AIDA Nederland

Appeal on behalf of detained Iranian Professor Ramin Jahanbegloo
Date: June 21, 2006

Scholars at Risk is extremely concerned about the arrest and detention without charge of Iranian scholar Professor Ramin Jahanbegloo. Scholars at Risk calls for letters, faxes and emails calling for authorities to release Jahanbegloo or, if not released, to ensure his physical wellbeing in custody, to inform him in writing of any charges against him and provide him immediate access to legal counsel.

Scholars at Risk is an international network of universities and colleges working to promote academic freedom and to defend the human rights of scholars worldwide. SAR learned that on or about April 27, Professor Ramin Jahanbegloo was detained at Mehrabad Airport outside of Tehran while attempting to travel to a conference sponsored by the German Marshall Fund in Brussels. He had recently returned to Iran after completing a visiting professorship at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) in India.
Professor Ramin Jahanbegloo is head of the Department of Contemporary Studies at the Cultural Research Bureau in Tehran. He is a respected political theorist, philosopher and author of more than 20 books in English, French and Persian. One of his essys have been published into Dutch by monthly magazine Eutopia, see under: http://www.debalie.nl/publikatie.jsp?publicationid=30123. He has studied and taught at Iranian, European and North American institutions. He is admired by colleagues around the world for his devotion to intercultural exchange and scholarship and for disseminating information about Iran’s complex society and its rich contributions to world history. See under: http://iranproject.info/
SAR understands that the Iranian authorities have not issued formal charges against Professor Jahanbegloo and that he has not been allowed to confer with a lawyer. According to The New York Times, the Iranian Minister of Intelligence confirmed the arrest on May 6 and implied that Jahanbegloo was in custody for having unspecified "contacts with foreigners." Amnesty International has listed Professor Jahanbegloo as a possible prisoner of conscience, and Human Rights Watch, NEAR many academic associations and over 400 academics worldwide have publicly called for his release, while expressing concern for his physical well being while in custody. Scholars at Risk requests that urgent letters of appeal, emails and faxes be sent:
- respectfully calling on the authorities to secure Professor Jahanbegloo’s immediate release if he is not to be charged with a recognizable crime;
- respectfully seeking assurances of Professor Jahanbegloo’s physical well being while he is in custody pending any release or proceedings;
- respectfully seeking that full details of Professor Jahanbegloo’s arrest be publicized, including any charges against him, and that he be given a prompt and fair trial; and
- respectfully reminding the Iranian authorities that the free exchange of ideas across national boundaries is a core value of academic freedom and higher education generally.

WRITE TO:

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic :
His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei,
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Shoahada Street, Qom, Islamic Republic of Iran

COPIES TO:

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

Ambassador M. Javad Zarif
Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations
Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations
622 Third Avenue, 34th Floor
New York, NY 10017
Fax: (212) 867-7086

The Honorable Condoleeza Rice
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20520

Scholars at Risk
c/o New York University
194 Mercer St. Rm 410
New York, NY USA
Tel: 212-998-2179
Fax 212-995-4402
scholarsatrisk "AT" nyu.edu

Network for Education and Academic Rights
90 London Road
SE1 9LN, London, UK
Fax: 0044(0) 207 021 0881
contact "AT" nearinternational.org