Haleh In Prison I Copied Here Last

Haleh in Prison

I copied here last Saturday our MESA letter of protest about the Iranian government’s imprisonment of Iranian-American scholar Haleh Esfandiari [also spelled Esfandiary].

Everyone should be outraged about this story. Her arrest should be an issue for everyone who believes in human rights, in academic freedom, and in women’s rights.

I know Haleh and have enormous respect for her, and cannot say how anguished I am at the thought of her in that horrible Evin Prison, Iran’s Abu Ghraib. I include below some more links on her case. But I’m not satisfied with just online petitions. Can’t we get up some (legal, calm) protests in front of Iranian embassies in Europe and elsewhere?

Everybody does some things well and some things poorly. I have been pretty successful in various kinds of writing. But I’m not an organization person and don’t have the slightest clue how to get up a successful protest in front of the Iranian embassy in London and Paris and Tokyo. Iran does a lot of trade with Western Europe and Japan, and the case of Haleh should be brought up every time they seek a new contract. We have to get her out of there, folks. Can anyone help? Can we set up a wiki project page and try to coordinate?

I had been planning to go to a conference in Iran in July, hosted by some French scholars, but I have cancelled in protest against this detention of my friend. I don’t see how normal intellectual life can go on when a scholar at the Wilson Center can’t safely visit Iran.

Scholars at Risk.

Danny Postel has written about this case at the Guardian.

Her husband, Shaul Bakhash has refuted the frankly looney tunes accusations against Haleh.

Amnesty International has issued a special alert about the issue.

Shirin Ebadi, the Nobel Laureate, has condemned the arbitrary imprisonment of Haleh.

Rasool Nafisi discusses the reasons for which the Iranian Revolutionary Guards have imprisoned Haleh Esfandiari in the notorious Evin Prison.