While the release of some political prisoners is underway before celebrations of Persian New Year (Nowruz) begin, Iranian Judiciary authorities continue to issue heavy bails for political activists. In the last round of heavy bail orders, Iranian scholar Kian Tajbakhsh, who was arrested eight months ago after Iran’s June presidential elections, was released Saturday night after posting an $800,000 bail.

Some families of political prisoners have told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that high bails of over $400,000 have been issued for their children while they are trying to negotiate with the judge in charge of the cases to reduce bail amounts. These families have informed judicial authorities that they are not capable of posting such bonds.

On the other hand, the court has refused to issue bails for some of the political prisoners like student activist Bahareh Hedayat, or Azar Mansouri who was sentenced to three years in prison by the Revolutionary Courts Branch 28.