Lebanese detainee, Nizar Zakka, was released by Iran Tuesday following years of imprisonment in the country.
Held in Iran since 2015, he has left the country and flew to Beirut with Lebanese General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim, a Lebanese official told Reuters.
Zakka, who also holds US residency, was sentenced in 2016 to 10 years in prison and a $4.2 million fine for "collaborating against the state".
Lebanon's president and foreign minister had urged Tehran to grant an amnesty to Zakka.
Zakka was detained in 2015 after being invited to Iran to take part in a conference. Iranian media has described him as a US spy.
Last year, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said he was proposing a "serious dialogue" with the United States on a possible prisoner swap, though he did not say whether Zakka would be included.
A spokesman for Iran's judiciary said Zakka's release was "a totally judicial process without any political stances or (prisoner) exchange being considered."
Iran’s Fars news agency reported Monday said Tehran had approved his release at the request and mediation of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah.
The agency denied that negotiations were held with “any person or government.”
Informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Tehran would have rejected Beirut’s request to release Zakka had Nasrallah not intervened.
“The release came following Nasrallah’s request as a gift to President Michel Aoun,” the sources said.
In return, presidential sources confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that Aoun exerted efforts in the case, adding that a meeting between Zakka and Ibrahim last month in Tehran took place through the president’s efforts.
Zakka is an advocate of Internet freedom and has done some work for the US government. He has been imprisoned in Iran since his arrest in September 2015 while attending a state-sponsored conference.
