A 26-year-old Iranian man who was reportedly sentenced to death in connection with anti-government protests last month has been released on bail, reports say.
Erfan Soltani was arrested on 8 January in the city of Fardis, just west of Tehran, as protests swept across the country, prompting a deadly crackdown by Iranian authorities.
Officials then informed his family that he had been scheduled to be executed within days, without giving any additional details, according to Norway-based Kurdish human rights group Hengaw.
However, Iran's judiciary denied that he was sentenced to death, stating he faced security-related charges carrying only prison terms.
Soltani's lawyer, Amir Mousakhani, confirmed to the AFP news agency that he was released on bail on Saturday and received all of his belongings including his cellphone. The bail amount of two billion tomans (around $12,600) was reportedly paid for his release.
The arrest of Soltani, a clothes shop owner, garnered international attention after reports emerged regarding the possibility of his execution. At the time, one of Soltani's relatives indicated that the death sentence had been issued in a rapid judicial process of merely two days.
Despite the Iranian government's attempts to downplay the situation, foreign media and human rights organizations have been vocal regarding the conditions surrounding his arrest and the broader context of human rights abuses during nationwide protests.
According to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, over 6,300 people have been killed since the start of the unrest in late December, while another organization warned the final death toll could exceed 25,000. Protesters have described the lethal crackdown by security forces as unprecedented in their experiences.
Iranian authorities continue to face international criticism as tensions remain high over their treatment of dissenters during this period of significant political turmoil.
