The United States on Thursday urged Iran's unconditional release of Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi after she was allowed medical leave, saying she never should have been imprisoned.
Her situation "continues to be deeply troubling and unfortunate, because she should have never been incarcerated in the first place," State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters, reports AFP.
"Her deteriorating health is a direct result of the abuses that she's endured at the hands of the Iranian regime. We call again, just as we've done before, for the immediate and unconditional release of Narges and other political prisoners," he said.
Mohammadi, 52, has been jailed since November 2021 over several past convictions relating to her advocacy against the obligatory hijab for women and capital punishment in Iran.
In social media postings immediately after her release, she clutched a picture of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Iranian woman whose custody death in September 2022 sparked major protests.
Mohammadi has been released for three weeks, which her supporters have called inadequate.
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
