Iran frees Spanish woman after 3 months in jail over anti-gov't protests

By Senhan Bolelli

MADRID (AA) - A Spanish activist who was detained in Iran last November has been released, according to reports Sunday.

Ana Baneira Suarez, a member of a civil society organization focused on human rights, was arrested during demonstrations in support of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died while in police custody in Tehran last September.

Suarez, 24, had traveled to Iran to support the protests.

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares announced that Suarez had been released and was on her way back to Spain via Dubai and Geneva and would arrive in the northern city of A Coruña, where her family was waiting for her.

Albares expressed his happiness at Suarez's release and said his happiness would be complete when another Spanish citizen, Santiago Sanchez Cogedor, who is still being held in an Iranian prison, is also released.

Amini died in mysterious circumstances after being detained by the country's morality police for wearing "inappropriate dress."

Angry protests which first broke out in Sanandaj in western Iran later spread across the country.

Amini's death sent shockwaves across the world, with many Western governments issuing strongly-worded statements of condemnation which were not well-received by the Iranian government.