Fourth Iranian-American detained in Iran
U.S. calls it harassment, noting ‘disturbing pattern’ against dual citizens
WASHINGTON - The United States said Thursday that a fourth Iranian-American has been detained in Iran and alleged that the country’s Islamic authorities are engaged in a “disturbing pattern” of harassment against dual citizens wrongly accused of spying.
The State Department confirmed that Ali Shakeri, a peace activist from Irvine, Calif., who has been missing in Iran for more than two weeks, is being held at a notorious prison in Tehran along with three others.
“Unfortunately, I can confirm for you that we now do know that he has also been taken into custody by Iranian officials,” deputy spokesman Tom Casey told reporters.
He said there had been no response to requests for access to Shakeri or the others by Swiss diplomats who represent U.S. interests in Iran and repeated flat denials that any of the four are spies or are employed by the U.S. government.
“As with the other cases this is simply ridiculous,” Casey said. “He has no standing with the U.S. government, he is not a U.S. government official, he is not operating or acting on behalf of the U.S. government. He is a private citizen.”
Shakeri, a founding board member at the University of California, Irvine’s Center for Citizen Peacebuilding, was supposed to leave Iran and fly to Europe on May 13 but never arrived at his destination.

American unheard from in 2 months
A U.S. and Iranian citizen who visited Iran this year has not been heard from since March, and a UC Irvine institute he is affiliated with said it was concerned.Ali Shakeri is a California businessman who serves on an advisory board to the Center for Citizen Peacebuilding, which studies how citizens can promote peace in divided societies. A Human Rights Watch report quoted unidentified associates of Shakeri as saying he was "being detained by the Iranian authorities." At least three other Iranian Americans have been arrested, detained or otherwise prevented from leaving Iran in recent months.

Help Free Ali Shakeri:
http://www.petitiononline.com/Shakeri/petition-sign.html

3 other academics held
He joins three other Iranian-Americans — academic Haleh Esfandiari, Kian Tajbakhsh, an urban planning consultant with George Soros’ Open Society Institute, and journalist Parnaz Azima — now in custody in Iran.
Esfandiari, Tajbakhsh and Azima have all been charged with endangering Iran’s national security and espionage, the country’s judiciary spokesman said Tuesday. It was not immediately clear on Thursday if Shakeri has been charged.
All were in Iran visiting family members or engaged in professional work, according to Casey and their relatives and employers.
“What we are seeing is a disturbing pattern on the part of the Iranians in efforts to harass these innocent people,” Casey said, adding that Iran’s claims to want a dialogue with the United States were undercut by the detentions.
“It certainly belies any notion that the regime is interested in promoting any kind of dialogue if they are attacking and harassing these Iranian-Americans who are doing nothing more than some pretty basic kinds of human contacts,” he said.

Rice calls arrests ‘a perversion ... of law’
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called the treatment of Esfandiari and the other Iranian-Americans “a perversion of the rule of law.”
“These are people who are there trying to make life better in Iran,” Rice told reporters en route to Europe where she is attending meetings this week. “These are not people engaged in espionage.”
A fifth American citizen, former FBI agent Robert Levinson, has been missing in Iran since early March and Washington has cast severe doubts on Iranian claims to have no information about him in response to repeated requests through the Swiss and others.
“We are still pursuing his welfare and whereabouts,” Casey said. “We think that the Iranian government ought to be able to provide some information about him.”
The United States broke diplomatic relations with Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the hostage crisis at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
Perennially poor ties since then have been exacerbated in recent months by rising tensions over Iran’s nuclear program and U.S. allegations that Tehran is supporting armed groups in Iraq.
Last week, Iran said it has uncovered spy rings organized by the U.S. and its Western allies.

Parnaz (Nazi) Azima Trapped In Iran

Parnaz (Nazi) Azima, a dual national of Iran and the United States, had her Iranian passport taken from her upon arrival in Tehran in late January, after traveling there from the United States to visit her hospitalized and terminally ill mother. The passport has yet to be returned; Azima has been approached to collaborate with Iranian authorities during her efforts to reclaim her passport.

Azima has been an employee of RFE/RL since September 1998, working for RFE/RL's Persian Service in its incarnations as Radio Azadi and Radio Farda.

Azima endured a similar situation from March-May 2006. At that time, her Iranian passport was taken from her while she was visiting her mother in Tehran, one day before her return to Prague. Iranian authorities also began a case against her at that time, but her passport was given back to her and she was allowed to return to Prague after posting bail of about $200,000 in the form of the deed to her mother's house. During a court proceeding that took place after her return to Prague, at which Azima was represented by her lawyer, the case was dismissed and the house deed used for bail was returned to her mother.

Timeline

May 22 Lawyer Aghasi learns that bail has been adjusted to 510 million tooman (approximately $550,000); but that the court accepted an appraisal of Azima's mother's house for that amount.

May 21 Lawyer Aghasi returns to the Special Security Bureau of the Revolutionary Court's Public Prosecutor's Office to post bail. The bail bond is now accepted. Azima's passport is not returned.Aghasi is interviewed by Radio Farda and other media about the unusual amount set as bail.

Aghasi told Radio Farda that even in the case of former Iranian nuclear negotiator Hossein Musavian, who has been charged with violating national security, bail was set at about $200,000. Aghasi also repeated that the whole case does not have a foundation in Iranian law, as the prosecutor's office cannot quote any clause on which to base its charges.

May 20 Azima and her lawyer, Mohammad-Hossein Aghasi, return to the Special Security Bureau of the Revolutionary Court's Public Prosecutor's Office to post bail, now set at 410 million tooman (approximately $440,000). Bail, in the form of the deed to Azima's mother's house accompanied by an appraisal of the value of the home, was not accepted at this time due to a technicality.Aghasi asked the prosecutor handling Azima's case whether, once the bail bond was accepted, Azima's passport would be returned. The prosecutor replied that it may take a while before the passport is returned, citing "sensitivities." Asked what these were, the prosecutor showed a letter from Iran's Information Ministry with Azima's name in the "subject" line and today's date; the prosecutor refused, however, to show Aghasi the contents of the letter.

May 15 Azima answers summons and appears, with her lawyer, at the Special Security Bureau of the Revolutionary Court's Public Prosecutor's Office, where she is given until May 20 to produce bail in order to regain her passport.

Summary of an unbroadcast interview with Azima and Aghasi:

According to Azima, she was summoned to the Prosecutor's Security Office [this Office includes a special section for interrogation and another special section for assisting the prosecutor]. She was accompanied by one of her lawyers, Mohammad-Hossain Aghasi.

Azima was charged with working for Radio Farda, an institution that allegedly spreads propaganda against the Islamic republic. Based on these charges, bail was set at 550 million Tooman (about $500,000), after which she was allowed to go home. The amount of the bail was determined based on an estimate of the salary Azima has earned during her nine years of employment with Radio Free Europe and Radio Farda. The prosecutor justified the bail by arguing that this income was earned in an illegitimate way and must be turned over to the authorities.

Azima rejected the charges and insisted that Radio Farda's mission is spreading information and not political activism. Azima maintained that she has been employed by RFE/RL, a recognized and legal international entity.

According to Aghasi, Azima's case will be sent to the court on the basis of these charges. Both he and Azima maintained that Radio Farda, as in its mission statement, is a media outlet that provides news and information. Aghasi described the approach of the prosecutors as friendly.

May 14 Swiss Embassy officials inquire with Iran's Foreign Ministry concerning Azima; they are told "Azima's file is being studied."

May 11 Azima informed by her lawyer, Aghasi, that he had received a letter from the Intelligence and Security Office of the Revolutionary Court, dated May 9, summoning both Azima and Aghasi to court on May 15. Aghasi speculates that the best-case scenario would involve a return of Azima's passport in exchange for bail; the worst case could lead to Azima being jailed.

May 9 Azima meets with Swiss Embassy officials, who tell her that an Iranian Foreign Ministry official has responded to their "verbal notice" in person. The response: "The Foreign Ministry is studying [Azima's] passport-confiscation case."

May 2 Azima informed that the Swiss Embassy will present a "verbal notice" on her behalf to Iran's Foreign Ministry on May 6.

April 24 Azima meets with an official from the U.S. Interests Section of the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, reports on what happened to her passport and her experiences in trying to regain the passport. She is told that the Swiss Embassy will attempt to pursue the case through diplomatic channels.

April 23 Azima's lawyer, Mohammad-Hossein Aghasi, is told by an official of the Intelligence and Security Office of the Revolutionary Court, that Azima's "passport will not be returned anytime soon" and she will remain in Tehran for two or three years. According to Aghasi, the official dismissed all references to the letter of the law and said no judicial procedure is necessary.

Aghasi says [the] Security Office is a newly established institution that did not exist last year when Azima was persecuted and then charged in court. Aghasi adds that this institution does not even regard itself accountable to Ayatollah Mahmud Shahrudi, Iran's chief justice.

Aghasi also said when he told the official Azima's job may be in jeopardy because she is blocked from traveling to Prague to report to work, the official responded by saying that would not be bad, as she has been working for an antirevolutionary broadcasting service.

Aghasi added that although up until now he was advising Azima not to use her dual-citizenship status, the authorities have left him no other way but for him to inform Azima she could call the Swiss Embassy at this time.

April 17, 22 Azima contacted by Swiss Embassy officials (the Swiss maintain a U.S. Interests Section as part of their embassy in Tehran).

April 15 Azima's lawyer, Mohammad-Hossein Aghasi, is told there is "no answer.... you have to wait" during a meeting at the Intelligence and Security Office of the Revolutionary Court in an effort to regain Azima's passport. Aghasi is shown RFE/RL's April 13 press release on Azima and is asked why it was issued, "even though Aghasi had said he wants to keep the issue out of the media?" Aghasi answered that Azima had kept this quiet for over two months. Aghasi added that Azima had no alternative but to tell RFE/RL why she cannot report to work and even then RFE/RL itself had kept the issue quiet until the need was felt to intervene in the hope of expediting Nazi's return to work. According to Aghasi, after he referred to the law and said passport confiscation before filing charges against Azima was unlawful, the official told him he is aware of the legalities, yet he has chosen to make that decision and that Aghasi should return in 10 days.

April 11 Azima and lawyer Mohammad-Hossein Aghasi visit the Intelligence and Security Office of the Revolutionary Court; they are told that "a new file has been opened for her and she must wait [for her passport] until they send a note."

Azima told by lawyer Aghasi that he will meet with the person "responsible for that Security Office" on April 15; Aghasi advised Azima that it might be helpful to have word about the meeting and her plight revealed as news by Radio Farda.

March 28 Azima (and her brother) visit the Intelligence and Security Office of the Revolutionary Court; her passport is not returned, nor is a date offered for the return of the passport. Azima is told to wait for a notice to be sent; she is treated in a rough manner by her questioner (who implied he was the prosecutor handling Azima's case, in response to a question by Azima), who asked about her relationship with Radio Farda. Azima advised by retained lawyer Shirin Ebadi to go public, as a way of demonstrating that Azima cannot be harassed into collaborating. Her second retained lawyer, Mohammad-Hossein Aghasi, advises that this should be a last resort and that Azima should, for now, use a systematic approach.

Several days later, Azima returns to the Office of Passport Affairs to reclaim her passport; she is referred to an Intelligence and Security Office of the Revolutionary Court.

February 4 Azima visits the Office of Passport Affairs (under the president of the republic), where she is asked to collaborate with Iranian intelligence; she refuses; passport not returned.

January 25 Azima arrives in Tehran to see her ill, hospitalized mother. At Tehran's airport, her passport and a book text are confiscated; she is given a receipt and told to visit an office in 10 days to reclaim the passport.

January 15 Azima leaves Prague for Washington, D.C., for medical reasons; due back in Prague on February 4.[Azima now being treated in Tehran for unspecified "problems with my health" (which were the reason for Azima's original trip to the U.S.).]

Parnaz Azima Bio:
Parnaz Azima has worked for RFE/RL since 1998, first as a broadcaster for RFE/RL's Persian-language Radio Azadi and then, since 2002, as a broadcaster with Radio Farda, the joint RFE/RL-Voice of America 24-hour, seven-day-a-week Persian-language, broadcast service to Iran.

While working for RFE/RL, Azima has produced numerous programs on Persian literature and poetry, the status of women, ethnic and religious minorities, the media and other aspects of human rights; and Iran's diplomatic relations. She has also produced program series on modern Iranian history, literature and political/philosophical thought.

Azima is a well-known translator of literary works, who has written and translated more than 30 books from English and French into Persian, including "The Old Man And The Sea," by Ernest Hemingway, "Love In The Time Of Cholera," by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and " Hope Dies Last: The Autobiography Of Alexander Dubcek." She is currently working on a translation from French to Persian of a book on the meaning of "poverty" by Iranian sociologist and former UN official Majid Rahnama. Azima's translation from English to Persian of J.G. Merquior's "Foucault" is ready for publication.

Azima holds degrees in English literature and library science from the universities of Shiraz and Tehran. While living in Paris, Azima focused on Iranian studies at Sorbonne University. Azima has also been actively involved in the Iranian Oral History Project at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Azima's family includes a son and two grandchildren who live in the United States, as well as three brothers and a 90-year-old mother in Iran.

Help Free Parnaz Azima:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/346108706

Iran:Kian Tajbakhsh, an Iranian-American Scholar in Jail

Kian Tajbakhsh is one of Iranian-American scholars who was arrested in Tehran.He was charged with trying to topple Iran’s government. FreeKian.org is launched to support this scholar and to inform people about his situation.Iranian government has formally charged another Iranian-American, Haleh Esfandiari, with trying to topple the government. Tajbakhsh has consulted for several Iranian government organizations, including the Municipalities Organization, the Social Security Organization, and the Ministry of the Interior, and with international nongovernmental organizations such as the World Bank, the Open Society Institute, and the Netherlands Association of Municipalities.

Help Free Kian Tajbakhsh:
http://www.freekian.org/petition
http://www.kiantajbakhsh.com/

Statement on the Arrest in Tehran of Haleh Esfandiari, Director of the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Middle East Program

Haleh Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and a dual Iranian-American national, was arrested in Tehran on May 8 and incarcerated in the Evin Prison. The background to this entirely unjustified arrest is as follows:

Dr. Esfandiari went to Tehran in late December to visit her 93-year old mother. On December 30, on her way to the airport to catch a flight back to Washington, the taxi in which Dr. Esfandiari was riding was stopped by three masked, knife-wielding men., They took away her baggage and handbag, including her Iranian and American passports.

Four days later, when applying for replacement Iranian travel documents at the passport office, Dr. Esfandiari was invited to an ‘interview’ by a man who, it turned out, represented Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence. This began a series of interrogations that stretched out over the next six weeks. These interrogations took place at two different locations, sometimes continuing for as many as four days a week, sometimes stretching across seven and eight hours in a single day. Although Dr. Esfandiari went home every evening, the some 50 hours of questioning were unpleasant and not free from intimidation and threat.

The questioning focused almost entirely on the activities and programs of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center. Dr. Esfandiari answered all questions fully; when she understandably could not remember details of programs stretching back five and even eight years, the staff at the Wilson Center provided her all the information requested. As a public organization, all Wilson Center activities are on the public record. In fact, the interrogators could have obtained virtually all the information they sought in a far less cumbersome way—by a few clicks on the Wilson Center website and through Wilson Center publications.

Repeatedly during the interrogation, she was pressured to make a false confession or to falsely implicate the Wilson Center in activities in which it had no part.

On February 20th, Lee Hamilton, president and director of the Wilson Center, wrote to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about Dr. Esfandiari’s case, in order to call to his attention the dire situation in which Dr. Esfandiari had been placed by elements of the government of which the president may not have been aware. He pointed out the obvious: that the Wilson Center’s mission is to provide a forum for the exchange of views; that the Wilson Center does not take positions on issues; and that it does not try to influence or to determine specific policies or directions of the Iranian Government or any government in the Middle East. He pointed out that there is no “agenda” behind Wilson Center programs on the Middle East, including Iran; that he would not allow it; nor would Dr. Esfandiari. He asked President Ahmadinejad to use his good offices to help send Dr. Esfandiari home.

This letter was transmitted to Tehran by the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations. The president has yet to acknowledge or reply to it. Attempts to resolve this issue through various channels and without publicity were also not successful.

The lengthy interrogations stopped on February 14. Except for one threatening phone call on February 17, she has heard nothing from her interrogators for ten weeks. A few days ago, she was telephoned again. She was again invited to “cooperate.” In effect, she was being asked to make a confession. She refused to make the false statements apparently required of her. On Monday, May 7th, she was summoned to the Ministry of Intelligence once again. When she arrived for her appointment on Tuesday morning, she was put into a car and taken to Evin prison. She was allowed only one phone call to her mother. Her family has not heard from her since.

This needless harassment and unwarranted action has placed great strain on Dr. Esfandiari’s family. Her mother, at 93, is in frail health. She herself needs to see her doctors and has been prevented from doing so by the withholding of her passport and, much worse, incarceration in Evin prison.

Despite numerous quiet and diplomatic efforts by many countries, organizations, and individuals ever since she was robbed of her passports December 30, 2006 and prevented from leaving Iran, she has been unable to obtain permission to leave Iran and join her family here.

Those efforts to obtain her release will continue and will be redoubled. She will be in our thoughts and prayers every day.


Op Ed: Iran Arrests Grandma

In a widely circulated editorial, columnist Thomas L. Friedman comments on the wrongful imprisonment of Haleh;
I thought this regime was powerful and self-confident, and actually felt strengthened since we destroyed its two main enemies — the Taliban and Saddam. That could not be further from the truth. This Iranian regime is afraid of its shadow. How do I know? It recently arrested a 67-year-old grandmother, whom it accused of trying to bring down the regime by organizing academic conferences!


Columbia University President Issues a Statement

New York, May 31, 2007 – President Lee. C. Bollinger of Columbia University issued a statement today regarding the detainment of Iranian-American scholars Kian Tajbakhsh, a graduate of Columbia University and Haleh Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program, Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars. According to news reports, the scholars have been imprisoned since May 11, 2007.
“Columbia University is urgently concerned about the safety, well-being and human rights of two Iranian-American scholars who are under arrest in Iran. Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh is an expert on urban planning who has worked for multilateral, international, and Iranian public organizations. Dr. Tajbakhsh earned his Ph.D. and Master of Philosophy from Columbia University, where he studied urban planning and sociology. Dr. Haleh Esfandiari is director of the Middle East Program at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars. Both were reportedly detained and charged with ‘endangering national security through propaganda against the system and espionage for foreigners.’ These reports are deeply troubling to our university community, and we urge that these scholars be released on humanitarian grounds.”

Shirin Ebadi: “I Will Defend Haleh”

Ms Ebadi highlights the illegality of Haleh’s detention. She also recounts how the Iranian government denied Haleh’s basic rights protected and recognized by Iran’s own constitution and laws. Representatives from Ms Ebadi’s office were denied acces to Haleh’s file, they were also not allowed to visit her in Evin Prison. Moreover, the investigative judge claims that Haleh has declined the services of a legal counsel. Ms Ebadi also describes the harsh conditions in Evin Prison.


Tehran formally charges Haleh with espionage

The government of Iran formally charged Haleh early Tuesday morning. The procedures are questionable, and the laws unclear. The New York Times published the Associated Press Report; the following is an excerpt:
”Esfandiari has been formally charged with endangering national security through propaganda against the system and espionage for foreigners,” spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi told reporters. ”She has been informed of the charges against her.”Under Iranian law, the distinction between someone being accused and charged is less clear than in the United States and many Western countries, especially in matters of national security. Security courts have wide latitude, with the option of dropping the proceedings at any time or even holding trials in secret.

Haleh’s Husband Appeals to Ahmadinejad

The husband of a US-based academic jailed in Iran called on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday to free his wife as a compassionate act akin to the April release of 15 British sailors and marines.
Shaul Bakhash, 70, a history professor at George Mason University, also appealed to European, Middle Eastern and Asian countries to pressure Iran to free his 67-year-old wife, Haleh Esfandiari, who was arrested by Iranian authorities on May 8.
“If the president of Iran can make what he calls an act of compassion in releasing the British sailors, he can show the same compassion towards one of his own countrywomen,” Bakhash said in a telephone interview.

Help Free Haleh Esfandiari:
http://campaigns.aicongress.org/?id=haleh

funny writing!

I just bumped into this funny writing while sitting in the bus today! it says: "Piss on Qoran(Muslim's holy book) and inflation, Down with the corrupted Islamic regim, Fuck Imam-e-Zaman(the 12th prophet of Shiits who is said will rise when the world is in it's worst situation!!!)"

well this is what Mullahs brought on Islam and this country...

NO COMMENTS!

It’s 2:30 a.m., 15 of April,2007 and a new weblog is born. Sitting here on my old computer I’m writing the first words of my life as I can’t sleep tonight, same as usual. I just thought it’s good to make it a different night by writing whatever comes to my mind instead of chatting with my e-friends!
Well here I am, the night is dark and silent after a heavy rain. My days are dull and tedious and I’m waiting to be recruited for army(military service). I have no prospective of what will happen in the future except that I find it even more dull than it is now. I just hope I can finish this bloody service as soon as possible and get out of this hell!
Well this weblog is not meant to be only about my personal life but also my views about all the things happening around me.
I think that’s enough for my first post though I still can’t go to sleep…I think I gotta go talk to my e-friends to end another sleepless night!