(Paris) The Iranian authorities on Saturday released on bail a former Kurdish international soccer player and a defender of freedom of expression, who had been arrested for supporting protests rocking Iran for more than two months.
They are Voria Ghafouri, 35, 28 times selected for Iran until 2019, according to the Iranian news agency Fars and Hossein Ronaghi, a contributor to several foreign newspapers, including the wall street journalaccording to his brother.
The first was arrested on Thursday after being accused of “propaganda” against the state, and the second on September 24 after denouncing the deadly crackdown on protests in Iran.
Iran is rocked by a protest movement sparked on September 16 by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd who died after her arrest by vice squad in Tehran for breaking a strict dress code for women in Iran.
The authorities denounce these protests as “riots” encouraged according to them by the West.
More than 14,000 people have been arrested since September 16, according to the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran. According to NGOs, activists, lawyers, filmmakers, journalists and sportsmen have been arrested in particular, in addition to the thousands of demonstrators.
Voria Ghafouri, one of the most prominent personalities arrested since September, was arrested after a training session with his Foolad team from Khuzestan, according to Fars.
“Voria Ghafouri and Hossein Ronaghi have been released on bail,” Fars news agency reported.
“Hossein (Ronaghi) was released (Saturday) evening on bail to receive treatment,” his brother Hassan wrote on Twitter, without further details.
His father Ahmad posted a picture of his son in hospital, saying he had been released after a hunger strike of some two months.
Hossein Ronaghi, aged 37 and suffering from kidney problems, had gone on a hunger strike immediately after his arrest and his state of health had deteriorated. He had been hospitalized on November 13 before returning to prison.
PHOTO IRANIAN MEDIA CENTER JUDICIAL / AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Hossein Ronaghi, aged 37 and suffering from kidney problems, had gone on a hunger strike immediately after his arrest and his state of health had deteriorated.
At least 416 people have been killed in the crackdown on protests in Iran, according to a latest report released by the NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR), based in Norway.
Among them, 290 died during protests linked to the death of Mahsa Amini and 126 in the province of Sistan-Baluchistan (south-east) including more than 90 on September 30 in the provincial capital Zahedan, during demonstrations against the rape of a teenage girl blamed on a policeman.