Ebrahimi was arrested at the request of Iranian authorities yesterday when he got off a flight from Germany at an Istanbul airport.

According to Ebrahimi, an Iranian intelligence officer who identified himself as Mohammad Taghi Esfahani presented an official document to the Turkish police, demanding that Ebrahimi be immediately deported to Iran.

Because of the intervention of an US diplomat and international NGOs, Ebrahimi was released at noon on Friday. He took a plane back to Berlin, Germany, and arrived there in the afternoon.

Ebrahimi has been imprisoned before in Iran. Originally a member of the paramilitary Basij and Sepah forces, Ebrahimi later got degrees in fine arts and international law. In 2000, he appeared in a controversial videotape where he confessed a link between the Iran’s religious and political leaders and the violent actions of a paramilitary group known as „Ansar-e Hezbollah“. Ebrahimi was subsequently sentenced to prison, where he spent two years. He then left the country to Germany, where he was granted political asylum. Amir Farshad Ebrahimi continued his work as a peace and human rights activist as a doctoral student at the Middle East Technical University, Ankara, majoring in human rights.

Simon Columbus | Blogger for Freedom

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Thanks to Simon, who wrote this report. He’s our first contributor. He has his own human rights site and has begun to help FreeKareem.org as well.