Iranian protester Erfan Soltani has been released on bail, his lawyer told AFP on Sunday, after the United States warned he was due to be executed, a claim Tehran denied by saying he had not been sentenced to death.
Lawyer Amir Mousakhani said the 26-year-old "was released yesterday (Saturday) and received all of his belongings including his cellphone", adding that a bail of "two billion tomans" was paid for his release.
Soltani was arrested on January 10 during the recent nationwide protests in Iran. He was held in a detention facility in Karaj outside Tehran on charges of propaganda against Iran's Islamic system and acting against national security, according to the judiciary's statement in January.
The US State Department had said on its Persian-language X account that Soltani had been sentenced to death. Iran's judiciary later rejected that claim, saying the case was still under investigation and that the charges did not carry the death penalty.
Iranian officials said the protests began on December 28 as peaceful demonstrations before turning into "riots" involving killings and vandalism. Tehran has accused the United States and Israel of fuelling what it called a "terrorist operation", particularly when demonstrations peaked on January 8 and 9.
Iran has acknowledged more than 3,000 deaths during the protests, insisting that most were members of the security forces and innocent bystanders and attributing the violence to "terrorist acts". The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said it has confirmed 6,713 deaths, mostly of protesters.