Pakistani journalist and author Ahmed Rashid, who is a friend of Kian’s, has written about his arrest in The Guardian.
Iran’s thought criminals
My friend, Kian Tajbakhsh, is in jail in Iran for … well, being an intellectual. He has not had access to a lawyer nor any visitors since being jailed for espionage and undermining the […]
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Journalist Nooshabeh Amiri and human rights lawyer Mehrangiz Kar have both written in Rooz Online about “confessions” in the cases of the Iranian-American detainees and others unjustly held in Evin Prison. Amiri writes about the conditions under which false confessions are extracted:
Depriving a prisoner from sleep. Stealing the comfort of darkness from a prisoner through lights […]
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The broadcast of the television “documentary” containing footage of Kian and Haleh has drawn swift condemnation. Haleh Esfandiari’s daughter Haleh Bakhsh published this piece in the Washington Post about the program. She writes, in part:
It was obvious from the words she used that much of what my mother said was scripted. Some of the phrases […]
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The “documentary” produced by Iranian authorities and containing coerced footage of the detainees aired on Wednesday and Thursday with the title “In the Name of Democracy.” Out of respect for the dignity of Kian, Haleh, and others forced to appear in this footage, we will not be posting video clips from the program, although those who […]
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Farideh Farhi of the University of Hawaii published this excellent analysis of the initial footage of Kian and Haleh, and the US media coverage of it, at Informed Comment Global Affairs. She has given us permission to reprint it here:
Yesterday one of the channels the Iranian national television (IRTV) showed a trailer for an upcoming […]
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A number of Turkish academics have written a letter to the Iranian government on Kian’s behalf. The text and signatories of the letter are below. They join the many Turkish names on the Free Kian petition in calling for his immediate release.
We, the scholars from Turkey, are very concerned about the developments regarding freedom of expression […]
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Today, Iranian state television showed clips of Kian and Haleh from a program called “In the Name of Democracy” that will be broadcast in full on Wednesday. The program purports to reveal that they were involved in efforts to undermine the Iranian government. The charges are ludicrous, and these statements are clearly coerced. Kian and […]
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Imperial College, London, where Kian recieved his undergraduate degree, has released this statement of support:
Respected academic Dr Kian Tajbakhsh, an Imperial College alumnus, was arrested in Iran in May 2007 and has been held without charge ever since. Imperial joins the international community in calling on the Iranian government to allow Dr Tajbakhsh legal representation and […]
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The Iranian judiciary spokesman claimed yesterday that “new evidence” has been discovered and that Iranian authorities are continuing the investigations of Kian and Haleh Esfandiari. The Open Society Insitute and the Wilson Center have both issued statements rejecting Iran’s allegations and calling for the immediate release of the detainees.
The Open Society Institute’s statement said in part:
The Open […]
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The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has sent a letter to the Iranian ambassador in Islamabad, calling for Kian’s release. Kian has participated in a number of HRCP meetings and events. The letter reads:
We are writing to express our gravest concern over the imprisonment of Iranian scholar Dr Kian Tajbakhsh, along with several others in […]
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The president of the Associatation for the Study of Persianate Societies (ASPS), an international scholarly organization, has written the following letter to President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad to request Kian’s release:
Over a month and a half has passed since the detention of Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh, a distinguished member of this Association, and nothing has been done to […]
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