Morad Tahbaz has been freed from jail in Iran on electronic tag, UK says

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Morad Tahbaz, the British-Iranian man held in a Tehran prison, has been released on an electronic tag, the UK Foreign Office has confirmed.

He had been due to be released on a tag at the same time as Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori were allowed to return to the UK in March, but he was only allowed to return to his mother’s home in Tehran for a few days before he was sent back to Evin prison.

Tahbaz is a co-founder of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation. In January 2018 Iranian authorities arrested him and eight other PWHF-affiliated individuals. He has American as well as British and Iranian citizenship.

In November 2019, the Iranian judiciary sentenced Tahbaz to 10 years in prison for “contacts with the US enemy government”.

It is understood that the Oman government has acted as broker in the release, as it did in the release of Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

An FCO spokesperson said: “The Tahbaz family have confirmed Morad has been released from Evin prison on furlough and is at their home in Tehran.

“Morad is a tri-national and we continue to work closely with the United States to urge the Iranian authorities to permanently release him and allow his departure from Iran.”

It is not clear if there was any exchange either by the US or the UK that led to the relaxation of his conditions. One possibility is that Oman or another foreign power agreed to paid a substantial bail to ensure his release.

The UK has already repaid the historical ?400m debt it owed to Iran, a move that most observers said was linked to Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release. The foreign secretary, Liz Truss, refused to accept there was any direct link and said the two episodes were unrelated.

Truss came under criticism for allowing Anoosheh and Zaghari-Ratcliffe to be released without securing the release of Tahbaz, but she seemingly thought the Iranians were intransigent and that Tahbaz was going to be treated as an individual whose future would be negotiated with the US. Truss said the Iranians had gone back on their commitment to allow him to be released on furlough.