http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/24/world/iran-grants-bail-to-woman-from-britain-held-5-months.html 2014-11-24 03:19:07 Iran Grants Bail to Woman From Britain Held 5 Months Ghoncheh Ghavami, 25, who has dual citizenship, is appealing a one-year sentence for a conviction that has been linked to activism. === TEHRAN — A British-Iranian woman detained in The British Foreign Office confirmed the release of the woman, Ghoncheh Ghavami, but said the Iranian authorities would not allow her to return to Ms. Ghavami, 25, was released after paying bail of about $30,000, her mother, Susan Moshtaghian, told the Iranian Students’ News Agency on Sunday. “Based on the verdict handed down by the court, she was sentenced to one year imprisonment and banned for two years to leave the country,” she said. The family is awaiting a decision by the Court of Appeal. Ms. Ghavami, a London law school graduate, had been in Iran only four months, after spending most of her life in Britain, when she was drawn into the world of Tehran’s small and heavily monitored circle of activists. Two arrests, including one in front of a volleyball stadium, preceded her Ms. Moshtaghian insisted that her daughter was innocent. “She has been defending herself and is innocent,” she told the news agency. The charges against Ms. Ghavami have been unclear. Some websites say she has been accused of having contacts with opposition groups, but her former lawyer said she had been found guilty of spreading propaganda against Iran’s political system. The British government and human rights groups like Amnesty International had called for her release. Prosecutors said she had been charged for taking part in opposition protests abroad, not for trying to watch the volleyball match. Ms. Ghavami was arrested a week after she attended a protest against the limits imposed on Iranian women, who are, among other things, barred from attending all-male volleyball matches. Iranian law does not recognize dual citizenship, so all those holding an Iranian passport are regarded as Iranian subjects. There is no British Embassy in Tehran. Another person with dual citizenship, the Iranian-American Jason Rezaian, who is a correspondent for The Washington Post, has been detained since July 22.