The Spanish adventurer Santiago Sánchez Cogedor, imprisoned in Iran since 2022 and released this past week, has finally arrived in Madrid on January 2 after 1:15 p.m. on a flight from Dubai. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, announced yesterday night, through X, that Sánchez Cogedor was already flying to Spain.
Upon landing at the Madrid-Barajas airport, and in front of numerous family members and friends, and also the media; Sánchez Cogedor has admitted that he is "clueless" and that "it has been very hard", at the same time that he wanted to emphasize how lucky he is despite everything: "I don't believe it! We don't know how lucky we are to have born in this country."
Minutes before arrival, Celia Cogedor, her mother, had celebrated the happy ending of this story: "I prepared her favorite food," she declared before the media gathered at the airport. Likewise, she has commented that her son is fine despite everything and has revealed some of her conversations: "He told me that he is going to use the suffering to help others, as he has always done."
Cogedor's mother has maintained that her son was the target of deception by an opponent of the Iranian regime. "When my son entered Iran he had a contact. And it seems that he was an opponent of the regime. He caught him, tricked him and took him to the grave to take the photo as a foreigner and send it on social networks," he explained. , indicating that someone reported that his son was taking a photo and they detained him "immediately."
After almost 15 months detained in one of the "worst prisons in the world", Sánchez Cogedor's mother has thanked the Government and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, for their involvement in the release of her son. like all the help he has offered to his family. But he also mentioned in a "special" way the Spanish ambassador to Iran, Ángel Losada, for having behaved "like a father" who has done "the possible and the impossible" and who last night accompanied his son until he boarded the plane. back to Spain.
"He is an extraordinary being that my entire family loves. We are convinced that if it is not for him, my son will not leave. But he has not left in years. He has juggled so that this exit occurs in such a turbulent country," he added. Celia Cogedor, who has described Losada as one of her "best friends" and "an extraordinary being" who has returned their son to them after going through "horrible" conditions.
The man from Madrid was arrested and imprisoned by the Tehran authorities in October 2022 after visiting the grave of Mahsa Amini, the woman arrested and tortured by the Islamic religious police for not wearing her hijab correctly and who became a symbol of resistance against the Iranian theocratic regime. Her release was also announced last Sunday the 31st by the Iranian Embassy in Spain, which framed the decision "in the friendly and historical relations between both countries and in compliance with the laws."
Sánchez Cogedor arrived in Iran on foot and his objective was not the Persian country, but Qatar. He had started his adventure on January 8, 2022 in San Sebastián de los Reyes and wanted to cover the almost 7,000 kilometers between Madrid and the Arab country, in order to attend the Soccer World Cup, which was held from November 20 to December 18 of that year.
Supposedly, the Spanish adventurer participated that October in a demonstration protesting Amini's death and that would explain his arrest by the Iranian authorities. Within the framework of the same protest, the Galician activist Ana Baneira Suárez was also arrested, released in February 2023. Albares celebrated Baneira's release yesterday in the same tweet.
