Iranian cartoonist Atena Farghadani was released from prison on Tuesday, according to her lawyer, Mohammad Moghimi. “I am very happy that she and her parents reunited,” Moghimi told The Associated Press. In a picture, Atena’s mother embraces her with a flower wreath outside of the Evin prison.

Farghadani was released after an appeals court reduced her sentence from 12 years to 18 months. She was originally imprisoned for a cartoon which depicted lawmakers as animals to critique a draft law restricting contraception and criminalizing voluntary sterilization. During her time in prison, she claims to have suffered physical and verbal abuse from prison officials, solitary confinement during a hunger strike that resulted in a heart attack, and forced virginity and pregnancy tests to “investigate illegitimate sexual relations” sparked by a handshake with her lawyer, Moghimi.

Meanwhile, Iranian President Hassan Rohani called for expanded freedoms in a speech at the annual Tehran International Book Fair and said, “Critics should not be detained, critics should not be sent to jail.” But he also warned against “lying, blaming and weakening the power of the nation.”

The parliamentary run-off elections this week secured a majority of the 290-seat chamber for the moderate-reformist bloc which supports Rohani. However, it is not an absolute majority, meaning Rohani may run into future problems with the hard-liners who still oppose freedom of expression and wish to see artists like Farghadni imprisoned.

According to Cartoonists Rights Network International (CRNI), Farghadani is grateful for the support of all cartoonists, activists, and organizations toward her cause, but also expressed concern over those who remain imprisoned and largely silenced. She intends to remain in Iran and continue her work as an artist.