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A recently releasedÌýafter five years in a Tehran jailÌýhas said he will run this October's London Marathon, to fulfillÌýa goal he set himself while in detention.

- who is 68 years old - is training for the gruellingÌý26.2-mile race through the British capital, heÌý The Guardian.

Ashoori wasÌýdetained in Iran in 2017, on spying charges thatÌýhe repeatedly denied. He was sentenced in September 2018 toÌýa total of twelve yearsÌýin jailÌýand held at the .

The dual nationalÌýwas released early, at the same time as , in March of this year, after the UK agreed to payÌýa long-standing $400 million debt it owed Tehran.

Ashoori said two books read during his time in captivity inspire him to run the race - one was 'What I Talk About When I Talk AboutÌýRunning', a book by the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami lent to him by a fellow inmate;Ìýthe otherÌýwas a smuggled copy of 'Man’s Search for Meaning' by Austrian Auschwitz survivorÌýViktor Frankl.

"Putting the two [books] together, I had the physical reason, and now the purpose. It made me think: 'OK, if I’m going to run the London Marathon, let something good come out of it'," he told the British daily.

The retired engineerÌýpreviously told °®Âþµº of his wish to run the iconic race, and said that he had ranÌýaround a small prison yard with other inmates during his detention.

AshooriÌýsaid he will run the race for himself and to fundraise for Hostage International and Amnesty International, two organisations he said played aÌýmajor part in his release.

During his detention, the organisations urged the British government to do more to secure Ashoori's release. Ashoori said the two NGOs continue to help him as he adjusts to life back home.