Website: Human rights activist Ahmad Batebi escapes Iran
Published: Monday, May 19, 2008
HUMAN-RIGHTS-BATEBI
5:17GMT—1:17PM/EST
Washington, May 18 (IranVNC)—Human rights activist and member of the watchdog group Human Rights Activities in Iran has left Iran while temporarily out of prison for medical reasons, the group reported on its website today.
Ahmad Batebi was photographed in July 1999 holding up the bloody T-shirt of a friend allegedly wounded by Iranian security forces when they attacked Tehran University dormitories during student protests. The picture appeared on the cover of the London-based Economist magazine, and Batebi was subsequently sentenced to 15 years in jail.
Batebi was due return to prison to serve the remainder of his sentence after being temporary freed to receive medical attention when he left the country.
The group said it has information that Iran’s Intelligence Ministry had undertaken what it called “broad measures” to prevent Batebi from leaving Iran and that failing to do so had led the government to “redouble its efforts against the human rights defender” and follow him “deep into the territory of neighboring countries.”
Source: Human Rights Activities in Iran website
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