Jailed Lawmaker Freed After Parliament Protest
A lawmaker jailed for speaking out against hard-liners was freed from prison after Iran’s supreme leader pardoned him to defuse a mounting political crisis.
Hossein Loqmanian left Evin prison outside Tehran, the capital, hours after parliament Speaker Mehdi Karroubi led a walkout from the legislature. Karroubi said he would not preside over parliament as long as Loqmanian remained imprisoned.
Loqmanian had served three weeks of a 10-month sentence for insulting the Iranian courts.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is regarded as the leader of the hard-liners.
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