Iason Athanasiadis Freed

Polymnia Athanasiadi and Garth Fowden have just issued a statement beginning:

Our son, Iason Athanasiadis, arrived from Teheran at Eleftherios Venizelos Airport in Athens early this afternoon. We are delighted to say that he seems in excellent health and spirits.

We don’t have any further details at this point, but we are delighted and relieved to hear that Iason is safely back with his family and is healthy.

When his release was announced yesterday, Jon Sawyer, executive director of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting which was funding his work, discounted the charges by the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman that Iason was somehow engaged in illegal or unprofessional activities. “Iason is a consummate professional,” Sawyer said. “He brings to his reporting on Iran a deep knowledge of that country’s language, culture and people. We welcome his release.”

We heartily second Sawyer’s sentiments and will post further updates as details emerge.