After spending 87 days in custody, Christian prisoner Ali Golchin (29) was released from Evin prison, Tehran, on Sunday 25 July 2010 after payment of €150,000 bail.

Ali had been arrested on 29 April 2010 at his home in the city of Varamin. Security agents searched the house and confiscated books (including Bibles), a computer, personal belongings and identification documents.

The majority of Ali's detention was spent in solitary confinement in the notorious Section 209 of Evin Prison. Throughout this time he was only allowed to meet his family once for ten minutes. He faced long, harsh interrogation and his family reported that Ali described his time in prison as "unbearable".

The judicial authorities have not given any reasons for Ali's detention and he has not been formally charged, so the heavy bail is inexplicable to his family and friends. (Ali's father has stated that having Bibles in the basement of the family home was, according to some officials, the reason for his detention.) According to Iranian law, levels of bail should be set to suit the type of crime for which the defendant is being accused, and the charges must be defined. Furthermore, this bail has been inflicted upon the whole family in the form of a bond against the title deed of family property of equivalent value.

Other Christians from the cities of Tehran, Isfahan, Kermanshah and Mashhad have also been released from detention and are waiting for trial dates to be announced. They have had to sign specific commitments about their conduct or have had to make bail payments. (FCNN)