Tehran, November 22: Iranian former vice president Mohammad Ali Abtahi, who has been sentenced to six years in prison in connection with protests over June’s presidential election, has been released on bail, the official IRNA news agency reported on Sunday.
Abtahi, who was a close aide of reformist ex-president Mohammad Khatami, was granted bail pending appeal of the jail term handed down by the court of first instance, the ISNA news agency reported.
Under Iranian law, any jail sentence of three months or more is subject to appeal and a convict can be granted bail for the 20-day period allowed for one to be lodged.
“Abtahi was released this afternoon after he paid the bail amount,” Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi told IRNA.
ISNA quoted the head of the revolutionary courts as saying that bail was set at USD 700,000.
“Abtahi was sentenced to six years in prison for acting against national security and propaganda activity,” the news agency quoted the courts chief as saying without giving his name.
The former vice president was among scores of opposition figures who were arrested shortly after the publication of official election results giving hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a second term.
–PTI