Detained journalist, Mohammad Ghouchani released

Mohammad Ghouchani

Mohammad Ghouchani, chief editor of Etemad-e Melli newspaper, was released Friday morning from Evin prison.

Tagheer website, news outlet for Etemad-e Melli Party, claims, he was released at 2 a.m. across from an agency.

Mr. Ghouchani was arrested on June 20 by the intelligence service and according to Tagheer website was released this morning with a 2 billion-rial bail.

He is accused of “disturbing national security by joining demonstrations and writing articles.” He appeared in two of the mass trials held for post-election detainees where the election protesters were collectively accused of “starting a velvet revolution and creating doubts regarding the veracity of the elections.”

Mohammad Ghouchani has collaborated with several reformist newspapers and collections of his articles have been published in over five books.

He has been editor-in-chief of Shargh and Ham-mihan newspapers as well as Sharvand-e Emrooz weekly. At the time of his arrest, he was editor-in-chief of Etemed-e Melli daily which was the news outlet for the party of the same name headed by opposition leader, Mehdi Karroubi.

The newspaper was banned in August and a number of its reporters are among the post election detainees.