Scholars urge release of detainees
As concerned scholars and human rights advocates, we feel compelled
to express our concern about the recent crackdown on the pro-democracy
and reform movement in Iran. We appeal to the world community and call
on all international human rights organizations, non-governmental as well
as governmental bodies, including the United Nations, Amnesty International,
Human Rights Watch, as well as individuals who are supportive of democracy,
human rights, and civil society to protest the most recent repression of
reform and reformers in Iran.
An overwhelming majority of the Iranian people have demonstrated their
support for democracy and reform through three national elections in Iran:
the Presidential election in May 1997, the municipal elections in February
1999, and the parliamentary elections in February 2000. The ruling minority,
however, has been resisting the will of the majority by violent and repressive
means and by finally resorting to a coup-like plot through various overt
and covert actions including the following:
-- The partial annulment of the results of the people's parliamentary
elections;
-- The closing of 16 pro-reform daily or weekly publications since April
23rd.
-- The arrest of several pro-reform journalists, including Mr. Akbar
Ganji, Mr. Latif Safari, and Mr. Mashallah Shamsol Vaezin, and two prominent
advocates of human/women rights, Ms. Shahla Lahiji, director of a publishing
house, and Ms. Mehrangiz Kar, lawyer and writer, and Ali Afshari, a leader
of, a major student organization;
-- Public threats of death and violent repression against the pro-democracy
activists issued by some of the commanders of the Revolutionary Guards;
-- Public calls for the murder of reformers by clerics like Abolqasem
Khazali;
-- The secret trial of 13 Iranian Jews on charges of espionage;
Meanwhile hundreds of pro-democracy activists and students have been
held in prisons since the July 1999 violent invasion of universities by
vigilantes and security forces. The case of serial killers, a great threat
to the intellectual community as well as to civility and individual liberties
for all Iranians, remains unresolved. Prisoners of conscience like Mr.
Abbas Amir-Entezam, former Deputy Prime-Minster who enters his 20th year
of imprisonment, and reform-minded clerics like Abdollah Nuri and Mohsen
Kadivar have not been released. We urge the authorities in Iran to respect
the wishes of the majority, the rule of law and human and basic civil rights,
release journalists, writers, and all other prisoners of conscience.
Signed:
1. Gelareh Abedi (University of Califronia, Los Angeles, USA)
2. Nuraddin Abdulmannan (Sudan Human Rights Organization, Washington,
DC,USA)
3. Ervand Abrahamian (City University of New York, New York, USA)
4. Janet Afary (Purdue University, Indiana, USA)
5. Mahnaz Afkhami (Women's Learning Partnership for Rights, Bethesda,
MD, USA)
6. Olufemi A. Akinola (Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA)
7. Pooya Alaedini (Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA).
8. Kazem Alamdari (California State University, Los Angeles, USA)
9. Ozgur Basak Alkan (MIT, Massachusetts, MA, USA)
10. Abbas Alnasrawi (University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA)
11. Magda M. Al-Nowaihi (Columbia University, New York, NY, USA)
12. Edward Alpers (University of California, Los Angeles, USA)
13. Elaheh Amani (California State University, Fullerton, USA)
14. Mehdi P. Amineh (University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
15. Alireza Azizi (Amnesty International, Los Angeles Chapter, USA)
16. Shannon Badiee (Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, USA)
17. Roksana Bahramitash (Mc Gill University, Montreal, Canada)
18. Ali Banuazizi(Boston College, Boston, MA, USA)
19. S. Scott Bartchy (University of California, Los Angeles, USA)
20. Giulia Barrera (North Western University, Evanston, IL, USA)
21. Sanjay Basu (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA,
USA)
22. Jane Bayes (California State University, Northridge, USA)
23. Sohrab Behdad (Denison University, Granville, Ohio, USA)
24. Maziar Behrooz (California State University, San Francisco, USA)
25. Joel Beinin (Stanford University, Stanford, USA)
26. Houri Berberian (California State University, Long Beach, CA, USA)
27. Elizabeth Berry (California State University, Northridge, CA, USA)
28. Cyrus Bina, (California State University, Fullerton, USA)
29. Leonard Binder (University of Califronia, Los Angeles)
30. Paul W. Blank (Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA, USA)
31. Mehrzad Boroujerdi (Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY)
32. Heather Boushey (Research and Policy Development Department, New
York City Housing
Authority, New York, NY)
33. William M. Brinner (University of California, Los Angeles, USA)
34. Karen Brodkin (University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA)
35. Don Bustany (American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, LA Chapter,
USA)
36. Houchang E. Chehabi (Boston University, Boston, Mass., USA)
37. Noam Chomsky (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, MA,
USA)
38. Jerome W. Clinton (Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey,
USA)
39. Juan R. I. Cole (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA)
40. Kamran M. Dadkhah (Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts,
USA)
41. Anthony D'Agostino (San Francisco State University, CA, USA)
42. Carolyne Dennis (University of London, London, UK)
43. Mangalika de Silva (Social Scientists Association, Colombo, Sri
Lanka)
44. Khalil Dokhanchi (University of Wisconsin-Superior, Superior, WI,
USA)
45. William A. Dorman (California State University, Sacramento, California,
U.S.)
46. Diana L. Eck (Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA)
47. Goudarz Eghtedari (Portland State University, Portland, Oregon,
USA)
48. Abdolreza Eshghi (Bentley College, Massachusetts, USA)
49. Farideh Farhi (Middle East Institute, Honolulu, HI, USA)
50. Ramin Farjad, (Stanford University, California, USA)
51. Nehzat Farnudi (Clinical Psychologist, San Diego, CA, USA)
52. Mary Felstiner (San Francisco State University, SF, CA, USA)
53. Nancy Fernandez (California State University, Northridge, CA, USA)
54. Nimalka Fernando (Attorney-at-Law, Colombo, Sri Lanka)
55. Stephen H. Fleck (California State University, Long Beach, CA, USA)
56. John Foran (University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA)
57. Geraldine Friedman (Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA)
58. Nancy Gallagher (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA)
59. Shahin Gerami (Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield,
Missouri, USA)
60. Elham Gheytanchi (University of California, Los Angeles, USA)
61. Reza Ghorashi (Stockton College, NJ, USA).
62. Lauren Gibson (Center for Human Rights and International Justice,
Hastings College of the Law,
San Francisco, California)
63. Sherna Berger Gluck (California State University, Long Beach, USA)
64. Mark J. Goodman (Atkinson College, York University Toronto, Ontario,
Canada)
65. William A. Graham (Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA)
66. Shahla Haeri (Boston University, Boston, MA, USA)
67. Sondra Hale (University of California, Los Angeles, USA)
68. Gerry Hale (University of Californian, Los Angeles, USA)
69. Virginia Harper-Ho (Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA, USA)
70. Azer H. Hasret (Journalists Trade Union of Azerbaijan, Baku, Azerbaijan)
71. Amir Hassanpour (University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada)
72. Mary Hegland (San Jose State University, CA, USA)
73. Julie Higbee (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA)
74. Nancy Hormachea (Attorney, Oakland, CA, USA)
75. Valerie Hoffman (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL,
76. Homa Hoodfar (Concordia University, Montreal, Canada)
77. Pi-Ching Hsu (San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA,
USA)
78. Amir Hussain (California State University, Northridge, CA, USA)
79. Mahmood Ibrahim (California State Polytechnic University, Pomona,
USA)
80. John L. Iskande (University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA)
81. Bill Issel (San Francisco State University, SF, CA, USA)
82. Ramin Jahanbegloo (University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada)
83. Muhammad Athar Javed (Canadian Council for International Peace and
Security, Ottawa,
Canada)
84. Anne M. Jennings (Association for Middle East Women's Studies, CA,
USA)
85. Miriam Joyce (Purdue University, Calumet, Indiana, USA)
86. Suad Joseph (American University in Cairo, Egypt)
87. Menaha Kandasamy (Institute of Social Development, Colombo, Sri
Lanka)
88. Deniz Kandiyoti (University of London, London, UK)
89. Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak (University of Washington, Seattle, USA)
90. Elham Kashefi (Imperial College of Science, Technology & Medicine,
London, UK)
91. Farnaz Kashefi (University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA)
92. Sherry Katz (California State University, San Francisco, CA, USA)
93. Seema Kazi (Freelance Researcher, New Delhi, India)
94. Nikki Keddie (University of California, Los Angeles, USA)
95. Sherry Keith (San Francisco State University, CA, USA)
96. Ross A. Kennedy (San Francisco State University, SF, CA, USA)
97. Namvar Khalilnaji (Semiconductor Engineer, Sacramento, CA, USA)
98. Azadeh Kian (Paris 8 University, Paris, France)
99. Frank I. Kidner (San Francisco State University, SF, CA, USA)
100. Katherine Callen King (University of California, Los Angeles, CA,
USA)
101. Reza Khatib (Frankfurt University, Hessen, Germany)
102. Farhad Khosrokhavar (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales
in Paris)
103. Andrew Kliman (Pace University, Pleasantville, NY USA)
104. Stephen Knight (University of California, Hastings College of the
Law, San Francisco,
California, USA)
105. Habib Ladjevardi (Harvard University, Cambridge, USA)
106. Burton M. Leiser (Pace University, Pleasantville and White Plains,
New York, USA)
107. Karen Leonard (University of California, Los Angeles, USA)
108. Zachary A. Lomo (?? Cambridge, MA, USA)
109. Barbara D. Loomis (San Francisco State University, SF, CA, USA)
110. Paul K. Longmore (San Francisco State University, SF, CA, USA)
111. Marta Lopez Garza (California State University, Northridge, USA)
112. Ali Akbar Mahdi (Ohio Weslyan University, Ohio, CA)
113. Majid Maleki (Telcordia Technologies, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA)
114. Susan Maloney (Immaculate Heart College, Los Angeles, CA, USA)
115. Afaf Marsot (University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA)
116. David L. Martin (International Language Institute,Washington, DC
USA)
117. Mary Martin (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA)
118. Afshin Matin-Asgari (California State University, Long Beach, USA)
119. Niyazi Mehdi (Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Art, Baku,
Azerbaijan)
120. Mostafa Mehdizadeh (Miami University, Oxford, OH, USA)
121. Vugar Mevlan (International Eurasia Press Fund, Baku, Azerbaijan)
122. Farzaneh Milani (University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA)
123. Ziba Mir-Hosseini (University of London, London, UK)
124. Guive Mirfendereski (Newton, Massachusetts, USA)
125. Sharon G. Mijares (Clinical Psychologist, San Diego, CA, USA)
126. Michelle L. Mitchell (San Francisco State University, CA, USA)
127. Minoo Moallem, San Francisco State University, CA, USA
128. Valentine Moghadam (Illinois State University, Normal, USA)
129. Haideh Moghissi, Atkinson College, York University, Canada
130. Ali Mohammadi (Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, Great Britain)
131. Sadie Moinzadeh (Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio, USA)
132. Shahrzad Mojab (OISE/University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada)
133. Jamshid Moori (University of Natal, South Africa)
134. Sima Motamen-Samadian (University of West Minister, London, UK)
135. Alireza Mowzooni (California State University, Sacramento, CA,
USA)
136. Karen Musalo (University of California, Hastings College of the
Law, San Francisco,
California, USA)
137. Afsaneh Najmabadi (Columbia University, New York, USA)
138. Mohamad Navab (UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA)
139. Jeffrey B. Nugent (University of Southern California, Los Angeles,
CA, USA)
140. Emelie Olson (Whittier College, Whittier, CA, USA)
141. Abdiel Onate (San Francisco State University, SF, CA, USA)
142. Arzoo Osanloo (Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA)
143. Richard Ottinger (Dean Emeritus, Pace Law School, White Plains,
NY, USA)
144. Saeed Paivandi (University of Paris 8, Paris, France)
145. Mary Pardo (California State University, Northridge, CA, USA)
146. Kamal Dean Parhizgar (Texas A&M International University, Texas,
USA)
147. Misagh Parsa (Dartmouth College)
148. Trita Parsi (Consultant, Stockholm, Sweden)
149. Julyana Peard (San Francisco State University, CA, USA)
150. Sassan Pejhan (Electrical Engineer, Princeton, NJ)
151. Ismail K. Poonawala (University of California, Los Angeles, CA,
USA)
152. Elaheh Povey (University of London, London, UK)
153. Jane Prather (California State University, Northridge, CA, USA)
154. Jack Quarter (University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada)
155. Shirindokht Radi (San Jose City College, San Jose, CA, USA)
156. Saeed Rahnema (York University, Toronto, Canada)
157. D Rahni (Pace University, New York, USA)
158. Mohammad Rayej (California Department of Water Resources, Sacramento,
USA)
159. Yasamin Rostam-Kolayi (University of California, Los Angeles, USA)
160. Fazlollah Rowhani (Center for Freedom of Thought and Expression
in Iran - Los
Angeles,USA)
161. Karen Sachs (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge,
MA USA)
162. Tagi Sagafi-nejd (Loyola College in Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA)
163. Siamak Salehi (Cincinnati State College, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA)
164. Eliz Sanasarian (University of Southern California, Los Angeles,
USA)
165. Homa Sarshar (Freelance Journalist, Los Angeles, CA, USA)
166. Elizabeth Say (California State University, Northridge, USA)
167. Joseph Schwartz (SUNY - Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY, USA)
168. Sally Scully (San Francisco State University, SF, CA, USA)
169. Mehrab Sedeh (Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton, Oregon, USA)
170. Abdollah Payrow Shabani (University of Ottawa, Canada)
171. Padideh Shafiei (Tufts Dental School, Boston, MA, USA)
172. Hammed Shahidian (University of Illinois at Springfield, Springfield,
IL USA)
173. Sepideh Sheikhavandi (University of California, Los Angeles, California,
USA)
174. Mohammad Shekari Yazdi (University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria)
175. Gershon Shafir (University of California, San Diego, CA, USA)
176. Sholeh Shahrokhi (University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA)
177. Rebecca Shereikis (Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA)
178. Josephine Shokrian (San Francisco State University, SF, CA, USA)
179. Fariba Soltani (Software Engineer, Washington DC, USA)
180. Tina Stevens (San Francisco State University, SF, CA, USA)
181. Layla Tadjpour (California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA)
182. Shahrzad Tadjpour (University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA)
183. Gulia Taghiyeva (Center for Human Rights, Baku, Azerbaijan)
184. Kamran Talattof (The University of Arizona, Tucson Arizona, USA)
185. Richard Tapper (University of London, London, UK)
186. Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi (Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois,
USA)
187. Majid Tehranian (University of Hawaii, Monoa, USA)
188. Mary Ann Tetreault (Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas, USA)
189. Nayereh Tohidi (California State University, Northridge, USA)
190. Jules Tygiel (San Francisco State University, SF, CA, USA)
191. Lilly Vallee (San Francisco State University, SF, CA, USA)
192. Amalia Vasileiadou (John F. Kennedy University, Orinda, CA, USA)
193. Sherry Vatter (California State University, Long Beach, USA)
194. Haleh Vaziri (Political Scientist, Washington, DC)
195. Linda Walbridge (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston,
MA, USA)
196. Claude Wanis (Writer & Filmmaker, Los Angeles, CA, USA)
197. Wilson Wanene (Freelance Journalist, Boston, MA, USA)
198. Susan Weissman (Saint Mary's College of California, Los Angeles,
CA, USA)
199. Teresa Williams (California State University, Northridge, CA,
USA)
200. Esther B. Wolf (Teacher, Seattle, Washington, USA)
201. Hamid Zangeneh (Widener University, Chester, Pennsylvania, USA)
202. Eldar E. Zeynalov (Director of Human Rights Center, Azerbaijan)
203. Shodja Ziaian, (York University, Glendon College, Toronto, Canada)
204. Marvin Zonis (University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA)
205. Sherifa Zuhur (American University in Cairo, Egypt)
Hamid Zangeneh, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
Widener University
Email: Hamid.Zangeneh@Widener.Edu
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