Saturday
Oct162010
The Latest from Iran (16 October): Prisoners and the Economy
1905 GMT: Currency Watch. Green Correspondents is claiming that Iranian banks are offering European financial institutions a 16% brokerage fee, four times the typical rate, for wire transfers of currency.
1845 GMT: Iranian-American National Freed. A family spokesman says Iranian-American dual national Reza Taghavi, detained in Iran since 2008, has been freed from Evin Prison and will be leaving the country soon.
Tehran accused Taghavi, 71, of passing $200 in cash to an Iranian man linked to the monarchist group Tondar. There was no reason given for his sudden release.
Taghavi's lawyer had asked for the businessman's freedom on humanitarian grounds. His family claim Taghavi has diabetes and was in poor health.