Iran releases Austrian citizen after 2022 arrest
Iranian authorities have released Austrian citizen Christian Weber, jailed in Iran amid the 2022 protests, and handed over to Austria's ambassador in Tehran.
Iranian authorities have released Austrian citizen Christian Weber, jailed in Iran amid the 2022 protests, and handed over to Austria's ambassador in Tehran.
The news was announced by Iran's judiciary news agency, Mizan, on Tuesday, reporting that Weber was released in a gesture of “Islamic mercy” without specifying the crime for which he was imprisoned.
But, according to Austrian media, citing Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg in December of last year, Weber was "abducted and detained" on August 25, 2022, shortly after crossing into Iran, and taken to a state police prison in Urumia in northern Iran.
Initial allegations of espionage, reportedly based on information from the Somali secret service, were later proven false.
Despite the dropped charges, Weber remained in custody for nearly one and a half years, including time at Maku prison in northern Iran. Reports indicated he was subsequently charged with carrying dangerous weapons.
The conditions of Weber’s detention had drawn international criticism against Iran which continues its policy of diplomatic hostage taking. A petition signed by over 700 individuals in Austria advocating for his release detailed the harsh circumstances Weber endured including being confined in a room with 48 other prisoners, without a mattress for the first six months, and suffering from persistent back pain.
It is unknown how many foreign citizens or dual-nationals are imprisoned in Iran. Last year, five US citizens were released in return for the release of $6 billion in Iranian frozen funds, leading to major criticism of the Biden administration for emboldening the Islamic Republic.
Weber's release comes on the heels of the anniversary of Mahsa Amini's death on September 16.
Nationwide protests erupted following the death of the 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman, who died in custody after allegedly violating Iran's Islamic dress code.
Months of protests followed, marking one of the most significant challenges to the Islamic Republic's clerical leadership in decades.
Announced on Sunday by Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, the move renders any senior official who has served in Iran's government since June 23 2003 inadmissible to the country. The extension builds on a previous ban introduced in November 2022, which had initially denied entry to officials dating back to 2019.
The significance of the new cutoff is symbolic, marking the arrest of Zahra Kazemi, an Iranian-Canadian photojournalist detained by the Iranian government in Tehran.
After nearly three weeks of imprisonment, Kazemi died in hospital after being subjected to torture and sexual assault.
“We are sending a strong message that those involved in terrorism, human rights violations, and atrocities are not welcome here,” LeBlanc stated. “Canada will always stand up for human rights and fight for justice, at home and around the world.”
The announcement comes on the eve of the second anniversary of the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, whose killing at the hands of Iran’s morality police triggered mass protests. She was arrested for the inappropriate wearing of her headscarf.
The expanded ban received praise from human rights advocates. Kourosh Doustshenas, a spokesperson for the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims, commended the government's decision.
Flight PS752, shot down by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in January 2020, killed 176 passengers, including 55 Canadian citizens. "Justice for Zahra Kazemi and so many others is long overdue," Doustshenas said in the wake of the news.
In June, following years of pressure from Iranian-Canadians and opposition parties, the Canadian government listed the IRGC as a terrorist organization under the Criminal Code. The IRGC, Iran's military arm, has long been implicated in human rights abuses, including the suppression of protests, crackdowns on dissidents, and interference in the Middle East.
Since Ottawa’s initial designation of the Iranian government as a violator of human rights in 2022, Canada has already revoked 82 visas and deemed 15 individuals inadmissible, including two senior officials who were ordered deported. The expanded measure will likely target many more, although the Canada Border Services Agency has yet to disclose how many additional officials will face repercussions.
The recent move follows incidents in which high-ranking Iranian figures, such as Morteza Talaei — the police chief during Zahra Kazemi's torture — were found living freely in Canada, sparking outrage among Canadians and human rights organizations.
With the latest decision, Canada continues to align itself with the Woman, Life, Freedom movement and signal its dedication to human rights.
Over 550 protesters were killed by Iran's state security forces during the 2022 uprising which has posed the biggest threat to Iran's government since the founding of the Islamic Republic in 1979.
Thousands more Iranians have been arrested and hundreds more executed as the government struggles to quash dissent.
Some netizens have viewed the two-and-a-half-hour press conference as a breath of fresh air in Iranian politics. They found Pezeshkian to be more honest and straightforward compared to his predecessor, Ebrahim Raisi, and Saeed Jalili, who narrowly lost to Pezeshkian in the July elections.
Others have noted that when confronted with challenging questions, such as the future of Iran’s relations with the West, Pezeshkian seemed evasive and spoke in vague terms. He often toned down his more assertive statements to avoid controversy or offending critics.
For example, his lengthy response on whether he was open to meeting with the current or a future US president did not offer a clear rejection or acceptance.
Nevertheless, Pezeshkian did go into the offensive mode in a few instances including when he came under attack by the reporter of the ultra-hardline Kayhan newspaper for employing “seditionists” in his government.
Ahmad, a 52-year-old resident of Ekbatan, a middle-class neighborhood in west Tehran, watched the press conference like many other Iranians. “Overall, I was quite pleased,” he said.
“He doesn’t seem to like stirring up trouble with the rest of the world. This alone is enough for those who voted for him to be content even if that doesn’t make their lives any easier now,” Ahmad told Iran International.
“All they would be hearing today if Jalili had been elected would be ‘the enemy’ and ‘enemies’,” he added.
To those who actively boycotted the elections, and refer to themselves as ‘barandaz’ (proponents of regime change), Pezeshkian’s press conference was only another “regime circus”.
His answers, they argued, only reinforced the view that he is merely a puppet of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. They suggested that his statements were dictated, indicating that no significant change should be expected in Iran's troubled society.
“All Pezeshkian says is that ‘the system should not be messed with”! In other words, one must be a servant and obedient to Khamenei and move forward when he agrees,” expatriate political commentator Ali Afshari who called Pezeshkian a “nobody” tweeted.
“He has come to say that society should forget about transforming the system and resisting tyranny, and be content with uncertain economic promises,” he wrote.
Hardliners and ultra-hardliners were also displeased with several of Pezeshkian’s statements, including his remarks that “We have no enmity with the US,” and “We don’t intend to export our Revolution.” His insistence on resolving issues with the Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) and pursuing peace with all non-hostile nations also provoked criticism.
They were also infuriated when a female journalist openly told Pezeshkian that she had to make several detours on her way to the press conference to avoid detention by the morality police for not adhering to hijab regulations.
“Do they still harass [women]?” Pezeshkian asked her. “They weren’t supposed to do it anymore. We will follow up on this so they won’t harass you anymore,” he said good-humoredly when he received an affirmative response. His remarks drew applause from some of those present.
As he often does, Pezeshkian spoke in a modest tone throughout the press conference, often disregarding standard protocols. He made a few gaffes, such as referring to Russia as the Soviet Union while discussing the Ukraine War, and included several jokes to elicit laughter from the audience.
As usual, he also recited verses from the Quran and sections from the sermons of the first Shia imam, Imam Ali, in Arabic when responding to some questions. This practice has been criticized by some Iranians as being overly performative and not suited to presidential discourse.
The stage for the press conference to which around 300 domestic and international media representatives and photojournalists had been invited was very different from similar events in the past.
The president sat at a desk in front of a large background banner with the image of the iconic, snow-clad Mount Damavand and the sun rising from behind it in its center and the images of the current Supreme Leader and the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on either side at the top.
“I pledge my life to make my promises come true,” it read on one side of the banner. This is a quotation from Imam Ali whose shrine in Iraq Pezeshkian visited last week. Under it, two slogans were printed in large letters: “Reforming Governance” and “Returning to the People”.
