What it means
آزاد با ضمانت (âzâd bâ zamânat) means released on bail or freed with surety: the condition in which a defendant is allowed out of detention before trial, subject to a guarantee. The phrase is a cross-origin compound. آزاد (âzâd) meaning free, is a native Persian word of ancient Iranian origin. با (bâ) is the Persian preposition meaning with. ضمانت (zamânat) comes from Arabic, from the root ض-م-ن meaning to guarantee or to be responsible for. The combination is distinctly Persian in its grammar but draws on Arabic legal vocabulary for the core concept.
How to use it
- متهم آزاد با ضمانت شد. (mottaham âzâd bâ zamânat shod.) “The defendant was released on bail.”
- دادگاه اجازه داد با ضمانت آزاد بشه. (dâdgâh ejâze dâd bâ zamânat âzâd beshe.) “The court allowed him to be freed on bail.”
- ضمانت برای آزادیش خیلی بالا بود. (zamânat barây-e âzâdish kheyli bâlâ bud.) “The bail for his release was very high.”
- تا وقتی که آزاد با ضمانته، نمیتونه کشور رو ترک کنه. (tâ vaqti ke âzâd bâ zamânat-e, nemitune keshvar ro tark kone.) “As long as he is out on bail, he cannot leave the country.”
Cultural note
In Iranian criminal procedure, release on bail can take several forms: a cash deposit (وثیقه, vasiqe), a personal guarantee from a named کفیل, or a combination of both. Judges have broad discretion in setting conditions. The phrase آزاد با ضمانت appears frequently in news coverage of arrests of journalists, activists, and business figures, where bail terms often include travel bans and regular check-ins. The mixture of Persian and Arabic in this everyday legal phrase reflects the layered history of Persian legal vocabulary, which absorbed Arabic terms through Islamic jurisprudence while retaining Persian function words and adjectives.