Iran lawyer says detained Australia-based academic has been freed

The lawyer of an Australia-based academic detained on charges of trying to "infiltrate" Iranian institutions said on Sunday that she was freed a few days ago, Iran's state news agency reported.

Meimanat Hosseini Chavoshi, a population expert, is affiliated with the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, according to the University of Melbourne's website, Reuters reported.

"I checked today and I was told that Ms Chavoshi was released a few days ago," said Mahmoud Behzadi, lawyer of Chavoshi, according to the IRNA agency.

Population control has become a sensitive issue in Iran since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued an edict in 2014 calling for a population increase after decades of state-promoted birth control.

Chavoshi had been accused in early December by an ultraconservative newspaper of working with foreign powers to infiltrate state institutions, but charges against her were never officially announced, AFP said.

It is not immediately clear if a court session had been held or whether charges against her had just been dropped without a court sitting.

Chavoshi has been published widely on Iran's once-lauded fertility and family-planning policies.

She had been invited by the Labour and Social Welfare Ministry to speak at a conference in Tehran on ageing populations.

At the time of her apprehension, ultraconservative newspaper Kayhan reported the arrest of several population "activists... who, under the cover of scientific activities, had infiltrated state bodies".

It said they manipulated statistics and handed sensitive information to Iran's enemies as part of efforts at "cultural and social invasion".

Iran was once considered an international success story in population control, having brought the birth rate down from seven to two per woman between the 1980s and 2002, according to World Bank figures.

Chavoshi wrote extensively about these efforts, which she described as the "fastest fall in fertility ever recorded" in a 2009 book.

But lately, there has been concern both domestically and internationally that the birth rate is too low, as it was just 1.66 in 2016. 

The Kayhan report said Iran's enemies were using population experts to counter efforts to revive the birth rate by downplaying the gravity of the situation.

"There is evidence these individuals are connected to Western espionage networks," Nasrollah Pejmanfar, a member of parliament's cultural commission, told the newspaper.

Chavoshi has been reported to hold dual Australian and Iranian nationality.

Reuters reported in 2017 that Iran's Revolutionary Guards had arrested at least 30 dual nationals in recent years, mostly on espionage charges.

Iran does not recognise dual nationality and does not routinely announce arrests or charges of dual nationals.

There was no immediate word from Australian officials on Chavoshi's situation.