SILVA HAROTONIAN RELEASED FROM IRANIAN PRISON

PanARMENIAN.Net
15.03.2010 18:38 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Aid worker Silva Harotonian, who spent more than
twenty months in an Iranian prison, has been released, according to
Armenian Reporter.

In a March 10 statement her employer the U.S.-funded International
Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) thanked "the government of Armenia
for their engagement in securing Silva’s release." Details of that
engagement have not been made public.

Ms. Harotonian, an Iranian citizen, was arrested on June 26, 2008,
while on a business trip to Tehran for IREX’s Maternal and Child
Health Education and Exchange Program (MCHEEP). A Yerevan-based
administrative officer for the program, launched in 2007, she was
the only IREX staff member working in Iran at the time.

The arrest only became public in February 2009 when Ms. Harotonian was
sentenced to three years in prison on charges that she was involved
in activities directed against the Iranian government; Ms. Harotonian
was reportedly forced to implicate herself under duress.

In subsequent months, Ms. Harotonian’s family with the help from U.S.

government and Iranian human rights activists publicly campaigned for
her release, establishing a dedicated web site at
and holding media events in Paris and New York.

On July 1, Iran’s ambassador in Armenia expressed hope that Ms.

Harotonian would be soon be granted clemency.

Soon after Ms. Harotonian’s family suspended public campaigning
reporting on their web site that there were hopeful signs pointing
towards her release, which eventually came this month.

The IREX statement that announced Ms. Harotonian’s release last week
also asked "that the media kindly respect Silva and her family’s
privacy."
From: Baghdasarian