Intersection of comparative politics and international relations
The New York Times and the Washington Post reported on the arrest of a scholar in Iran that exemplifies the interface between politics, foreign relations, academics, and advocacy.Prominent Iranian-American Academic Is Jailed in Tehran
"Haleh Esfandiari, an Iranian-American academic who is prominent in Washington, was imprisoned yesterday in the Iranian capital of Tehran after being barred from leaving the country four months ago, said the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars..."Ms. Esfandiari, who left Iran at the time of the 1979 Islamic revolution, had returned twice annually over the past decade to visit her mother, an ailing 93-year-old widow...
"Iranian-American academics said there were two possible reasons for Ms. Esfandiari’s predicament.
"First, they say, the Iranian government has grown increasingly suspicious of academic institutions as possible driving forces behind efforts to change the government in Iran...
'Second, the academics say, Ms. Esfandiari might be a pawn in the increasingly nasty rivalry that has erupted in the fractious Iranian government between supporters of the hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the more moderate former president, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
"A Rafsanjani ally, Mohammad Moussavian, was arrested on April 30 and accused of aiding the enemy. Ms. Esfandiari is known for being close to Faizah Hashemi, Mr. Rafsanjani’s daughter, also a politician...
"Ms. Esfandiari’s ordeal began on Dec. 30, when she was en route to the airport to return to Washington, according to the Wilson Center. Three masked gunmen waylaid her taxi and stole her luggage, including her Iranian and American passports.
"The Intelligence Ministry is notorious for staging such crimes..."
Tehran Jails Iranian American Scholar After Long House Arrest
"Iran yesterday detained prominent American academic Haleh Esfandiari, director of th e Middle East Program at the Smithsonian Institution's Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars...
"Esfandiari... has been under virtual house arrest since December... Since then, she has been summoned repeatedly for interrogations by intelligence officials about U.S. programs on Iran. In particular, she was questioned about Iran programs at the Wilson Center, one of Washington's most prominent foreign policy think tanks...
"Esfandiari is one of three 'soft hostages,' all dual U.S.-Iranian nationals, whose passports have been confiscated by the Iranian government, rendering them unable to leave the country.
"Esfandiari and the other soft hostages appear caught up in an Iranian reaction to the Bush administration's $75 million program to promote democracy in Iran...
"Esfandiari has brought in many scholars and analysts from Tehran to speak at the Wilson Center, one of the few places in Washington to offer a robust range of opinions on Iran. 'The irony is, in Washington she faced criticism for bringing in people who were sympathetic to the Iranian government,' said Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 'By detaining her the Iranian government only eliminates an advocate for diplomacy and strengthens the voices of those in Washington who say the regime is cruel and should not be engaged.'"
posted by Ken Wedding @ 8:00 AM
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Washington Post, 16 May 2007
Iran Accuses U.S. Scholar of 'Crimes Against National Security'
"Iran's judiciary said today that it is investigating noted American scholar and Potomac resident Haleh Esfandiari for suspected "crimes against national security," an allegation that immediately produced condemnation from academic circles and international human rights groups..."
22 May 2007 update:
Iran Accuses American of Revolution Plot
"The Islamic Republic of Iran yesterday accused a prominent American academic it imprisoned two weeks ago of conspiring to foment a velvet revolution there.
"A statement from the Intelligence Ministry that was reported on state television said that Haleh Esfandiari and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., along with similar institutions like the Soros Foundation, had been trying to establish a network that would work 'against the sovereignty of the country.'
"'This is an American-designed model with an attractive appearance that seeks the soft-toppling of the country,' the statement said...
"Iran analysts said the charges would be laughable were it not that Ms. Esfandiari had been imprisoned. The idea that a 67-year-old academic is being identified as a major threat to the Islamic Republic shows... that some hard-line elements... are determined to ruin high-level talks between Iran and the United States about security in Iraq that are scheduled to occur in Baghdad on May 27.
"In the long history of tense relations between the countries since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, whenever there seemed to be a rapprochement in the offing, Iranian hard-liners who believed that confronting Washington was a cornerstone of the revolution have sought to derail it..."
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