The Spanish Santiago Sánchez Cogedor has landed at Madrid’s Barajas airport after being released in Iran, where he has been imprisoned since October 2022 after visiting Masha Amini’s grave: “it has been very long and very hard, we don’t know how lucky we are to have been born in this country.”
With these words, Sánchez Cogedor has conveyed to the avalanche of media that awaited him at the airport his first impressions after having spent almost 15 months in the Evin prison, one of the harshest in the country, after having photographed and visited the grave of Masha Aminiwhose death due to wearing the veil incorrectly led to protests throughout the country and around the world.
The 41-year-old from Madrid read the text of a “diploma” given to him as a farewell by the jail inmates and recalled that the penalty that awaits someone accused of espionage in Iran is a “death sentence.”
Excited and in the presence of his family, Sánchez Cogedor has valued the camaraderie he found in prison with the rest of the inmates, who in the “diploma” have thanked him for his leadership that has filled “the entire prison with hope” and that he passed “with his inner strength”, the examination of patience and loneliness. Sánchez Cogedor explained that the “diploma” was given to him by the oldest prisoner in the Evin prison (17 years in prison) who assured him that the “Iranian people love him.”
“If it’s not for the ambassador, my son won’t come out”
Before his arrival, after 1:15 p.m. this Wednesday, his mother Celia Cogedor “profoundly” thanked the Spanish Government, and especially the Foreign Minister, for its involvement in the release of her son, who “They have juggled so that this exit occurs“.
But above all, he has given a “special mention” to the Spanish ambassador to Iran, Ángel Losada, who has behaved “like a father.” “Ángel, thank you, you will be one of the people I keep in my heart” he emphasized. “If it’s not for him, my son won’t go out for years.“said Celia Cogedor, who praised the figure of the ambassador: “he is an extraordinary being that the whole family loves” and stressed that the next appointment that Santiago had before the judge was in “January 2025.”
Sánchez was arrested on October 2, 2022 when He was traveling on foot to Qatar for the World Cup which was held in that country, from November 20 to December 18 of that year. Cogedor will continue walking, the next objective: Africa
Related news
Asked about her son’s future now in Spain, Celia pointed out that despite this traumatic experience “he plans to continue walking”, to the “misfortune” of his mother, and the next goal he has in mind is Africa. Celia has suggested that her son was “betrayed” into entering Iran and taking a photo at Masha Amini’s grave, but she has also said that Santiago does not wish ill on anyone, nor on the person who took him there.
Asked about alleged bad treatment or torture in prison, Celia did not want to get into that matter because it is something that would “break her down.” She has acknowledged that the worst moments were the first month But she has made it clear that she feels “very proud of her son” for his empathy with people, and for the character he demonstrated in prison with his fellow inmates. She “loves to do good,” and proof of this is that “five hundred prisoners gave her a blanket as a farewell to her.”