A 26-year-old Iranian man who was reportedly sentenced to death in connection with anti-government protests last month has been released on bail, reports say.
Erfan Soltani was arrested on 8 January in the city of Fardis, just west of Tehran, as protests swept across the country, prompting a deadly crackdown by Iranian authorities.
Officials then informed his family that he had been scheduled to be executed within days, without giving any additional details, according to Norway-based Kurdish human rights group Hengaw.
But Iran's judiciary denied that he was sentenced to death, saying he faced security-related charges carrying prison terms only.
Soltani's lawyer, Amir Mousakhani, told the AFP news agency that he was released on bail on Saturday 'and received all of his belongings including his cellphone'.
A bail of 'two billion tomans' (around $12,600; £9,200) was paid for his release, the lawyer added.
The arrest of Soltani, a clothes shop owner, made headlines around the world when it was reported that he was allegedly due to be executed.
At the time, one of Soltani's relatives told BBC Persian that a court had issued a death sentence 'in an extremely rapid process, within just two days'.
The Iranian government called reports by foreign media organisations that Soltani faced execution a 'blatant act of news fabrication'.
Meanwhile, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reports that it has confirmed the killing of over 6,300 individuals since the unrest began in late December, with another 17,000 deaths still under investigation. Another group, Iran Human Rights, has warned that the final toll could exceed 25,000.
