Iran frees Australian-based fertility expert accused of spying

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An Australian-based fertility expert detained late last year on charges of trying to "infiltrate" Iranian institutions in collusion with foreign "espionage networks" has been freed, Iran's state news agency IRNA reported on Sunday citing the lawyer of the academic.

"The court told me this morning that Ms Meimanat Hosseini Chavoshi was freed a few days ago," her lawyer Mahmood Behzadi said.

Chavoshi had been accused in early December by an ultraconservative newspaper of working with foreign powers to infiltrate state institutions, but charges against her were never officially announced.

It is not immediately clear if a court session had been held or whether charges against her had just been dropped without a court sitting.

Chavoshi is listed by the University of Melbourne as working at its School of Population and Global Health, and has been published widely on Iran's once-lauded fertility and family-planning policies.

Population control has become a sensitive issue in Iran since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued an edict in 2014 calling for a population increase after decades of state-promoted birth control.

Last year, he urged greater efforts to combat enemy "infiltration" as tensions escalated with the United States after Washington withdrew from a landmark nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions on Iran.

Chavoshi, who reportedly holds dual Australian and Iranian nationality, had been invited by Iran's Labor and Social Welfare Ministry to speak at a conference in Tehran on ageing populations. A retired Health Ministry employee, she was arrested while leaving Iran after the conference.

Iran does not recognize dual nationality and does not routinely announce arrests or charges of dual nationals.

At the time of her apprehension, ultraconservative newspaper Kayhan reported the arrest of several population "activists... who, under the cover of scientific activities, had infiltrated state bodies."

It said they manipulated statistics and handed sensitive information to Iran's enemies as part of efforts at "cultural and social invasion."

(Cover: A file photo of Australian-based fertility expert Meimanat Hosseini Chavoshi. /Photo via Iran International)

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Source(s): AFP ,Reuters