Anglo-Iranian charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, detained since April 2016 in Iran
The French newspaper Le Figaro reports that two more dual and foreign nationals have been detained in Iran.
The account says a French-Iranian dual citizen and a German national were seized more than two weeks ago. It claims the detainees, who were not identified, are being held as leverage for Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi, sentenced by a Belgian court on February 4.
Assadi, said to lead a Europe-wide spying network, was given a 20-year prison term for plotting to bomb a Paris rally of the National Committee for Resistance in Iran in June 2018.
Paris-Geneva, February 15, 2021
– The Observatory and League for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran (LDDHI) are extremely concerned by the conviction and detention of human rights defender Reza Eslami for allegedly cooperating with the US government over a human rights course. Photo of Reza Eslami. Credit unknown
On October 20, 2020, Branch 15 of the Islamic Revolution Court in Tehran held its first hearing in the case of
Reza Eslami, an Iranian-Canadian Associate Professor of Human Rights and
Environmental Rights at Tehran’s Shahid Beheshti University, on charge
of “cooperation with the US hostile government against the Islamic
Republic system”. This accusation stems from his participation in
Iranian-Canadian Professor Given 7 Years in Prison for Attending Czech Law Course
Posted by Scott Lucas | Feb 12, 2021 |
Professor Reza Eslami (pictured), an Iranian-Canadian national, has been given a 7-year prison sentence in Iran.
The “crime” of Eslami, who works at Tehran’s Shahid Beheshti University, was attendance at a training course in the Czech Republic.
A Revolutionary Court convicted the academic of “cooperating with an enemy state”. Judge Abolghassem Salavati also banned Eslami from teaching and leaving the country.
Eslami was arrested in May over his participation in the law training course, organized by a Czech NGO that receives funds from the US.
This week, a key figure in Iran’s security establishment signaled a potential change in the country’s nuclear calculations. Also, Iran further reduced its compliance in the nuclear deal and has detained another U.S. dual national. For a breakdown and analysis of these events, please see below:
U.S. and Iran Remain at Impasse; Iran Continues to Further Reduce Compliance in JCPOA
Iranian Intelligence Minister’s Comments Signal Possible Change in Nuclear Policy Thinking
In a televised interview with Iranian state TV, Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said that “Our nuclear program is a peaceful program and the supreme leader clearly said in his fatwa that producing nuclear weapons is against religious law and the Islamic Republic will not pursue it and considers it forbidden,” he said on state television. “But let me tell you, if you corner a cat it might behave differently than a cat roaming free. If they push Iran in that direction, it would not be Iran’s fault b
Reza Eslami, the Iranian-Canadian legal scholar who was arrested by Iranian authorities last May, was reportedly sentenced on Monday to seven years in prison on charges of “cooperating with hostile foreign powers.” Eslami, a dual Iranian-Canadian citizen who received his PhD in law from McGill Unive