Iran dissident leader Yazdi released, says aide
Updated: Friday, June 19, 2009
18:08GMT—2:08PM/EST
Washington, 19 June (WashingtonTV)—Iranian dissident leader Ebrahim Yazdi has been released from detention, a day after he was arrested while in hospital, an aide said on Friday.
Yazdi, head of the banned Freedom Movement of Iran, was among the scores of reformists arrested following Iran’s disputed presidential election last week.
“He is now in the hospital and the detention warrant … has been cancelled,” his aide, Issa Saharkhiz, told AFP.
Yazdi was arrested on Wednesday while he was in a Tehran hospital undergoing medical checks for stomach problems, reports Reuters.
The 78-year-old was Iran’s first foreign minister following the 1979 Islamic revolution, but was sidelined as religious hardliners took over.
On Thursday, the Freedom Movement said that 15 of its members had been detained since protests began last week, according to movement’s public relations unit.
Sources: Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Freedom Movement’s public relations unit
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