Iranian Journalist Says She's Been Freed From Evin Prison After Posting Bail

Nazila Marofian, an Iranian journalist, said on August 13 that she has been temporarily released from Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison after posting bail, later defiantly posting on social media that “you deserve the best of things, so don't accept slavery."

Marofian was arrested by security forces on November 29, 2022, following the publication of her interview with Amjad Amini, the father of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, whose death in September 2022 sparked widespread protests across the country.

Mahsa Amini was in police custody at the time of her death for allegedly wearing a head scarf improperly.

In the interview, Amjad Amini revealed that the deputy of the Legal Medicine Organization -- an official body of the judiciary that provides expert witness reports for courts -- told him explicitly that when writing about the cause of his daughter's death, "I’ll write whatever I want, whatever is in the interest of the country."

The LMO report subsequently tried to shift the blame for the tragedy to Amini's health. But supporters say witnesses saw her being beaten when taken into custody, while her family says she had no history of any medical issues and was in good health at the time of her detention.

In February 2023, Marofian was sentenced by the Revolutionary Court for publishing the interview, despite not receiving a proper court hearing or being allowed to put on a defense.

Concerns were raised about her health after human rights activists said she had been hospitalized briefly on August 5 “due to increased heart rate and stress,” a condition some on social media labeled as a “heart attack.”

Since Mahsa Amini's death, Iranians have flooded into the streets across the country to protest against a lack of rights, with women and schoolgirls making unprecedented shows of support in the biggest threat to the Islamic government since the 1979 revolution.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said that at least 527 people had been killed during the unrest, including 71 minors, as security forces muzzle dissent.