An Iranian activist released, another sentenced to jail

guardian.co.uk -- The Committee for Human Rights Reporters (CHRR) in Iran reported that Goudarzi, one of its members, who was given a five-year jail term in March, has been temporarily freed on bail.

An Iranian blogger has published pictures of Goudarzi after release, which shows him along with friends and his mother, who was also jailed following the activist's arrest in July.

A Tehran court sentenced the 27-year-old in March to five years in a prison in the eastern city of Zabol, near the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Goudarzi, an active member of the CHRR, was picked up by plain clothes security officials last July from a friend's house in Tehran. He went missing after the incident with authorities refused to acknowledge holding him.

He was later taken to Tehran's Evin prison, where he spent almost two months in solitary confinement before being allowed to talk to his family for the first time since being held.

Goudarzi's mother, Parvin Mokhtareh, was also detained in the southern city of Kerman a day after her son's arrest. She had been accused of insulting the supreme leader, propaganda against the regime and acting against national security. She appears to have been released from jail on bail, too.

Goudarzi had previously served a one-year jail sentence following Iran's disputed presidential elections in 2009.

In a separate incident on Friday, Amnesty expressed concerns for Mansoureh Behkish, another human rights activist who has been sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison.

Behkish is reported to have been convicted of "gathering and colluding with intent to harm national security by establishing the Mourning Mothers group," and six months' imprisonment for "propaganda against the system", Amnesty said. She will appeal against her sentence.

"Mansoureh Behkish is a member of the Mothers of Laleh Park (formerly known as the "Mourning Mothers"), which campaigns against human rights violations such as unlawful killings, arbitrary arrests, torture and enforced disappearance," Amnesty said in a statement.

Behkish was arrested in June 2011 and taken to Tehran's notorious Evin prison where she was held until her release on bail in July 2011. Amnesty said she has been since barred from travelling abroad.