The following letter was published in the Irish Times on Monday:

Jailing of Iranian academic

We, the undersigned Irish academics, are writing to express
our concern at the arrest and incarceration of our fellow scholar, the
Iranian social scientist Dr Kian Tajbakhsh.

He was taken from his home in Tehran on May 11th and has been held
without access to legal counsel ever since.
We view the so-called “war on terror” as fundamentally unjust and
misconceived, and can understand the misgivings it has generated among
governments in the Middle East. Nonetheless, it must not be used as the
pretext for an assault on intellectuals in Iran.

Dr Tajbakhsh is a highly regarded sociologist and urban planner, whose
first book, The Promise of the City: Space, Identity, and Politics in
Contemporary Social Thought (2001: University of California Press), has
been seen as a notable contribution to urban social theory. His
subsequent work in Iran - on public health, humanitarian relief and local
government - has helped deflate Western misconceptions about processes
within the Islamic Republic, and points to the vibrancy of grassroots
Iranian society.

He is one of those rare members of the Iranian diaspora who has chosen
to return to Iran to live permanently there, giving up a secure place
in the American academic establishment in order to do so. In deciding to
base his scholarly activities in Tehran and to raise a family there, he
literally lives out his commitment to Iran.

Given his intellectual labours on behalf of Iran, and his personal
commitment to Iran, we are appalled that he has been jailed on charges of
espionage. We protest against the slander and hardship to which he is
being subjected, and call upon the Iranian government to release Dr
Tajbakhsh immediately.

- Yours, etc,

Dr JOE CLEARY, Senior Lecturer in English
Dr STEVE COLEMAN, Lecturer in Anthropology
Dr COLIN COULTER, Senior Lecturer in Sociology
Dr LAURENCE COX, Lecturer in Sociology
Dr HONOR FAGAN, Senior Lecturer in Sociology
Dr CHANDANA MATHUR, Lecturer in Anthropology
Dr SEAMAS O’SIOCHAIN, Senior Lecturer in Anthropology
Prof LAWRENCE TAYLOR, Head of the Department of Anthropology
Dr GAVAN TITLEY, Director of Media Studies, NUI Maynooth
Dr ANDREW FINLAY, Lecturer in Sociology
Dr HILARY TOVEY, Head of the Department of Sociology, Trinity College Dublin
Prof TADHG FOLEY, Chairman, Centre for Irish Studies
Dr SU-MING KHOO, Lecturer in Sociology, NUI
GalwayDr HEATHER LAIRD, Lecturer in English
Prof JOSEPH RUANE, Associate Professor of Sociology, University College Cork
Prof RONALDO MUNCK, President’s Office, Dublin City University
Dr MIKE TOMLINSON, Head of School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work, Queen’s University Belfast.