
Kokabee, who was studying optics in the physics department at the University of Texas, was arrested in February 2011 and convicted by the Iranian courts of having "relations with a hostile country" and receiving "illegitimate funds."
He was released from jail in April 2016 to undergo medical tests on his kidneys.
The New York-based International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran says Kokabee is now struggling with kidney cancer after being denied proper medical treatment for years by prison authorities.
From prison in 2013, Kokabee said in an open letter to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that he had been unjustly imprisoned because he refused to work with the Iranian intelligence services on a military research project.
Based on reporting by AP and IRAN
Link to original story on RFE/RL website
