Female Iranian activist released on bail

TEHRAN - A female activist charged with subversion in Iran has been released from prison on bail, opposition websites reported Monday.

Shiva Nazar-Ahari, 26, was released Sunday after posting bail equivalent to about $500,000, the reports said.

The journalist and activist appeared in court last week to answer charges of conspiracy and propaganda against the Iranian regime.

Authorities charged that she is affiliated with the opposition group, the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, regarded by Tehran as a terrorist organisation. She is also charged with waging war against god, a crime under Islamic law that merits the death sentence in Iran.

But Nazar-Ahari told the court that she had no link to the group.

Nazar-Ahari was first activist arrested after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election in June last year in a vote overshadowed by opposition allegations of fraud.

She was released after three months but arrested again in December for joining an anti-government gathering and mourning ceremony for the late reformist ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri.

Several international human rights organisations voiced support for Nazar-Ahari and demanded the charges against her be dropped.