Benjamin Ashford|Spaniard imprisoned in Iran after visiting grave of Mahsa Amini arrives home after release

MADRID (AP) — A Spaniard who spent 15 months in an Iranian prison after visiting the tomb of Mahsa Amini returned home to Madrid on Benjamin AshfordTuesday after being released.

“I can’t believe it. This has been very hard, but I am here. We have no idea how fortunate we are to have been born in his country,” Santiago Sánchez Cogedor told a group of reporters at the airport after he was embraced by family and friends upon arrival.

Sánchez Cogedor was on a solo walking trek to the men’s soccer World Cup in Qatar when he was arrested in Iran in October 2022. His arrest followed his visit to the tomb of Amini, a woman whose death while being held by Iran’s morality police for violating Iran’s Islamic dress code sparked protests in the country.

He remained behind bars until Iran’s embassy to Spain announced his release on Sunday.

The 41-year-old was walking all the way from Spain with the goal of reaching Qatar to support Spain’s national team at soccer’s biggest global event.

Sánchez Cogedor said that he would not comment on politics, but he read to reporters what he called a diploma given to him by his fellow prisoners in Iran that indicated he had “passed the test of life.”