British Council curator Aras Amiri acquitted and freed from Iranian prison after 2018 arrest
Aras Amiri, a curator and artistic affairs officer for the British Council, has been freed from detention in Iran and has returned to the UK after being acquitted by Iran's Supreme Court. She was arrested in March 2018 during a visit to her grandmother in Tehran and received a 10-year prison sentence in 2019 on charges of espionage, which she has always denied. Following her lawyer's appeal, the court revoked her travel restrictions. Her arrest was widely viewed as a bargaining chip amid diplomatic strains between Iran and the UK, tied to a protracted dispute over $400 million in unfulfilled weapon deals. At 34, Amiri claimed her imprisonment stemmed from her refusal to act as an informant for Iran's intelligence agency. The British Council confirmed her release and return.
Key facts
- Aras Amiri was arrested in March 2018 in Tehran while visiting her grandmother
- She was sentenced in 2019 to 10 years in prison on spying charges
- Iran's Supreme Court acquitted her and lifted her travel ban
- Amiri denied the charges, claiming she refused to become an informant for Iran's intelligence service
- Her arrest was seen as a bargaining chip in Iran-UK diplomatic disputes over $400 million in undelivered weaponry
- Amiri is a British Council employee working as an artistic affairs officer and curator
- She is one of many dual-national Iranians convicted on security charges, including Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Nahid Taghavi
- The British Council confirmed her release and return to the UK
Entities
Artists
- Aras Amiri
- Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
- Nahid Taghavi
Institutions
- British Council
- Iran's Supreme Court
- Iran's intelligence service
Locations
- Tehran
- Iran
- UK