Kurdish teacher Zara Mohammadi released from jail in Iran following 'activist pardons'

Kurdish language teacher Zara Mohammadi was freed from a prison in Iran on Friday after having served one year of her sentence, soon after the release of other high-profile activists as part of an annual amnesty.

Mohammadi, from Sanandaj in Iran’s Kurdistan region, had originally been sentenced to five years in prison.

Mohammadi was detained in May 2019 by the Iranian secret services after she was accused of "co-operating with Kurdish opposition parties" and "disrupting national security", according to Amnesty International.

The teacher, who is the co-founder of the Kurdish cultural NGO Nojin, was sentenced in February 2021, charged with "establishing a committee and group that is against the stability and security of the system" and began her sentence in January last year at Sanandaj Correctional Centre.

In a video posted on Instagram, the teacher and activist said that she was released by authorities "without prior notice" and without her lawyer being informed.

After serving more than a year of her five-year prison sentence, Kurdish teacher Zara Mohammadi was freed from Sanandaj Correctional Center on the evening of Feb 10, 2023.

"Without informing my attorney, they released me in a hurry," Zara said.#JinaAminipic.twitter.com/t9gqyrqmlR

— Hengaw Organization for Human Rights (@Hengaw_English) February 10, 2023

At the time of her arrest, Mohammadi was teaching the Kurdish language to children in the Sanandaj area. Mohammadi was named in the BBC’s 100 women list in 2022, where she was lauded for her efforts in teaching the language, and her activism.

Her release follows those of other high-profile captives in recent days.

Among the released are Saba Kord Afshari and Alieh Motalebzedeh, who have both played a "pivotal role in the women’s rights movement", said the Dublin-based rights group Front Line Defenders.

Iranian authorities on Friday released prominent French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah, who was arrested in 2019 on "national security charges", and Farhad Meysami, a doctor and human rights activist who had recently undertaken a hunger strike.

Last Sunday, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei pardoned "tens of thousands of prisoners" to coincide with the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Iranian state security forces launched a brutal crackdown last year to stifle nationwide protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish woman allegedly fatally beaten in police detention.

Tens of thousands of Iranians have been arrested since the protests began in September, according to human rights groups.