AUTUMN 06 Empty Chair: Ramin Jahanbegloo
He is the author of over twenty books, including Gandhi: Aux Sources de la Non-Violence and Penser la Non-Violence. Since 2002, he has headed up the Department for Contemporary Studies at the Cultural Research Bureau in Tehran.
Shortly after returning to from a Visiting Professorship in India, Dr. Ramin Janahbegloo was detained by the Iranian police on April 27th, 2006. Officials would not confirm his arrest until May 3rd, at which time the reason given for his detainment was "contacts with foreigners". This is not a crime in Iran and, (as of June 10th ) formal charges have yet to be filed.
According to Iranian law, there is no maximum length of time a person may be kept in prison without being charged with a crime, and human rights organizations are now concerned that Janahbegloo is being held, and is in danger of being held indefinitely, as a prisoner of conscience.
Dr. Ramin Jahanbegloo is being kept at Evin prison, which Human Rights Watch characterizes as "notorious". According to the LA Times, reporters were allowed to visit the women's prison in 2005, but not the men's. Activists and family members have expressed concern for his physical well-being.
There is a great deal of speculation regarding the real reasons for his incarceration. Earlier this year Dr. Jahanbegloo wrote an article for El Pais, the Spanish newspaper, criticizing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's views on the Holocaust. There have also been suggestions that Dr. Jahanbegloo has been involved in a kind of Velvet Revolution in Iran, supposedly backed by American and/or Canadian interests.
Articles written by Dr. Ramin Jahanbegloo are available online on his official website.
For more information see the Toronto Initiative for Iranian Studies blog.
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UPDATE: "The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN welcomes the release on 30 August 2006 of academic and writer Ramin Jahanbegloo, who had been held incommuncado in Evin prison since 27 April 2006."
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