openDemocracy writer Ramin Jahanbegloo was arrested late last week in Tehran airport as he returned from India with his family. No official explanation for his arrest has been given, although the Fars News Agency has reported an unnamed official as saying that he faces espionage charges.
Jahanbegloo is a political philosopher, the author of twenty books and head of the department for contemporary studies at the Cultural Research Bureau, Iran. In a recent article for El Pais
he challenged President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's claim that the Holocaust was a myth.
In recent years Iranian authorities have clamped down heavily on freedom of expression, closing down newspapers and imprisoning and torturing editors, journalists and bloggers. The Envin prison where Jahanbegloo is now held is known for the torture of political detainees.
At a meeting of the Association of Iranian Journalists yesterday speakers condemmed Jahanbegloo's arrest. Akbar Ganji, who was recently released after six years in prison for articles linking Iranian leaders with a series of political killings in 1998, said:
"What is happening to the newspapers in our country is by no means acceptable…Today, our newspapers are facing their worst-ever situation,"
LA Times report on Ramin Jahanbegloo's arrest
Ottawa Citizen report on Ramin Jahanbegloo's arrest
Human Rights Watch overview on Iran
Ramin Jahanbegloo's official site
Recently published articles by Ramin Jahanbegloo on oD:
Iran's Conservative Triumph
America's dreaming
