“She is fine,” assures the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs. Ana Baneira, a Spaniard detained in Iran since the end of last year, was released on Saturday, José Manuel Albares announced on Sunday. “She was released yesterday but we didn’t want to announce it publicly until her plane took off from Iran,” he told reporters. The head of the Spanish diplomacy specified that the young woman would join from Tehran her region of origin, Galicia (north-west of Spain), via Dubai and Geneva.
The young woman’s family immediately welcomed her release, hoping to see her again on Sunday evening, “after weeks of waiting that lasted an eternity,” she said in a statement. She stressed that it would be up to the young woman herself “to decide when and how” she would speak to the press, and asking the media to “respect the privacy” of the family reunion.
Arrest in November
Spanish diplomatic sources had announced in November the arrest of a Spanish national, without giving further details, but the NGO Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) had affirmed that it was this woman, aged 24 years. The circumstances of his arrest have never been officially confirmed but it came as Iran was shaken by a protest movement since the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini.
The Iranian authorities had announced at the end of September the arrest of nine foreigners, mainly from Poland, Italy and France, in connection with the demonstrations. Another Spaniard, Santiago Sanchez Cogedor, has been detained in Iran since October. “Today is a happy day but happiness will be total when Santiago is also liberated,” insisted the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs. “I will not stop insisting (with Tehran) and taking steps until Santiago is released. It is an arrest that has no basis,” he added.