April 15, 2016
A Toronto-based filmmaker has been released from Evin prison after serving one year of an eight-year sentence on charges that included insulting the Supreme Leader.
Arash Azizi, the son of Mostafa Azizi, a 54-year-old permanent Canadian resident, tweeted the news of his father’s release Saturday.
Azizi’s daughter, Parastoo Azizi, told CBC News she spoke with her father briefly and that he was “really happy,” and a little bit shocked at the sudden release.
“Finally after a more than a year of nightmares!! After more than a year of struggles!! We shall sleep calm tonight!!! My father is free!” she posted on Facebook.
It appeared he was released as part of one of the periodic amnesties signed by the Supreme Leader. The Canadian government, which has no embassy in Tehran, claimed no role in the release.
Azizi’s departure from prison leaves one other Canadian resident still in jail in Iran, Saeed Malekpour. Neither man is a Canadian citizen. So, even if Iran recognized dual citizenship, the Canadian government would have no leverage.
In January 2015, Azizi was in Iran visiting his ailing father when he was arrested on charges of insulting the Supreme Leader and spreading propaganda against the state.
His son, who lives in Berlin, told CBC News in March of last year that the specifics of the allegations were unclear but were apparently in connection to posts the father made on social media.
“I’m absolutely thrilled,” Maryam Nayeb Yazdi, a human rights activist and friend of Azizi’s, told CBC News. “It was very, very distressing and disheartening for the entire community see one of our brightest Iranian artists get imprisoned for absolutely no good reason. So, to see him get released today is wonderful news.”
Malekpour, an Iranian-born web programmer with permanent resident status in Canada and a resident of Richmond Hill, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto, was arrested in 2010 and confessed on Iranian television that he developed and promoted porn websites. His supporters say he was forced to make the confessions by Iranian authorities.
Malekpour’s family said he wrote a computer program for posting photos to the web. Someone bought the program and used it on a porn site, giving Malekpour credit on the website.
Yazdi, who has been campaigning to help free Malekpour with his family since his arrest, says she’s hopeful that Azizi’s release is a positive sign that he, too, could soon be free.
“It’s not clear at this point how this came about, why he was released before the end of his sentence and whether this could mean something positive for Saeed Malekpour,” she told CBC News.
Azizi once worked for state television in Tehran, writing many popular television programs. He left for Canada about a decade ago.
News reports said he planned o stay in Tehran after his release last week.