Canadian-Iranian Academic Jailed In Iran

June 09, 2016

Iranian authorities have arrested an Iranian-Canadian anthropologist on unknown charges, according to her family.

Family members said in a June 8 statement that Homa Hoodfar, 65, is being held at Tehran’s Evin prison.

"The authorities have not made clear whether Professor Hoodfar is being charged with espionage, sedition, or propaganda against the state,” the statement reads. 

Hoodfar, a professor at Concordia University in Montreal, was reportedly arrested earlier this week following some three months of questioning by intelligence services.

In March, she had been banned from leaving the country. 

Hoodfar’s lawyer and family have not been allowed to visit her, the family says.

In the past few months, several dual nationals from the United States, Britain, and France have been jailed in Iran or faced pressure from authorities. 

Based on reporting by Toronto Star, CBC, and AFP