October 23, 2008

American Student Is Arrested in Iran While Working on Master's Thesis

An American graduate student doing research on her master’s thesis in Iran has been arrested and is being held in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, where she is at risk of torture and other ill treatment, Amnesty International reported.

The student, Esha Momeni, who is enrolled in the School of Communications, Media, and Arts at California State University at Northridge, traveled to Iran two months ago to visit her family and to do research on her thesis project, a video documentary of the Iranian women’s movement.

On October 15, Ms. Momeni was stopped while driving in Tehran by people identifying themselves as undercover traffic-police officers. They said they were arresting her on suspicion of a traffic offense, and then took her to her parents’ home, which they searched. They seized her laptop and video footage of the interviews she had conducted. She was taken to the section of Evin Prison run by the Ministry of Intelligence.

Ms. Momeni, who was born in Los Angeles, has not been charged with any offense. Her family members were told she would be released quickly if they did not make her arrest public. But when they were not allowed to visit her and were told that no details of her case would be revealed until an investigation was completed, they went public.

Ms. Momeni is a member of the California branch of the Campaign for Equality, a women’s-rights group aimed at ending discrimination against women in Iranian law. Amnesty International reported that dozens of supporters and members of the group had been arrested for their activities.

Iranian authorities have cracked down on domestic academic dissenters in recent years and taken aim at several academics with international ties as well. Haleh Esfandiari was the most prominent of three Iranian-American scholars imprisoned last year. Mehdi Zakerian, a human-rights scholar who was to teach this term at the University of Pennsylvania’s law school, was arrested in August. He remains in custody. —Andrew Mills

Comments

1. Poor Ms Momeni was probably reported by a spiteful neighbour of her relatives. The idea that someone of Iranian-American parentage would be silly enough to visit Iran is hard to understand but things like this happen all the time in Australia. She is of Iranian parentage and so is likely to be considered an Iranian national whether she does or not. The US and Iran do not recognise each other and so her US passport is no protection. Even if she had been born in Australia and carried an Australian passport it is unlikely her Australian citizenship would be legally recognised in Iran. Children of immigrants and refugees are often uncomprehending to the point of silliness of the world that their parents left. They go “home” seaking their cultural roots but find the “home” described by their parents is no longer there or never was there in the first place.

   Other surprises can await them. More than of few schoolgirls discover when they step off the plane that a marriage has been arranged for them without their knowledge.

   I fondly remember a pompous uncle and aunt of mine going “back” to England in the 1960s. The only problem was he was a 4th generation Australian and she was a 5th. They were stunned to find England was nothing like what they imagined and relatives they located were not interested in them. I was only a kid and was considered a bit naughty when I asked my uncle “How can you go back to England if even your grandparents were not born there?” When I was in England and Scotland I never dreamed of trying to find my “roots” because I knew they were not there. “Roots” is a futile quest.

   — Raymond J. RITCHIE    Oct 23, 07:43 PM    #

2. Mr. Ritchie, I’m sure your comments are well-intended, but you are far off the mark. Esha is not some disconnected American of Iranian descent nurturing some romantic ideal of what she would find in Iran. She has family there, including her parents, and is American only by incident of birth. Thus Esha was not captured out of any ignorance as you imply; rather, she fell victim to her postive belief in the importance of her research project. Those of us in her thesis committee who tried to warn her off the idea ended up impressed by her determination and courage. Instead of belittling her with the attitude “she got what she deserved,” lets work our asses off to get her out of there.

   — David Blumenkrantz    Oct 23, 10:57 PM    #

3. What Dr Blumenkrantz said.

   — Gustave    Oct 23, 11:47 PM    #

4. They lie in the Sulaimaniyah hospital morgue set out on white-tiled slabs. A few have been shot or strangled, some beaten to death, but most have been burned. Burns have stretched the skin on one woman’s face into a fixed look of surprise.

   These women are not casualties of battle. In fact, the cause of death is generally recorded as “accidental”, although their bodies often lie unclaimed by their families.

   “It is getting worse, especially the burnings,” says Khanim Rahim Latif, the manager of Asuda, an Iraqi organisation… that works to combat violence against women.
   Source: The Guardian

   Students and faculty who study abroad with hopes of doing good deeds must realize that they put their lives at serious risk. Action must be taken now to rescue Esha Momeni.

   — Help her    Oct 24, 08:19 AM    #

5. She know about the situation there.

   — Joe the Screwed    Oct 24, 08:46 AM    #

6. If not for brave women like Ms. Momeni to shed light on the treatment of women in Iran, then who will do it? I applaud her courage and pray that she and her family will not suffer more than they already have. We must do all we can to get her released as soon as possible.

   — Name withheld    Oct 24, 09:00 AM    #

7. Yet again, thank goodness for Amnesty International! How else would we hear of these things? If anyone knows of anything one can do, please post the info here so we all can help as we are able.

   — Whatever!    Oct 24, 09:15 AM    #

8. She might have even been reported by her own parents. Many times immigrant parents become upset when they see their children adopting more liberal western values and retaliate by trying to ship them back home to arranged marriages or boarding schools in their countries of origins.

   So children of immigrant parents (especially young women) have to beware returning home even to visit relatives.

   You’re simply not safe.

   — NYMOM    Oct 24, 09:22 AM    #

9. The comments by 1, 8, 5 are puzzling for a group of academics. This is an American conducting thesis research in a country where she has longstanding home ties and an obvious grasp of the peril women face (otherwise this would not be her thesis topic.) Often times universities in the home country cannot support such research (for risk of reprisal, etc.) Such scholarship is crucial to shedding light on the policies that face Iranian women and the activist and political solutions — from within the home country, through transnational alliances— that may bring change. This case needs much more publicity and this graduate student needs our support and help asap.

   — kc    Oct 24, 09:36 AM    #

10. Good question #7.
    The answer is the U.S. Department of State.

    “Additional questions regarding services to Americans incarcerated abroad and prisoner transfer treaties may be addressed to the appropriate geographic division of the Office of American Citizens Services, Department of State, Room 4817 N.S., 2201 C Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20520, tel: (202) 647-5225; 647-5226.”

    — Help her    Oct 24, 09:40 AM    #

11. Mr. Ritchie,

    I am sorry you feel that these “roots” trips are futile. I have met my relatives who own and run a farm in Sweden from which my great great grandparents left when they were teenagers. The meeting was incredible and we were welcomed like immediate family members. Even though this trip was 20 years ago, it still sticks in my mind today. Even if not receptive, it still allows the roots seeker to close a chapter on their life and does provide an opportunity for growth.

    My heart and prayers go out this this young woman. And I sincerely hope that she will be released in the end, unharmed.

    — dsyind    Oct 24, 09:44 AM    #

12. In separate incidents, Iranian-American academic Haleh Esfandiari, Canadian-Iranian professor Ramin Jahanbegloo, and 33 other women were also arrested and transferred to Evin prison. What was their crime? They were women’s rights activists. The Human Rights Watch has documented cases of torture and detainee abuse at Evin prison.
    Source: Human Rights Watch

    — Help her    Oct 24, 11:45 AM    #

13. I fear this wituation will be a political tug of war, similar to Elian, the Cuban boy.

    — rick    Oct 24, 01:05 PM    #

14. If what the Guardian and others said is true, the leaders of Iran should be brought (in absentia at least) to the World Court for crimes against humanity. I know they say standing leaders cannot be held for such crimes, but that should be changed or the court is useless.

    — Vicent    Oct 24, 01:56 PM    #

15. Academics be damned, it was a naive and foolish roll of the dice and they came up snake eyes. That said, the State Department needs to step up and apply diplomatic pressure because, in the end, she is a US citizen. Now that being said, there are scores of prisoners in Guantanamo who are in the identical situation. It’s a bad time to be an innocent.

    — Lucky Little Me    Oct 24, 02:44 PM    #

16. i am a cal state northridge student myself and i am deeply affected by this.

    immediate action for this girl and others must be taken and soon.

    no matter what- it is wrong and it is a human rights violation and i wont stand idly by.

    it is not naiviety. it is not stupidity. it is not silliness. she displayed much more courage and bravery and determinance than most of us will ever live to experience and/or witness in our lifetimes. we must not let anything happen to this brave soul.

    — brittany c    Oct 24, 05:02 PM    #

17. very sad but why go to Iran? during a time of war?

    — CSUNBOY    Oct 24, 05:51 PM    #

18. Don’t worry, Bernardine Dohrn is actually, at this moment, rounding up support and ensuring that her fellow believers will leave no bomb unturned until they ensure all human rights prisoners in Iran are free.

    — steve    Oct 24, 05:54 PM    #

19. I applaud Esha’s effort and pray that she is able to return to the states soon. People are saying she was foolish to go back there but the risk she took was for a good cause and this incident brings the issues of women’s right in Iran to light.

    — csun student    Oct 24, 09:29 PM    #

20. 17 War?

    — jon    Oct 25, 03:53 PM    #

21. Some correspondents seem the think that I am being a terribly hard about what has happened to Ms Memini in Iran. I am sure she meant well and wanted her work to improve the lot of women in Iran. I urge earnest advocates of universal women’s rights to heed what I am trying to say. I am being realistic and also thinking in broader terms than some others.
    Iran is a closed society with a psychopathic paranoid government, which justifies everything it does in theocratic terms. It rejects the role that women play in Western societies. Think of Stalin’s Russia or Mao’s China run by misogynist clerics.
    Any western or westernised woman visiting Iran is in very severe danger of harassment, arrest and beatings by police and state security. Trying to be “culturally sensitive” only deepens the level of scrutiny and suspicion. There is also the danger from vigilante goon squads, eager to prove their Islamic credentials by attacking westerners, particularly women. Such goon squads are everywhere in Moslem countries these days.
    As stated before, those of Iranian descent are liable to find that their western citizenship is not recognised and are considered Iranian nationals. Ethnic Iranian-American? – no comment necessary. In closed societies there is never any shortage of people eager to ingratiate themselves with the authorities and so they are in danger of being denounced by neighbours, servants, “friends” and even their own relatives.
    No mention is made in the article if she had any Iranian government authorisation for her social research. I very much doubt if she did. If not, her actions were illegal and downright foolhardy. Even if she had authorisation it is difficult to work out who is in charge in Iran. Authorisation from one branch of government might not be recognised by other branches.
    Repeat after me. Any westerner trying to talk to Iranian nationals, let alone interviewing them for research purposes, puts themselves, the interviewee and everyone around them in danger of arrest by state security or a beating by a goon squad.
    Spare a thought though for the women she interviewed! The full weight of the Islamic regime will come down on them. Humiliation, arrest, harassment of their families, house searches, expulsion from university, loss of employment, blacklisting, denial of a passport, religious interrogation, police and state security interrogation, beatings, house arrest, imprisonment. It goes on and on. Their fate is oblivion!

    — Dr Raymond J. RITCHIE    Oct 26, 12:23 AM    #

22. It is not just academics who are in danger in Iran. The members of the Baha’i Faith are being persecuted and arrested for their beliefs. The World Courts do nothing.

    — sad sack    Oct 26, 01:40 AM    #

23. Yes, #15, my first thought was that the American government is to blame. We can’t very well criticize others for illegal detaining and torture when we do it ourselves, can we? And now our own citizens are suffering for it, as for everything else thoughtless and anti-American that “our” government has done. Refusing to recognize Iran, while it might have better reasons (although I’m not sure about that), has contributed as well.

    — Jessica B. Burstrem    Oct 26, 10:24 AM    #

24. Any one who has any sense should know that Iran is a fundamentalists run Islamic state. Women are risking their lives if they want to impose the western values or even question the Islamic treatment of women. As long as Iran remains under the rule of funamentalist Islamic rulers, don’t expect any change. Not only that the militant Muslims are trying to impose those values on women living in other countries, e.g. Asia, Europe in spite of democratic laws of those nations.

    — sam    Oct 26, 12:23 PM    #

25. http://www.petitiononline.com/EshaM/petition.html

    sign this petition to help free Esha Momeni…it is a tragedy that she was arrested and I’m sure she knew of the dangers she was facing going back home. As a young Iranian-American woman myself, I look up to Esha. I hope for her safe return. That’s what its all about. We all know about the oppressive regime…no need to argue or try to “inform” others on your opinions. Focus on getting her home…she’s one of ours.

    — ...    Oct 27, 01:03 AM    #

26. Thank you for informing us of this situation. Now tell us what we can do. She is a U.S. citizen. What are the responsibilites of our government?

    — AR    Oct 27, 01:27 PM    #

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