Etemad Online, the website of reformist daily Etemad in Iran, reported on Saturday September 7 that Tehran's notorious former prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi has been released from Jail after serving two thirds of his two-year jail sentence.
Mortazavi was jailed based on complains made by the family members of four youngsters he had ordered to be jailed in an unofficial detention center outside Tehran during the 2009 post-election unrest.
The four died as a result of beatings, torture and misappropriate conduct by wardens.
Press and social media reports during the first months of Mortazavi's arrest alleged that he has spent a lot of time outside prison. Iranian agencies reported that he was seen during pilgrimage in Iraq when he should have been in jail, but officials denied the reports although pictures of the pilgrimage were released online.
The Iranian Judiciary has still not reacted to reports on Mortazavi's release. It is common for most prisoners to be released in Iran after they serve half of their sentence for “good behaviour”.
Mortazavi was first jailed for 5 years, but the a court of appeals commuted his sentence to two years in April 2018.
Mortazavi is known with his nickname "the hangman of the press" as he shut down dozens of publications in 2000-2001. He is also usually remembered for handing out unfair sentences and fabricating charges against those he tried.