Colleagues relieved after Canadian professor released from notorious Iranian prison

[[Homa Hoodfar is shown in this undated image provided by her family. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO]

Colleagues of jailed professor Homa Hoodfar are ecstatic that the Quebec academic has been released from Iran’s most notorious prison.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirms reports from Iranian state media that Hoodfar, 65, was released Monday from Evin prison. She was freed on humanitarian grounds according to Iran’s state-run news agency.

“Canadians are relieved that Dr. Hoodfar has been released from jail and will soon be reunited with her family, friends and colleagues,” Trudeau says in a statement.

He noted the family’s wish for privacy at this time.

Hoodfar, an Iranian citizen who also has citizenship in Canada and Ireland, travelled to Iran earlier this year to visit family.

In March, the regime barred the Concordia University anthropologist from leaving the country and in June she was imprisoned in the country’s notorious Evin prison. State media have reported that Hoodfar was charged with collaborating with a hostile government against national security and with propaganda against the state.

A few weeks ago, her family said she had been placed in solitary confinement and then hospitalized with health problems.

Kimberley Manning, the principal of Concordia’s Simone de Beauvoir Institute who organized rallies and events to keep Hoodfar’s plight in the public eye, says she received an email early Monday morning, followed by phone calls.

“We were here at the institute absolutely elated by this news,” Manning tells Yahoo Canada News.

She says friends are still concerned about her health, as Hoodfar suffers from some very serious pre-existing health conditions.

According to reports, the Quebec professor has flown to Oman, where Manning hopes she is receiving medical care.

“But no doubt just being freed from prison and being back amongst friends and family will be of great succour for her,” she says.

Hoodfar spent 112 days in Evin prison, where Iranian-Canadian photographer Zahra Kazemi was tortured to death in 2003. It is a notorious facility where many political prisoners are held and from which many never emerge.

Manning says that while every day her friend spent in prison was too long, she is heartened by the international response.

She credits Hoodfar’s family, Canadian authorities and other international authorities who were involved in negotiating her release, as well as the academics, former students and activists around the world who mobilized to push for her release.

“Her conditions, no doubt, were extremely difficult but I also am somewhat heartened. I never anticipated that she would be freed this quickly, quite frankly,” Manning says.

Concordia president Alan Shepard called it a victory for academic freedom.

“We look forward to welcoming Dr. Hoodfar on her return,” he says in a statement through the university.

Trudeau thanked diplomats from Oman, Italy and Switzerland for working to free Hoodfar.

“The Government of Canada has been actively and constructively engaged at the highest levels in Dr. Hoodfar’s case — since her ordeal began — working for her release and return to Canada,” he says in his statement.

“In the absence of diplomatic representation of its own in Iran, Canada worked closely with others who were instrumental in helping secure Dr. Hoodfar’s release – most notably Oman, Italy and Switzerland. I would like to extend our sincerest appreciation for their support.”

Trudeau also thanked Iranian authorities who helped.

“They understand that cases like these impede more productive relations,” the prime minister says.