Iranian opposition websites are reporting that prominent Iranian-American scholar Kian Tajbakhsh has been released from jail on $800,000 bail for 15 days to celebrate the Iranian new year with his family.
The Kalame website close to opposition leader Mir Hossein Musavi reports that Tajbakhsh’s wife confirmed that he has been released. Several of his friends have also written on Facebook that he has been released. He is not allowed to leave the country.
Tajbakhsh was arrested and put on trial over the postelection crackdown and handed one of the heaviest prison sentences -- 15 years in jail, which was
later reduced to five years by an appeals court.
In recent days, a number of postelection detainees
have been released or given prison leave, reportedly because of the Iranian new year, which is marked on March 21.
We
interviewed Tajbakhsh’s mother in December about his case. She dismissed the charges against him, including harming Iran’s national security, and said he wasn’t involved in the postelection events.
Rights groups and a number of academics in the United States and elsewhere have called for his release.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the charges against Tajbakhsh "groundless" and
also called for his release.