An Iranian philosopher and writer who also holds Canadian citizenship has been detained for three weeks without formal charges, raising concerns that his arrest could signal a move toward greater repression of intellectuals.
The academic, Ramin Jahanbegloo, was arrested at Tehran airport late last month as he headed to Brussels, Belgium, to attend a conference sponsored by the German Marshall Fund. He had just returned from a six-month teaching program in India.
A few days after the arrest, security officers took Jahanbegloo to his home and searched it, removing his computer.
Minister of Information Mohsen Ejei told reporters this month that he was arrested because of "his contacts with foreigners." On Monday, the daily newspaper Jomhouri Eslami, which is close to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called Jahanbegloo "an element of the United States who was part of the plot to overthrow the regime under the guise of intellectual work by peaceful means."
Jahanbegloo, who has delivered lectures on the prospects for democracy in Iran, wrote nearly 20 books in English, French and Persian on culture and philosophy. He studied at the Sorbonne and at Harvard, and is now the director of contemporary studies at Iran's Cultural Research Bureau and an advocate of nonviolence and intercultural dialogue.
Jahanbegloo's wife and mother have declined to talk to reporters in an effort to avoid complicating his case.
The arrest coincided with a crackdown on student advocates. A court has issued a suspended five-year sentence for Abdullah Momeni, a student leader, and an 18-month sentence for Mehdi Aminzadeh, another leader. Each was accused of being part of the pro-democracy demonstrations in 2002 during which students demanded the release of Hashem Aghajari, who received a death sentence after questioning the authority of high-ranking clerics.
However, he has been arrested by the Ministry of Information, unlike the others, who were arrested by the judiciary. His arrest was a shock since he was not involved in activism and had advocated dialogue and tolerance in his writings.
Momeni said the arrest of Jahanbegloo made sense only as an effort to frighten dissidents.
"He was just a university professor and intellectual who advocated philosophical theories," he said. "He had no access to any classified information."
"It seems that the authorities want to intimidate free thinkers and professors," he added. "They do not want intellectuals to have the freedom to advocate secular and democratic theories which can lay the foundation for democracy."
The arrest has further strained relations between Canada and Iran, which soured after an Iranian-Canadian photojournalist, Zahra Kazemi, was killed in detention in the notorious Evin prison in 2003.
Jahanbegloo is also in Evin, in solitary confinement in Section 209, an area controlled by the Ministry of Information, people familiar with his case say. Former prisoners said people held in this section received better treatment than those in the section controlled by the judiciary.
Jahanbegloo told his family during the few telephone calls he was allowed that he was being treated well and fed well.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese