Ahmadreza Djalali moved out of solitary confinement in Iran

Ahmadreza Djalali, the visiting professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) currently in prison in Iran, has been moved from solitary confinement after more than 20 weeks, according to Amnesty International.

Amnesty reported on Wednesday that Djalali had been moved from the cell where he had been held in isolation under bright lights in what the human rights organisation called “a form of torture”.

Amnesty International has been working with the VUB and the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) for years to secure the release of the Swedish-Iranian researcher who was arrested in Iran in 2016. Djalali was on a research visit in Iran when he was detained by security forces. In October 2017, a judge sentenced Djalali to death on the charge of "sowing corruption on earth".

He has spent close to four months in solitary confinement on a daily ration of 100 grams of bread with only a thin blanket and a picture of his wife and their two children in the cell with him.

Djalali has been returned to the general population at Evin Prison in Tehran. "We are somewhat relieved that this will put an end to long-term solitary confinement, which was a form of torture," Amnesty said.