The London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat recently published this column by Elias Harfouch on the situation in Iran:

 A ‘Velvet Revolution’ in Iran? 

1 June 2007

In line with what similar regimes do, Tehran could not find a better way to cut short voices within Iran than ‘uncovering’ a US spy network. These voices had expressed doubts about the dialogue that has begun in Baghdad with the ‘Great Satan’.

Thus, four Iranian citizens holding US citizenship were charged with working for the CIA. They were accused of planning a ‘velvet revolution’ - according to the Iranian version - that would eliminate the Islamic revolutionary regime, which has yet to lay roots down although its thirtieth year is just round the corner!

Could such a regime, established by Imam Khomeini, be so fragile that it is threatened by an academic activist, a journalist, a social scientist and a representative of a US non-governmental organization concerned with peace? Are the Iranian officials, who boast that they have ‘unlimited’ military capabilities according to a recent statement by President Ahmadinejad, so afraid of the activities of these four, even if we assume that they have a quality of espionage?

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The Middle East Studies Association’s Committee on Academic Freedom and the International Society for Iranian Studies’ Committee for Academic and Intellectual Freedom have issued a public letter to the Iranian leadership, rejecting the accusations against Kian and Haleh and calling for their release:

May 30, 2007
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran
C/O H.E. Javad Zarif
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations

Your Excellency,

We write to you on behalf of the Committee on Academic Freedom (CAF) of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) and The Committee for Academic and Intellectual Freedom of the International Society for Iranian Studies (ISIS).

Both of our organizations are deeply concerned by the recent arrests in Iran of the respected Iranian-American academics, Dr. Haleh Esfandiari and Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh.

Based on numerous reports, Dr. Esfandiari and Dr. Tajbakhsh were detained by Iranian security forces on May 8 and May 11, respectively. As of this date, your government has released very few details regarding the circumstances of their detention. We are particularly concerned that Dr. Esfandiari and Dr. Tajbakhsh are being mistreated while in custody and are being pressured by prison and intelligence ministry officials to make false confessions. We urge you to take immediate steps to guarantee their physical well-being, grant them their right to confer with legal counsel, and allow them to leave Iran whenever they choose.

The Middle East Studies Association of North America and the International Society for Iranian Studies are the preeminent international organizations in their respective fields. MESA, founded in 1966, and ISIS, founded in 1967, were established to promote scholarship and teaching on Iran, the Middle East, and North Africa. MESA publishes the International Journal of Middle East Studies and has more than 2700 members worldwide; ISIS publishes the international journal, Iranian Studies and has more than 500 members worldwide. Both organizations are committed to ensuring academic freedom, the free exchange of ideas, and freedom of expression in all its forms, both within Iran and the Middle East and in connection with the study of Iran and the Middle East in North America and elsewhere.

Official statements made by your government regarding the case of Dr. Esfandiari and Dr. Tajbakhsh use vaguely worded allegations of “espionage.” MESA and ISIS vehemently reject these unfounded allegations. Our colleagues’ activities have consistently remained firmly within the strict boundaries of transparent and legitimate academic and policy research. These arrests are all the more troubling as they indicate a calculated policy by Iranian authorities of targeting academics of dual Iranian-US citizenship. MESA and ISIS are independent, nonpolitical international academic organizations that steer clear of the government-level diplomatic disputes between Washington and Tehran. We condemn the targeting of our colleagues on grounds of their having US citizenship. The various unsubstantiated allegations made by certain quarters in Iran against Dr. Esfandiari’s work at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC, and Dr. Tajbakhsh’s connection with various international and American think-tanks since his return to Iran in 2000–the latter with the full knowledge and cooperation of Iranian authorities and directed toward humanitarian relief aid and urban planning–are considered by our academic organizations as unjustified assaults against the basic principles of academic and intellectual freedom.

(more…)

Today’s Washington Post includes a forceful editorial calling for the release of all dual nationals who are being held prisoner in Iran:

Iran Hostage Crisis, Part 2
Tehran should immediately release the American citizens it has detained.
Friday, June 1, 2007

PARANOID that a network of U.S. scholars and thinkers is fomenting a velvet revolution, Iran charged three U.S.-Iranian citizens with espionage this week. If convicted, they face execution.

The accused are Haleh Esfandiari, the 67-year-old director of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; Kian Tajbakhsh, 45, a respected social scientist at the New School in New York who has consulted for George Soros’s Open Society Institute and the World Bank; and Radio Farda journalist Parnaz Azima, 59. The government and various state news agencies have accused these Iranian Americans and their organizations of endangering state security on the basis of their supposedly treacherous attempts to foster dialogue and exchange.

The charges are ludicrous. (more…)

We are continuing to gather the comments left on the petition and will be creating an additional page for them soon.  Thank you so much for sharing your words.  Here are more of the things people have been saying about Kian:

I knew Kian as a young man in London; he spent his childhood in exile in the UK, yeaning for his country. He was a strong patriot with a deep love of his country even then. He is a good person who only wants the best for his country and its people. Please free this man and show the world that you a government of integrity.
-Sarah Campos-Martyn, UK

Kian is known to me as committed academic and development professional. His detention is portraying a negative image of the Iranian Govt. as a regime against progressive reforms and prosperity for the Iranian people. On behalf of a wider academic and development community across the world, we appeal for his immediate release and at least a fair opportunity to explain his position and access to legal defence.
-Mukhtar Aziz Kansi, UNICEF, Pakistan

Kian was my flatmate when we were students at Columbia. He was erudite, humourous and deeply concerned about Iran. I am outraged at his arrest.
-Nandini Sundar, Delhi University, India

I have known Kian since he was a student. These charges are completely ungrounded.
-Saskia Sassen, Ralph Lewis Professor of Sociology, University of Chicago, US

By detaining peace-loving scholars like Kian and Haleh, the Iranian government is making things more difficult for those who wish Iran well.
-Beena Sarwar, journalist, Pakistan

As an academician who met Kian at an international conference, I am dismayed to hear of his arrest. I believe he is a scholar of the highest calibre who is committed to social science research in Iran. I hope that he will be released and able to continue his research projects.
-Leyla Neyzi, Sabanci University, Turkey

Hard to imagine such allegations can be made against such a dedicated person, such a thorough gentleman. A great tragedy for his family at a time when he is needed most urgently at his home.
-Sharda Mathur, India

I knew Kian back in the 1980s when we were both working in India. It is disheartening to me that his unjust incarceration is the means by which I have reconnected with him. I have always known Kian as a fiercely independent and intellectually curious individual — characteristics that many governments, unfortunately, find threatening. I urge the Iranian government to release him promptly. His incarceration, and that of many others, is a disgrace to the values and interests of the Iranian people, and those that the Iranian government professes to follow.
-Ronald Slye, Seattle University School of Law, US

This man is a scholar, not a spy. Please free him! He has done nothing wrong but only works to build peace between our two countries.
-Stephanie Low, US

Kian is a great man of peace and understanding between cultures. He should be able to continue his work. Free him now.
-Wiktor Janusz Osiatynski, Hungary and Poland

Kian is a respected colleague and urban scholar whose imprisonment is unjustified and harmful to Iran’s reputation abroad. He must be released immediately.
-Simon Parker, University of York, UK

Kian is a co-author, a colleague from my years at the New School, a fellow urban scholar of the developing world, and a man whom I know to be committed to the Iranian people and to promoting scholarly inquiry. I lament this terrible situation and urge his immediate release.
-Diane Davis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US

It is long overdue that the good citizens of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States began to educate our leaders and elevate the esteem of our nations by mending old wounds and coming together in a spirit of mutual respect and peaceful dialogue. There is no better place to begin this task than by together calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh, someone who shares those very ideals and believed in them enough to apply himself to their realization. .
-Lloyd Vivola, US

I personally met Kian in Aug 2006, and I strongly feel he’s a valuable person for Iran’s social and political development.
-Stefano Pasquale, Italy

Kian is a mild, scholarly man with humanitarian views. Under no circumstance would he be involved in any form of insurrection. He is a credit to his nation and should be released immediately.
-Lingard Goulding, Ireland

I met Kian about 30 years ago because our mothers met in NYC during their graduate studies in social work. Both of our families have dedicated their lives to trying to make a positive impact on society.  Kian is an asset to both Iran and the US and a person who should be leveraged for good not political brinksmanship.
-Paul Herdman, Rodel Foundation, US

Kian has always had a love of Iran and has dedicated the past few years of his life to serving his country. This is an injustice to him personally, his family and the country he has so faithfully served, Iran.
-Katayoon Tajbaksh Precht, US

Kian Tajbakhsh is a gentle, intelligent young man with love for his country and its rich civilization. My prayers are that such a brilliant mind does not go to waste behind bars for much longer.
-Sherry Tajbakhsh, US

Kian is a wonderful man, a man of warmth and humour and affection, a man who relishes his family and friends and his home, Iran.
-Dermot Dix, Headfort School, Ireland

It is high time Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh is freed. Enough of this injustice against an innocent fellow.
-Abiodun Folawewo, University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica

Kian is one of the brightest children of the Iranian diaspora that I have met since 1979.
-Jamshid Anvar, Iran/US

Our thoughts are with all of you; this is the worst possible time for him to be separated from the family.
-Chandana Mathur, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Ireland/India

Kian Tajbakhsh is a serious scholar and an engaged free thinking intellectual. Arresting people like him is no sign of democracy.
-Rada Ivekovic, France

Please release this esteemed scholar; his detention does great harm to Iran.
-John Waters, New York University, US

Kian is a good man. He does not deserve to be treated like this.
-Anna Moore, UK

Two associations of philanthrophic organizations, the Philanthrophy Roundtable and the Council on Foundations, have issued a statement calling for Kian’s release:

One of the hallmarks of friendship between nations is the opportunity
for private citizens from one country to engage in lawful charitable
activity in another.

The Philanthropy Roundtable and the Council on Foundations, associations
of American philanthropic foundations, are therefore distressed by the
government of Iran’s imprisonment of Kian Tajbakhsh on trumped-up
charges. Dr. Tajbakhsh, an urban planner and American citizen, was
arrested on May 11 while serving as a consultant for the Open Society
Institute, a private American philanthropic foundation with no ties to
the U.S. government. His work for OSI in Iran has focused on public
health, urban planning, and humanitarian relief, including the
rebuilding of communities after the Bam earthquake.

Dr. Tajbakhsh is now being held in Iran’s infamous Evin prison. The
Philanthropy Roundtable and the Council on Foundations call for his
immediate release.

We’ve added a new page with some of Kian’s published work, including personal essays and academic writing, on topics ranging from the links between Iran and India to the role of the city as a space for cultural interaction.  We will continue to add more of his work to the Kian’s Writing page as we gather copies.  If you have an article of Kian’s that you’d like to add, please email it to info@FreeKian.org

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Federation for Human Rights, and Reporters Without Borders have released a new joint statement on the detention and harassment of dual nationals in Iran:

Iran: End harassment of dual-nationals - Human rights groups protest detentions and travel bans

(New York, May 31, 2007) – The Iranian government should immediately release two Iranian-Americans from detention and clarify the case of a third who may have “disappeared,” a group of leading human rights organizations said today. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Federation for Human Rights, Reporters Without Borders and the Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi also urged Iran to lift travel bans on two journalists with dual nationality whom Iran has barred from traveling back to their home countries.

These measures appear to be an attempt by Iran’s security authorities to sow fear into the wider community of journalists, writers, scholars and activists. Their exchanges with counterparts in other parts of the world underscore both their commitment to enhance mutual respect and recognition of human dignity through dialogue and to see human rights norms upheld in their country.

“These actions violate Iran’s laws as well as international norms,” said Ebadi, winner of the 2003 Nobel peace prize, who is also the lawyer for two of those caught in the crackdown. “The Judiciary is denying dual-nationals their basic rights.”

The detentions and travel bans are part of a broad crackdown being mounted against Iranian human rights activists, students, and labor organizers by Iranian intelligence officials based in the country’s Information Ministry. Intelligence officials in the Information Ministry are currently holding two Iranian-American scholars, Kian Tajbakhsh and Haleh Esfandiari, inside Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.

Another Iranian-American, Ali Shakeri, a peace activist from Irvine, California, is also believed to be in detention, and may be the victim of an enforced disappearance. In addition, the government has confiscated the passports of two journalists, Parnaz Azima, an Iranian-American, and Mehrnoush Solouki, a French-Iranian, preventing them from leaving Iran.

(more…)

The journal Social Research, for which Kian has written, has asked its editors, contributors, and readers to sign a letter on his behalf.  A number of well-known academics, including Arjun Appadurai, Timothy Garton Ash, Juan Cole, Sir Bernard Crick, Paul Ehrlich, Kurt Gottfried, Edward Hirsch, Eva Hoffman, Stanley Hoffman, Farhad Kazemi, Bob Kerrey, Adam Michnik, Samantha Power, Kenneth Prewitt, and Charles Taylor, have already added their names. The full list of signatories can be found at the Social Research website, and we encourage others to sign.

The text of the petition reads:

Concerned Scholars and Intellectuals Protest the Imprisonment of Kian Tajbakhsh

We at Social Research: An International Quarterly of the Social Sciences, based at the New School for Social Research, together with our readers and colleagues worldwide, are deeply distressed by the arrest and imprisonment of our highly respected author and colleague, Kian Tajbakhsh.

Rather than remain in the United States, his commitment to Iran, for which he has great affection, impelled him to return to Iran a half-decade ago to contribute to the country’s intellectual life and social development. There, his work on urban studies, public policy, and political participation have enhanced his already strong international reputation as a social scientist of great talent and achievement. His fine scholarship has made great contributions to an understanding of Iranian society, and has increased the possibility of cooperation across borders.

We thus urgently call on the government of Iran to end the unjustified detainment of Dr. Tajbakhsh.

Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger released this statement today:

New York, May 31, 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.”

Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi, who is representing Haleh Esfandiari and speaking widely about the detentions, and scholar Muhammad Sahimi have published this analysis in the forthcoming issue of New Perspectives Quarterly:

THE FOLLIES OF BUSH’S POLICY TOWARD IRAN

Shirin Ebadi and Muhammad Sahimi

May 25, 2007
The confrontation between Iran and the West has developed a new dimension over the detention of several native Iranian scholars, journalists and political activists who have been living in the West for years and have recently traveled to their homeland. Parnaz Azima, a reporter for the U.S.-funded Radio Farda, which broadcasts Persian programs into Iran, has been prohibited from leaving Iran since her passport was seized in January. Mehrnoushe Solouki, an Iranian-French journalist, has not been able to leave since February. Haleh Esfandiari, the director of the Middle East Program at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, was arrested and has been jailed since May 9. Kian Tajbakhsh, a senior research fellow at the New School in New York and a consultant to the World Bank and the Open Society Institute, was also detained in May.

(more…)

A number of prominent scholars from the US, UK, Turkey, India and Lebanon have just released the following statement:

Statement on Behalf of Kian Tajbakhsh and other Iranian Academics Arrested in the Islamic Republic of Iran

The repressive policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran towards its own citizens has once again targeted innocent academics engaged in sustaining a modicum of normative relationship between Iranians and the outside world. While the unconscionable arrest of Ms. Haleh Esfandiari of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars has received a well-deserved and widespread attention in the United States, that of a prominent Iranian social scientist, Kian Tajbaksh, among other Iranian academics, has scarce been noted.

According to Human Rights Watch, on 11 May 2007, agents of the Ministry of Information have arrested Kian Tajbakhsh at his home in Tehran. He is reportedly detained without any formal charges in Tehran’s Evin prison. The Ministry of Information is currently holding at least three Iranian-Americans, including Tajbakhsh, in custody. Like Dr. Mahmud Sariolghalam, another Iranian academic who was also arrested a little earlier, and many other Iranian academics, Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh’s scholarly conducts are entirely professional and fully transparent. All these and many other Iranian academics are totally exposed to the whimsically violent practices of the Islamic Republic, and scarce a voice of concern is raised about their collective predicament.

As Human Rights Watch has correctly noted, these scholars are used as pawns to smear a larger community of civil society activists inside Iran. The Iranian government should know how damaging these arbitrary arrests are to the country’s reputation and how these arrests have given ample opportunity to American neocons to vilify an entire nation in the interest of yet another military adventurism with hundreds of thousands of innocent lives at stake.

We call upon the authorities of the Islamic Republic immediately to free Kian Tajbaksh and all other Iranian scholars held illegally at Evin or any other prison and allow them a free and unfettered pursuit of their legitimate scholarly activities. The systematic abuse of human and civil rights of Iranian citizens can only exacerbate Iran’s international isolation and play into the hands of warmongers in the United States.

Ervand Abrahamian, Distinguished Professor of History, Baruch College, City University of New York (USA)

Said Arjomand, President of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies and Distinguished Professor of Sociology at State University of New York, Stony Brook (USA)

Talal Asad, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York (USA)

Partha Chatterjee, Professor of Anthropology at Columbia University in New York and Professor of Political Science at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences in Calcutta (India)

Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor and Professor of Linguistics (Emeritus), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston (USA)

Hamid Dabashi, Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York (USA)

Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University in New York (USA)

Minoo Moallem, Professor of Gender and Women Studies at University of California, Berkeley (USA)

Tariq Modood, MBE, AcSS, Professor of Sociology, Politics and Public Policy, University of Bristol (UK)

Mahmut Mutman, Professor of Communication and Design, Bilkent University, Ankara (Turkey)

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, University Professor, Columbia University in New York (USA)

Fawwaz Traboulsi, Professor of History and Politics at the Lebanese American University in Beirut (Lebanon)

Meyda Yegenoglu, Professor of Sociology, Middle East Technical University, Ankara (Turkey)

The Scholars at Risk Network has released an appeal on behalf of Kian.  The appeal, which calls for letters to be sent to the Iranian authorities, reads in part:

Scholars at Risk (SAR) is gravely concerned about the arrest and detention of Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh, a respected international scholar and researcher. SAR calls for letters, faxes and emails calling for authorities to explain publicly the reasons for Dr. Tajbakhsh’s detention and to work for his immediate release.

Scholars at Risk (SAR) is an international network of universities and colleges dedicated to promoting academic freedom and to defend the human rights of scholars worldwide. SAR learned that on or about May 11, 2007, Dr. Tajbakhsh was arrested in Tehran and taken to Evin prison. SAR understands that he has been held without charge and without access to counsel, family or other visitors, in apparent breach of guarantees outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is signatory.

Dr. Tajbakhsh’s arrest raises grave concerns for his well-being. The suddenness of his arrest and the lack of any clear basis for his detention, as well as the recent detention of other prominent scholars like Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, about whom SAR has also written, all raise grave concerns about the ability of internationally recognized scholars and intellectuals to safely visit Iran. These events suggest a wider attempt to intimidate intellectuals and to limit academic freedom in Iran—a suggestion SAR finds particularly distressing and unfortunate, given Iran’s rich intellectual history and traditional support for the values of scholarship and free inquiry. SAR finds this even more distressing given the current tensions in the region and the world, which appear to warrant more rather than fewer exchanges among scholars inside and outside of Iran.

SAR joins with the many national and international academic associations, scholarly societies, human rights organizations and individual scholars in imploring the Iranian government to examine the circumstances of Dr. Tajbakhsh’s arrest and detention. SAR calls on the Iranian government to work for Dr. Tajbakhsh’s immediate release, and in the interim to ensure that he has immediate access to legal counsel, to family and to any necessary medical treatment.

The full text of the appeal, and details about letters on Kian’s behalf, can be found here.

The Iranian goverment has charged Kian, Haleh, and journalist Parnaz Azima of Radio Farda with “endangering national security through propaganda against the system and espionage for foreigners,” according to an AP/New York Times story.  The charges are vague and unsubstantiated.   

The Open Society Institute has released the following statement about the charges against Kian:

OSI Responds to Charges Against Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh

The Open Society Institute is dismayed by the charges announced today in Iran against Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh, an internationally respected scholar who is an American citizen.

These charges are completely without merit.

Dr. Tajbakhsh’s work for the Open Society Institute (OSI) has focused on public health, humanitarian relief, culture, and local government. Where possible, OSI has sought to foster improved understanding between Iran and other countries.

In the aftermath of the earthquake in Bam, the Iranian authorities requested assistance from OSI in aiding victims and rebuilding communities in that devastated city. Iranian officials also sought OSI’s expertise in the area of public health. Dr. Tajbakhsh worked on these humanitarian efforts.

None of OSI’s Iran activities have been funded or initiated by the U.S. government.

Before his arrest in Tehran on May 11, Dr. Tajbakhsh also worked for a European urban planning group, the Association of Netherlands Municipalities, and had been a consultant for the World Bank.

In addition, Dr. Tajbakhsh has served as an expert for several Iranian government organizations, including the Municipalities Organization, the Social Security Organization, and the Ministry of the Interior. He has also taught urban sociology at Allameh University in Tehran.

A dual Iranian-American national, Dr. Tajbakhsh is a distinguished expert on urban planning who has chosen to devote his life to public service.

He is being held in the notorious Evin prison without access to a lawyer.

We urge the Iranian authorities to release Dr. Tajbakhsh immediately.

The Free Haleh Campaign has also posted a statement from the Woodrow Wilson Center responding to the charges against Haleh.  The statement can be read here.

Many of you have left comments when signing the petition. We are gathering these statements and sharing them with his family, and will add a page for them soon.  Thank you for your support.  In the meantime, here are some of the words people have written about Kian:

Kian Tajbakhsh is a scholar, man of letters, musician and a peace-loving human being. To arrest and imprison such a man is a condemnable act. He must be released immediately to return home to his family — to his wife who will be delivering their child very soon.
-Bina Sarkar Ellias, Editor/Publisher, Gallerie magazine, India

The arbitrary detention of any citizen is a crime, but the arbitrary detention of a scholar working for the good of his country hurts us all.
-Leslie Pal, Carleton University, Canada

Kian is a brilliant scholar and dear friend to all of us. His extraordinary public service and scholarly contributions deserve to be treated as national treasures.
-Pamela Kilpadi, Hungary

Kian Tajbakhsh is a well-respected scholar and public intellectual. It is a disgrace for the Iranian government to have detained this fine scholar. He should be released immediately.
-Ayse Gul Altinay, Sabanci University, Turkey

This is an outrage. This wonderful man, who cares DEEPLY about Iran, should be freed.
-Karen Misencik, USA

I know Kian and I know he is a staunch supporter of the Iranian people.
-Elliott Sclar, Columbia University, USA

We urgently ask the Iranian government to release Dr. Tajbakhsh and ensure his safe return to his family.
-Taraneh Mamhoudi, Iran

Kian was my student at Columbia. He has a strong academic record, and is widely respected internationally. It will help Iran’s standing internationally if it frees him promptly.
-Peter Marcuse, Columbia University, USA

Please release Kian Tajbakhsh. He is a gentle person, an intelligent man whose talents are wasted in prison.
-Colleen McGuire, National Lawyers Guild, USA

Iran has always been a cradle of civilization. It’s time the current regime in Tehran understands civilization also mean freedom! Please free Kian.
-Pervaiz Alam, India-EU Film Initiative, India

I urge that Kian be released immediately. He is a valuable resource to Iran and should be treated with respect and honor and allowed to teach Iranian students of urban planning.
-Rachel Bratt, Tufts University, USA

Dr. Tajbakshsh is an eminent scholar and a fine person.
-Susan Fainstein, Harvard University, USA

We urgently request the release of Dr. Tajbakhsh and ensure his safe return to his family.
-Syed Ali, International Policy Fellow, Pakistan

Kian Tajbakhsh’s release is essential not only to the preservation of the principles of intellectual freedom. His detainment also detains progress in economic and social development where it is most needed.
-Laurie Goldman, Tufts University, USA

There is no justification for incarcerating Dr. Kian Tabakhsh who is an outstanding scholar, planner, and humanist. Please do not diminish the standing of the great civilized country that Iran is by letting such injustice on on. Free Kian Tabakhsh!
-Luc Nadal, Columbia University, France

Kian is a wonderful person and a well reputed scholar. In my discussions with him, I found in him a deeply patriotic Iranian, although he had differences with the regime. His detension, without any charge, is highly condemnable. He must be released immediately.
-Mukhtar Ali, Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives, Pakistan

Kian Tadjbakhsh is a respected scholar and decent human being who loves his country. He must be freed immediately!
-Valentine Moghadam, Purdue University, USA

I call for the immediate release of Dr. Kian.
-Sebastian Sanga, International Policy Fellow, Tanzania

Dr. Kian is not an Iranian alone; a person of his wisdom, stature and personality belongs to the world. The Iranian government should show that they are a real Muslim state by respecting scholars, which are revered in Islam.
-Fauzia Yazdani, International Policy Fellow, Pakistan.

Free Dr Tajbakhsh! His work is so valuable to Iran!
-Elizabeth Mueller, University of Texas, USA

As former Dean at the New School where Kian was Assistant Professor, I am very concerned that he has been detained and urge his immediate release.
-Jack Krauskopf, City University of New York, USA

Kian is an outstanding scholar whose work helps to reveal assumptions in the West often unstated. It is tragic that he has been detained.
-Jonathan Diskin, Earlham College, USA

I met Kian once and was instantly impressed with his dignity and decency. He is not only one who takes his work, to better others’ lives, seriously. He also misses no opportunity to engage acquaintances and friends, to make them feel worthy.
-Peter Pullman, USA

I know Kian well. He is a person of great integrity. It is an outrage that he is now detained.
-Philip Thompson, MIT, USA

Kian was my colleague at the New School and a contributor to Social Research which I edit. I know him to be a serious scholar and researcher whose devotion to Iran led him to return to work and contribute to the intellectual life of the country. It is an outrage that this country he loves so much has imprisoned him without cause.
-Arien Mack, The New School, USA

The French daily Libération published this piece, “Tehran holds Iranian-Americans hostage”, about Haleh, Kian, Ali Shakeri, and French-Iranian journalist Mehrnoushe Solouki:

Téhéran prend des Irano-Américains en otages

Ces civils pourraient servir de monnaie d’échange avec les Etats-Unis. Une Française a aussi été arrêtée.

Par Jean-Pierre PERRIN

QUOTIDIEN : samedi 26 mai 2007

Après l’arrestation à Téhéran de l’universitaire américano-iranienne Halah Esfandiari ( Libération du 11 mai), deux autres Irano-Américains, un chercheur et un homme d’affaires, ont été à leur tour appréhendés par les services secrets iraniens. Le sociologue Kian Tajbakhsh, 45 ans, est détenu à Téhéran depuis le 11 mai. L’homme d’affaires Ali Shakeri n’a pas donné signe de vie depuis mars et, selon ses proches, est lui aussi en prison.

(more…)

Americans for Informed Democracy, a student organization that seeks to improve the global consciousness of young Americans, has released the following statement in support of Kian and Haleh:

Everyone at Americans for Informed Democracy is deeply troubled and saddened by the detainment of Kian Tajbakhsh and Haleh Esfandiari. We greatly respect the work of both of these scholars and are thankful for their efforts to help build a more tolerant, peaceful world. To see these scholars detained without explanation or justification is deeply disappointing to all of us who are hopeful for better relations in the long-run between the U.S. and Iran. Americans for Informed Democracy requests the Iranian government to immediately release Kian Tajbakhsh and Haleh Esfandiari.

The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) has sent the Iranian authorities the following letter, asking them to release Kian immediately. Kian has participated in a number of SSRC projects and conferences, and previously served on the steering committee of its Middle East and North Africa program.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Presidency
Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Ministry of Justice
Park-e Shahr
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Dear Sirs:

It is our understanding that on May 11, agents of the Iranian Ministry of Information arrested Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh at his home in Tehran. He is being detained without charge in Tehran’s Evin prison, where he is being held in detention without access to legal counsel.

As President of the Social Science Research Council, I want to express our strong concern for our valued colleague and call for his immediate and unconditional release.

Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh is a leading scholar with an international reputation and a respected professor who taught at the New School in New York City for seven years and remains a senior research fellow there. He has published two widely praised books, The Promise of the City: Space, Identity and Politics in Contemporary Social Thought (University of California Press, 2001) and Social Capital: Trust, Democracy and Development (published in Persian, 2005). In addition, he has published over 20 articles in leading scholarly journals and delivered lectures at major international conferences on urban planning, public health, and municipal government. Throughout the course of his career, Dr. Tajbakhsh has earned a reputation as a distinguished and respected scholar throughout the Middle East, South Asia, Europe, and the United States.

Alongside his academic career, Dr. Tajbakhsh has worked as a consultant for several organizations including Iran’s Municipalities Organization, the Social Security Organization, and international organizations such as the World Bank and the Dutch Association of Municipalities.

Dr. Tajbakhsh has had a long affiliation with the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), the leading academic organization for social scientists in the United States. He has served as a Steering Committee Member for the SSRC’s Middle East and North Africa Program and contributed in significant ways to the SSRC’s academic projects. It is difficult to imagine the international scholarly community without the reasoned and eloquent voice of Dr. Tajbakhsh. His incarceration is a grave concern to us all and we strongly urge that you reconsider your decision to detain him.

Sincerely,

Craig Calhoun, President
Social Science Research Council

The San Francisco Chronicle has published an op-ed about the detentions of Haleh, Kian, and others, by Iranian journalist and human rights defender Omid Memarian:

The solitary confinement of Haleh Esfandiari, the respected scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center, and this week’s arrest of Kian Tajbaksh, an urban planning expert at George Soros’s Open Society Institute, and Ali Shakheri, an Iranian-American scholar and democracy activist, are the latest signs of a clamp-down on civil society in Iran — and on its supporters abroad.

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The New School, where Kian taught for several years, has issued the following statement:

Statement Concerning the Detention of Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh in IRAN

New York, New York: May 25, 2007: The New School strongly objects to the arrest and detention of Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh by the Iranian government.

Dr. Tajbakhsh has been a respected member of The New School faculty, and is a highly-regarded scholar with expertise in urban planning, including issues of class, race, and poverty. Dr. Tajbakhsh has made it his life’s work to develop and advise governments on strategies to build more effective and humane cities.

Bob Kerrey, President of The New School, has characterized the arrest and detention of Dr. Tajbakhsh as “unprovoked and without justification.”

The New School calls on the government of Iran to release Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh immediately.

The Wall Street Journal published this editorial about the detention of Iranian-American scholars:

Iran’s Latest Hostages
25 May 2007
The Wall Street Journal

Haleh Esfandiari is no firebrand opponent of the regime in Tehran. As director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., the Iranian-born scholar is known as an advocate of U.S. engagement with the mullahs and supporter of the “reformists” associated with former President Mohammad Khatami. But those distinctions don’t count for much with the people who now hold her hostage in Tehran’s infamous Evin prison.

Ms. Esfandiari has been a prisoner of the Ayatollahs for the past five months, since her U.S. and Iranian passports were stolen by knife-wielding assailants during one of her routine visits to Tehran to see her 93-year-old mother. Rather than issue her new travel documents, agents from the ministry of intelligence subjected her to four months of intensive questioning, culminating with demands that she “cooperate.” She refused. She was remanded to Evin prison earlier this month. On Monday, she was charged with attempting to overthrow the Islamic Republic, according to Iranian state news agencies.
Her peril should not be underestimated: In 2003, Canadian-Iranian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi was murdered in Evin. The Iranian newspaper Kayhan claims Ms. Esfandiari is a former head of the “Iran section of AIPAC” (the U.S. Israel lobby), which is untrue, and that she has lived in Israel, which is also untrue, and that she is an agent of the Mossad, which is absurd.

Meanwhile, Iran has also detained Iranian-American consultant Kian Tajbakhsh, who was working for George Soros’s Open Society Institute. “We are concerned for his safety and call for his immediate release,” the institute said in a statement.

Both Mr. Soros and the Wilson Center are critics of the Bush Doctrine in the Middle East, and Wilson Center President Lee Hamilton has been prominently urging U.S. negotiations with Iran. Mr. Hamilton wrote Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in February requesting Ms. Esfandiari’s release. He received no reply.

Jadi, one of Kian’s former students in Tehran,  has written this post about his detention. Jadi says:

Kian Tajbakhsh was my Urban Sociology professor. He returned back from USA around 2 years ago and started teaching us “Urban Sociology” at the university of Allame. He has studied in Columbia University and worked at New School. I remember that during the class somebody asked him about the reasons for coming back to Iran. He said: “I returned back to show others that we can work here. We can promote the situation.”

I think he succeed. I learnt that we have to continue. I don’t know why the authorities have detained him.

PEN American Center sent the following letter to the Iranian authorities on Kian’s behalf:

May 23, 2007

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Presidency
Palestine Avenue
Azerbaijan Intersection
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Ministry of Justice
Park-e Shahr
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Your Excellencies,

On behalf of the 3,400 members of PEN American Center, an international organization of writers dedicated to protecting freedom of expression wherever it is threatened, we are writing to express our grave concern over reports that Kian Tajbakhsh, a distinguished colleague and a dual citizen of the United States and Iran, has been detained and is currently being held without charge in Evin prison.

Mr. Tajbakhsh is a social scientist and urban planner who has published two books and numerous articles in his field and who has worked with a variety of Iranian and international organizations on research and development projects. According to our information, he was arrested at his home in Tehran on or about May 11, 2007, and he has been held since then in Evin prison, a facility notorious for its documented cases of torture and detainee abuse. We understand that Mr. Tajbakhsh has neither seen a lawyer nor been allowed visitors, and that he has not been formally charged or accused of any crime.

PEN American Center is deeply troubled by reports of Kian Tajbakhsh’s arrest and we are seriously concerned for his health and welfare in the custody of Iranian authorities. We fear he is being held in violation of the due process and free expression guarantees outlined in the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a signatory. We seek assurances that he is being treated humanely, and we respectfully request his immediate and unconditional release.

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,

Hannah Pakula
Chair, Freedom to Write Committee

Larry Siems
Director, Freedom to Write and
International Programs

The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) condemned the detentions: 

NIAC condemns arrest of Iranian American scholars
Iranian hardline factions seek to prevent diplomacy through these egregious acts

Washington DC - The National Iranian American Council condemns the imprisonment of respected social scientist Kian Tajbakhsh by Iranian authorities on May 11 and calls for his immediate release. Tajbakhsh is the fourth individual with dual US-Iranian citizenship to be detained in the last few weeks by the Iranian government. Dr. Haleh Esfandiari of the Woodrow Wilson Center was sent to Evin prison on May 8, 2007. 

“These arbitrary detentions and backsliding in the general human rights situation are undoubtedly attempts to derail progress toward diplomacy with the US,” says Trita Parsi, President of the National Iranian American Council. “Certain hard line factions within the Iranian government greatly benefit from the nation’s current state of diplomatic isolation, and have now demonstrated the lengths they will go to in order to maintain the status quo.” Tehran and Washington are scheduled to hold much anticipated talks in Baghdad on Monday on the issue of the future of Iraq.

Tajbakhsh is widely respected as a social scientist and has advised several Iranian ministries in the past. He has been involved in various humanitarian projects in Iran, including providing relief after the 2003 Bam earthquake-at Tehran’s request.

The recent arrest of Iranian Americans is causing great concern in a community that cherishes the ability to visit Iran and maintain close contacts with family and friends there despite the tense political situation between the two countries.

“The Iranian government’s decision to incarcerate individuals as widely respected for their academic and humanitarian work as Esfandiari and Tajbakhsh is deeply disturbing,” says Dokhi Fassihian, a Board member of the Council. “NIAC forcefully rejects the targeting of Iranian-American social scientists. Our community continues to call for a peaceful resolution of tensions between the two countries and demands that Iran halt the severe deterioration of human rights gripping the country.”

Human Rights Watch released the following statement about Kian and the other detained scholars:

Iran: Another Iranian-American Scholar Detained
Crackdown Against Iranian Civil Society Intensifies

(New York, May 24, 2007) – The increasing arrests and detentions of Iranian-American scholars in Iran points to an Iranian government campaign to deter local civil society activists from interacting with Iranians based abroad, Human Rights Watch said today. The Iranian authorities should immediately release the three Iranian-Americans and the dozens of activists, teachers and scholars arbitrarily detained in a recent government crackdown.

On May 11, agents of the Ministry of Information arrested Kian Tajbakhsh, an Iranian-American sociologist, at his home in Tehran. He is being detained without charge in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. The Ministry of Information is currently holding at least three Iranian-Americans, including Tajbakhsh. It has also confiscated the passport of a fourth Iranian-American, preventing her from leaving the country.

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