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Austrian held in Iran gets 5-day release from prison

A 75-year-old Austrian citizen of Iranian origin, jailed in Iran on charges of espionage, has been given a five-day release from prison, his daughter told AFP on Monday.

Austrian held in Iran gets 5-day release from prison
Iranian women inmates sit at their cell in the infamous Evin jail, where Mossaheb is also imprisoned, north of Tehran. (AFP PHOTO/ATTA KENARE)

“He was freed for medical reasons after three and a half years’ detention,” said Fanak Mani, the daughter of Massud Mossaheb.

Mossaheb is being held at Evin prison, near the capital Tehran. A photo posted on the Free Massud Twitter account shows him smiling, supporting himself on a crutch, with his wife by his side.

Mossaheb was the general secretary of the Austro-Iraninan Society, an organisation set up to encourage exchanges between the two countries.

He was arrested in Tehran in January 2019 while he was accompanying a visiting group of Austrian scientists. Accused of spying for Israel and Germany, he was sentenced to 10 years in jail.

His family has raised concerns about the state of his health on several occasions.

More than 10 dual nationality Iranians from western countries are currently being held by the authorities in the country.

Rights groups such as Amnesty International have condemned their detention as “hostage-taking” for politican ends, as a means to put pressure on western powers to win concessions.

Iran, which does not recognise double nationality, says that all the people held have been detained following rulings by the courts. 

Those detained include four Franco-Iranians, another Austro-Iranian, and others with dual nationality in Sweden, Germany, Britain and the United States.

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POLITICS

Austrian ex-minister to lead Russian think tank

Austrian ex-foreign minister Karin Kneissl, who danced with Russian President Vladimir Putin at her wedding, unveiled a new think tank attached to Saint Petersburg University Friday to operate under her leadership.

Austrian ex-minister to lead Russian think tank

In 2018, Karin Kneissl, then foreign minister of neutral Austria, made headlines when she invited Putin to her wedding and danced with him. The 58-year-old left the government the following year.

In a BBC interview in May 2023, Kneissl said she would dance with Putin again today, adding that she did not regret having asked him for a waltz.

“I have just presented this university institute with dean Nikolai Kropachev” at the St Petersburg economic forum, Kneissl confirmed to AFP.

The GORKI Centre — short for “Geopolitical Observatory for Russia’s Key Issues” — aims to “link academia with reality”, according to a brochure provided to AFP by Kneissl.

READ ALSO: Four ways Austria has changed after one year of war in Ukraine

It was set up to “bring together the academic potential” of St. Petersburg University and “practical experience in diplomatic activity”. The think tank also seeks to “help define the policies for the Russian Federation” with a focus on the Near and Middle East.

In 2021, Kneissl joined the Board of Directors of the Russian oil giant Rosneft.

She stepped down in May 2022 after the European Parliament passed a resolution threatening sanctions against Europeans still on the boards of major Russian companies.

Highly controversial in her native country, she has now settled in a small village in Lebanon.

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