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guardian
Ian Black, Middle East editor
It is a tale of two of Britain's finest universities, two highly-regarded Iranian students, two prolonged detentions without trial in the Islamic republic – and two very different responses.
Oxford PhD student Mohammadreza Jalaeipour, who campaigned for the opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi in 2009, was rearrested 10 days ago. Jalaeipour, researching the sociology of religion, was first detained almost exactly a year previously, shortly after Iran's disputed presidential election, as he and his wife Fatemeh Shams were boarding a flight to Dubai en route for the UK.
Jalaeipour, 27, spent 80 days in prison, more than 50 of them in solitary confinement at Tehran's notorious Evin prison. On his release on bail in September, Jalaeipour remained in Iran with his parents as his passport had been confiscated. Shams – despite warnings from the authorities to return home – is still in Oxford, where she is also studying.
On 14 June, her husband was informed by the authorities that he should go to a mosque to get his passport back. Instead, Jalaeipour came home with five plainclothes agents, who searched the house and confiscated his belongings before taking him away. It is not clear why he was rearrested since Iran's judiciary had previously declared his case closed. He is again being held in solitary confinement. "This is now a kidnap," Shams says.
Four days later, Professor Margaret MacMillan, warden of St Antony's College Oxford, wrote to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "These proceedings are not worthy of the Islamic Republic and are inflicting great suffering on Mohammadreza, his wife and his family," MacMillan protested.
"Fatemeh has not only endured months of unhappiness at being separated from her husband but now suffers the added cruelty of receiving threatening and abusive emails from a group who hide behind the name of the Cyber Army of the Islamic Republic. I urge you to find who is responsible for these disgraceful attacks and put a stop to them."
Not surprisingly, perhaps, no answer has been received from Khamenei. But MacMillan's letter was reported by BBC Persian TV, which is widely watched in Iran. Shams is grateful for the support, including other public statements made by the university from the start.
It has been a very different story with Ehsan Abdoh-Tabrizi. The PhD student at Durham University has been in prison since mid-January after travelling to Tehran to visit his family.
He spent more than 50 days in solitary confinement and is now reported to be in poor health. He was not politically active but friends believe one reason for his arrest may be because his father, Hossein, manager of the banned reformist newspaper Sarmayeh, has been a critic of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who claimed victory over Mousavi last summer. Some suspect he may have been under surveillance while still in Britain.
Until this week Durham refused even to acknowledge that Abdoh-Tabrizi had been arrested. Journalists who contacted the university faced stonewalling and warnings that any publicity could endanger him.
"Those Iranian students who tried to protest the university's inaction were either reprimanded privately or shunned," one friend complained. "Due to their lack of response to the arrest, the Iranian government felt no pressure to explain their miscarriage of justice," said another.
Colleagues at the University of Essex, where Abdoh-Tabrizi had done his MA, drew up a petition calling for his release, only to be warned by the Iranian embassy in London not to interfere in the country's "internal affairs".
Embarrassed Durham academics then followed suit, but the university warned that staff could only sign it "in a personal capacity", ensuring that institutional silence was maintained — in striking contrast to Oxford's action on behalf of Jalaeipour.
Durham finally issued a statement to the Guardian yesterday. It confirmed that, according to the Iranian embassy, Abdoh-Tabrizi is being held on charges relating to national security and damage to property during demonstrations on the Ashura holiday in December, when some 1,000 people were arrested.
"We take the safety and security of our students very seriously and made enquiries as soon as concerns were raised, but obtaining information from Iran proved to be extremely difficult," said Professor Anthony Forster, the pro vice-chancellor.
Abdoh-Tabrizi's friends dismissed the statement as disingenuous and claimed Durham's extreme reticence can only be explained by the university's links with the Iranian embassy and institutions such as the Mahdieh Charity Foundation in Qom and the Cultural Heritage Organisation of Iran in Tehran.
Durham is sensitive to – and rejects – such criticism, hinting darkly at political motivation by Abdoh-Tabrizi's supporters. "The university will continue to liaise with Ehsan's family and has, with advice and independently of any public campaigning or political context, written to the Iranian embassy in London," Forster's statement said.
"We are hopeful of a positive outcome, but will continue to monitor the issue carefully and review our position, ensuring that any action we undertake is in Ehsan's best interests," it concluded. "We will not be making any further comment at this delicate stage."
Oxford PhD student Mohammadreza Jalaeipour, who campaigned for the opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi in 2009, was rearrested 10 days ago. Jalaeipour, researching the sociology of religion, was first detained almost exactly a year previously, shortly after Iran's disputed presidential election, as he and his wife Fatemeh Shams were boarding a flight to Dubai en route for the UK.
Jalaeipour, 27, spent 80 days in prison, more than 50 of them in solitary confinement at Tehran's notorious Evin prison. On his release on bail in September, Jalaeipour remained in Iran with his parents as his passport had been confiscated. Shams – despite warnings from the authorities to return home – is still in Oxford, where she is also studying.
On 14 June, her husband was informed by the authorities that he should go to a mosque to get his passport back. Instead, Jalaeipour came home with five plainclothes agents, who searched the house and confiscated his belongings before taking him away. It is not clear why he was rearrested since Iran's judiciary had previously declared his case closed. He is again being held in solitary confinement. "This is now a kidnap," Shams says.
Four days later, Professor Margaret MacMillan, warden of St Antony's College Oxford, wrote to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "These proceedings are not worthy of the Islamic Republic and are inflicting great suffering on Mohammadreza, his wife and his family," MacMillan protested.
"Fatemeh has not only endured months of unhappiness at being separated from her husband but now suffers the added cruelty of receiving threatening and abusive emails from a group who hide behind the name of the Cyber Army of the Islamic Republic. I urge you to find who is responsible for these disgraceful attacks and put a stop to them."
Not surprisingly, perhaps, no answer has been received from Khamenei. But MacMillan's letter was reported by BBC Persian TV, which is widely watched in Iran. Shams is grateful for the support, including other public statements made by the university from the start.
It has been a very different story with Ehsan Abdoh-Tabrizi. The PhD student at Durham University has been in prison since mid-January after travelling to Tehran to visit his family.
He spent more than 50 days in solitary confinement and is now reported to be in poor health. He was not politically active but friends believe one reason for his arrest may be because his father, Hossein, manager of the banned reformist newspaper Sarmayeh, has been a critic of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who claimed victory over Mousavi last summer. Some suspect he may have been under surveillance while still in Britain.
Until this week Durham refused even to acknowledge that Abdoh-Tabrizi had been arrested. Journalists who contacted the university faced stonewalling and warnings that any publicity could endanger him.
"Those Iranian students who tried to protest the university's inaction were either reprimanded privately or shunned," one friend complained. "Due to their lack of response to the arrest, the Iranian government felt no pressure to explain their miscarriage of justice," said another.
Colleagues at the University of Essex, where Abdoh-Tabrizi had done his MA, drew up a petition calling for his release, only to be warned by the Iranian embassy in London not to interfere in the country's "internal affairs".
Embarrassed Durham academics then followed suit, but the university warned that staff could only sign it "in a personal capacity", ensuring that institutional silence was maintained — in striking contrast to Oxford's action on behalf of Jalaeipour.
Durham finally issued a statement to the Guardian yesterday. It confirmed that, according to the Iranian embassy, Abdoh-Tabrizi is being held on charges relating to national security and damage to property during demonstrations on the Ashura holiday in December, when some 1,000 people were arrested.
"We take the safety and security of our students very seriously and made enquiries as soon as concerns were raised, but obtaining information from Iran proved to be extremely difficult," said Professor Anthony Forster, the pro vice-chancellor.
Abdoh-Tabrizi's friends dismissed the statement as disingenuous and claimed Durham's extreme reticence can only be explained by the university's links with the Iranian embassy and institutions such as the Mahdieh Charity Foundation in Qom and the Cultural Heritage Organisation of Iran in Tehran.
Durham is sensitive to – and rejects – such criticism, hinting darkly at political motivation by Abdoh-Tabrizi's supporters. "The university will continue to liaise with Ehsan's family and has, with advice and independently of any public campaigning or political context, written to the Iranian embassy in London," Forster's statement said.
"We are hopeful of a positive outcome, but will continue to monitor the issue carefully and review our position, ensuring that any action we undertake is in Ehsan's best interests," it concluded. "We will not be making any further comment at this delicate stage."
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