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A Spanish man, imprisoned in Iran for 15 months after visiting the burial place of Mahsa Amini, returned home Tuesday.
Santiago Sanchez Cogedor was arrested by Iranian authorities on espionage charges in October 2022, Reuters reported. His detention came toward the end of a months-long, roughly 4,000-mile trip on foot from Spain to Qatar to watch the 2022 FIFA World Cup, when he stopped at Amini’s burial place in Saqqez, Iran, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency. The Kurdish-Iranian woman’s September 2022 death while in custody of Iran’s morality police sparked nationwide protests, followed by a brutal crackdown that included countless arrests.
Videos of Sanchez at Madrid’s Barajas Airport on Tuesday show a joyful reunion with friends and family.
“It has been very long, very hard, but I am here in my country,” Sanchez said at the airport, as reported by Reuters. “We are not aware of how fortunate we are to have been born here in this country.”
One of the first to announce Sanchez would be freed was the Iranian Embassy in Spain, through a statement on X, on the last day of 2023.
“The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran is pleased to report the release of Santiago Sánchez Cogedor, the only Spanish citizen imprisoned in Iran,” said the embassy. “His release is carried out within the framework of friendly and historical relations between the two countries and in compliance with laws.”
On Monday, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares confirmed that Sanchez was on a flight back to Spain.
“Today happiness is complete,” Albares said on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Santiago will finally be able to join his family and friends in Spain very soon.”
In his post, Albares also mentioned Ana Baneira, a Spanish citizen who was backpacking through Iran when she was arrested on a charge of espionage by Iranian authorities in November 2022.
Baneira was released four months later, according to Reuters.
Before Spanish authorities were able to confirm that Sanchez had been detained, his family didn’t know whether he was still alive, according to Al Jazeera. It was reported that Sanchez had traveled through 15 countries by the time he was arrested.
The 41-year-old had been documenting his journey online, sharing stories about the people he met along the way and photographs and videos of the meals and places to sleep that he was offered. His last post on Instagram, on Oct. 1, detailed that he had nearly arrived in Iran.
“Last village in northern Iraq,” he posted on Instagram. “I’m separated by a mountain to get to Iran the next country before arriving in Qatar.”
While sharing photos and videos, Sanchez often wrote about the “Hospitality, love, affection,” he received from strangers in various countries during his journey.
“I walked through Iraq and Kurdistan safer than any capital in the world,” he posted on Sept. 14. Later in the same post, he added: “Soon I will arrive in Iran, another country where I will be killed, that’s what the television told me.”
Sanchez did not respond to The Washington Post’s request for comment on Tuesday.
Sanchez had begun his journey from Alcala de Henares, a city northeast of Madrid to Doha, in early 2022, hoping to reach the World Cup venue by November, according to Doha News. Previously, the former paratrooper had cycled from Spain to Saudi Arabia to watch Real Madrid play.
“The nightmare has ended at last,” said Sanchez’s mother, Celia Cogedor, while at the airport Tuesday, according to Reuters. She especially thanked Spain’s ambassador to Iran, Angel Losada, for his help in negotiating her son’s release.
Sanchez also thanked Losada. Despite his ordeal, he added, “I will probably go back to Iran, even if you told me not to.”
Sanchez told reporters he wanted the Iranian authorities to understand “that you have to let people free. If you put a fence in front of me, I’m going to jump over it.”