Iranian prisoner; UT post doctorate student Omid Kokabee
The Daily Texan / DAVID MALY
26-Nov-2012 (2 comments)

Alaei, an HIV/AIDS researcher, served time in solitary confinement and a special unit for political prisoners while he was at Evin prison. UT post doctorate student Omid Kokabee, however, still serving time.

To access the petition asking the Iranian government to give Omid Kokabee a fair retrial go to://www.gopetition.com/petitions/fair-retrial-for-omid-kokabee/signatures.html. 

According to a petition created by UT physics professor Herbert Berk asking the Iranian government to give Kokabee a fair trial. Berk is a member of the Committee on International Freedom of Scientists of theAmerican Physical Society, an organization which works to protect the rights of scientists. He has been acting with other members of the organization in support of Kokabee.

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Fesenjoon2

The sad state of UT and Austin

by Fesenjoon2 on Tue Nov 27, 2012 10:58 PM PST

I find it very troubling that UT refuses to take an official stance on Kokabee’s situation.

 

I have written twice to the Chair of Physics at UT, and to The Daily Texan to take some action. They didnt do shit. For a school that takes pride in advocating progressive values and being a hotbed of liberalism, the silence is deafening. I've even found the Iranian community at A&M more politically active than UT (and A&M is in the middle of nowhere). But when there is an eftari at the local mosque

 

//www.iaba-austin.org/new/index.html

AT LEAST 100 graduate students from Iran (not Iranian-Americans) show up for the free food and opportunity to socialize. What's weird to me was that a good chunk of them are Petroleum Engineering students on Boors-e tahsili from Vezarat-e naft. It amazes me how these people manage to get a visa, not only for themselves, but for their wives too! And they're all from Sharif. (For some weird reason, U-Tehran students studying here usually stay away from mosques and religious affiliations). Austin has so many hezbee visa students from Iran that it freaks me out.  

But I dont think UT is alone though. I once, not long ago, saw a chadori Iranian student walking around with a black Chador on campus at Washington University in St. Louis. She was a PhD student there. And for those of you who are in academia, WashU is very highly prestigious, in fact ranked higher than Berkeley or Cornell. And WashU seems to have a thing for giving student visas to Iranian women, especially since Ahmadinejad has been around. I know 3 female faculty members in Iran right now that are alumni of WashU. All are bache hezbee with maghna-eh. And all 3 took out large student loans while in the US (and not spending it), and returned to Iran after graduating with the money, defaulting on their loans. Doosheedan-e Imperialism kheili haal mideh. Lets go to America. Get a top education there WITH A CHADOR. Live a good life there for a couple of years with a reeshoo husband found in some engineering dept. Get pregnant and have a baby with a US Passport. Take out a big loan, then graduate. Go back to Iran with the money, immediately. Become a respected faculty from a presigious American school and get immediately hired at a state university in Iran as tenure track. That's how it's done. Life is good. Take that, zionists! 

Anyway, going back to Austin, I also find UT System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa's position on Iran quite distasteful. He's such a good man. Manners. Patron of the Arts. An excellent administrator. His position may have something to do with UT's relation with Iran. Even now, the UT system has some relations. But I think his implicit sympathy of Ahmadinejad and IRI perhaps may also have personal/cultural roots. He has a Mexican background. Many Mexicans are sympathetic to Iran's government. It's the usual Latin American way of looking at things when it comes to politics. 

Either way, what a shame. For both UT and Iran. 


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Soosan Khanoom

From UT to Evin Prison

by Soosan Khanoom on Mon Nov 26, 2012 12:54 PM PST


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