Vienna welcomes Iran freeing Austrian for medical treatment

VIENNA — Vienna on Wednesday welcomed the release of an Austrian from prison in Iran to get medical treatment.

Massud Mossaheb, a 76-year-old Austrian citizen of Iranian origin who was jailed in Iran on charges of espionage, was freed last week.

He has spent almost four years at Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.

“We have been raising the issue at the highest levels and we welcome that these diplomatic endeavours have now produced first results,” a foreign ministry spokeswoman said.

“As far as we are concerned, we will continue with everything in our hands to work for a humanitarian solution in all cases of Austrians imprisoned.”

Two other Austrians are currently detained in Iran.

Mossaheb’s daughter, who declined to be named, said her father had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and had been released “for the length of his treatment”.

He is not allowed to leave Iran and has to report twice a month to the authorities, she added, thanking Austrian authorities for their efforts.

Mossaheb was the general secretary of the Austro-Iranian Society, an organisation set up to encourage exchanges between the two countries.

He was arrested in Tehran in January 2019 while he was accompanying a visiting group of Austrian scientists. Accused of spying for Israel and Germany, he was sentenced to 10 years in jail.

Iran currently holds more than 20 Westerners, many of them with dual nationality.

Rights groups such as Amnesty International have condemned their detention as “hostage-taking” for political ends, as a means to put pressure on Western powers to win concessions.

Iran, which does not recognise double nationality, says that all the people held have been detained following rulings by the courts.

One of the two Austrians still detained was arrested recently. Iranian authorities have not specified the reasons, according to Austria.

Businessman Kamran Ghaderi, another Austrian citizen of Iranian origin, was arrested in 2016 and sentenced to 10 years in jail on spying charges.