British-Iranian woman Nasrin Roshan was released from Tehran's notorious Evin Prison on Tuesday, 550 days after being arrested for participating in protest gatherings abroad, Iran International has learned.
Roshan was arrested by security forces at Imam Khomeini International Airport on November 19, 2023, while attempting to legally travel from Tehran to her country of residence, the United Kingdom.
She was then taken to a solitary cell in the Intelligence Ministry's detention center known as Ward 209 of Evin Prison. Section 209 of Evin Prison, reportedly the most dreadful ward of the detention facility, is one of three prison sections that are controlled by Iran’s intelligence ministry.
Sara Tabrizian, a former political prisoner who died mysteriously after being released from prison, was arrested with her. She had been summoned to the Intelligence Ministry just one day before her death.
On January 1, 2024, after about a month and a half of torture and interrogation, Roshan was transferred to the women's ward of Evin Prison, where she remained until her release.
Roshan was later tried by Judge Iman Afshari, head of Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, and sentenced to four years in prison on charges of "assembly and collusion" and eight months in prison on charges of "propaganda against the system."
Under Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code, the four-year sentence was the maximum applicable punishment, which was later reduced to three years in prison.
A source familiar with her case told Iran International that her participation in Woman Life Freedom rallies outside Iran was one of the grounds cited by the court in issuing her sentence.
It is not Roshan’s first time inside the Islamic Republic’s prisons. Roshan, born in 1963, was imprisoned in Iran from September 1981 to September 1985, between the ages of 18 and 22.
She spent the first two months of her detention in the 1980s under interrogation and torture in Evin Prison, and the rest of her sentence in Qazal Hesar Prison in Karaj.
Iran has been accused of wrongfully detaining at least a dozen foreign and dual nationals on trumped up charges, effectively as hostages to extract concessions from Western governments. Most of them are held on spurious spying charges.
While the sentence remains in place, the case has entered a new phase. Judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei has approved preliminary steps to examine the ruling.
“According to legal procedure, the case will be examined by relevant experts to assess whether the verdict contradicts Sharia,” Tataloo’s lawyer Majid Naghshi told the Revolutionary Guards-linked Fars News Agency.
“If confirmed, the file will be sent to a parallel court branch for a final ruling.” He added that the process occurs only once and emphasized, “No final decision has been made yet, but this is a step forward in the legal path.”
Tataloo’s sister, Naghmeh Maghsoudloo, also announced the decision, noting that the case is now under Supreme Court review.
The singer remains imprisoned in Tehran’s Fashafuyeh facility, serving a 10-year sentence for “encouraging corruption.” Other charges include disrupting Islamic law, operating a gambling platform and publishing obscene content.
A separate blasphemy case led to a three-year sentence for insulting sanctities and initially, a death sentence for insulting the Prophet—a charge from which he had first been acquitted before a later court reversed the ruling.
The 37-year-old artist had lived in Istanbul since 2018, where he remained active on social media and announced plans to establish a so-called “Sultan’s Palace,” inviting girls between 15 and 20 to join. Instagram removed his account in 2019 over misogynistic content and promotion of child marriage.
On December 4, 2023, Turkish police arrested Tataloo following a complaint from the Iranian consulate in Istanbul, which accused him of harassing consular staff. He was later extradited to Iran and taken into custody at the Bazargan border.
Public figures across Iranian cultural life have rallied in opposition to the sentence. Rapper Toomaj Salehi, footballer Mehdi Taremi, actress Sahar Ghoreishi and bodybuilding champion Hadi Choopan all denounced the ruling in separate statements.
“You insulted all my sisters. But my heart cannot bear your voice being silenced,” Salehi wrote online, referring to Tataloo's controversial remarks against Mahsa Amini, the girl whose death in police custody sparked Iran's 2022 Woman Life Freedom protests.
Tataloo’s uncle, Mohammadali Maghsoudloo, revealed in an interview that the singer married inside prison just one week ago. He added that officials have provided accommodations for Tataloo’s vegetarian diet while in custody.
Once promoted by state-linked figures—he famously released a pro-nuclear anthem in 2015 and appeared with Ebrahim Raisi during the 2017 campaign—Tataloo later became a pariah, accused of corrupting youth and drawing numerous complaints from many families, according to the judiciary-affiliated Mizan News Agency.
In court, he expressed remorse, saying, “I didn’t get proper training, and I made a mistake.” Court documents also referenced a personal letter in which he asked to “marry, have children and pursue music in the right way.”
Once the death sentence is lifted, the case will move into the hands of Iran’s Supreme Court—an uncommon reversal in a legal system rarely swayed by public figures or online campaigns.
