Petition for the Release of Dr. Haleh Esfandiari

May 16, 2007

We are shocked and dismayed to learn that Dr. Haleh Esfandiari has been charged with endangering "national security" in an announcement made today by Ali Reza Jamshedi, Speaker of Iran's Judiciary branch. Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, the well-known and highly respected Iranian-born academic and life-long advocate of women's rights was arrested on May 8 in Tehran. Dr. Esfandiari heads the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC, a publicly- and privately-funded nonpartisan research institution devoted to the promotion of national and international dialogue. In December 2006 she went to Iran to visit her ailing mother. On her way back to the airport, she was accosted by armed men who took all her belongings, including her passport and other documents, at knife-point. Subsequently, she was placed under virtual house arrest and subjected to more than 50 hours of intensive interrogation. On May 8, she was arrested and taken to Evin prison. Her arrest comes at a time of increased harassment and intimidation of women in Iran, especially those involved in civil activism. The non-formal charges advanced by certain semi- governmental press in the country, including Kayhan Daily, though clearly fabricated, nonetheless underline the precariousness of Dr. Esfandiari's condition.

In her long career, Dr. Esfandiari has been a true advocate for equal rights for women, especially in Muslim-majority countries. In recent years, she has been active in promoting understanding and peace among nations. Her focus has been on facilitating interaction among Iranian and non-Iranian scholars. We the undersigned strongly deplore the arrest of Dr. Esfandiari and call on the Iranian authorities to release her immediately and to allow her to leave Iran.

1. Nayereh Tohidi, Professor and Chair, Women’s Studies Department, California State University
2. Poopak Taati, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology
3. Sondra Hale, Professor of Anthropology and Women’s Studies, University of California, Los Angeles
4. Caroline Seymour-Jorn, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee
5. Suad Joseph, Professor of Anthropology & Women's Studies, University of California-Davis
6. Sherifa Zuhur, Director, Institute of Middle Eastern, Islamic, and Diasporic Studies
7. Mary Layoun, Professor of Comparative Literature, University of Wisconsin, Madison
8. Barbara Aswad, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, Wayne State University
9. Mary Martin, Anthropologist, University of the Arts, Philadelphia
10. Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak, Director, The Center for Persian Studies, University of Maryland
11. Pamela Day Pelletreau, Ph.D.
12. Jaleh Behroozi
13. Prof. Dr. Guenter Meyer, Centre for Research on the Arab World, University of Mainz
14. Namie Tsujigami, PhD candidate, Kobe University, Japan
15. Khawla Nimri
16. Alexandra Laetizia Jerome, Instructor of Islamic Studies, Humanities Department, York College of Pennsylvania
17. Heather Irwin, Ohio University
18. Julio Guzman, PhD(c), Maryland School of Public Policy, University of Maryland
19. Beth Baron, Co-Director, Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center, Graduate Center, City University of New York
20. Donna Lee Bowen, Professor of Political Science, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah
21. Baki Tezcan, Assistant Professor of History and Religious Studies, University of California-Davis
22. Beverly Bossler, Professor of History, University of California-Davis
23. Zayn Kassam, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Pomona College
24. Nada Shabout, Assistant Professor of Art History, University of North Texas
25. Frances Hasso, Associate Professor of Gender & Women's Studies and Sociology, Oberlin College
26. Kate Lang, Associate Professor and Chair Department of History, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
27. Marilyn Booth, Director, Program in South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Illinois
28. Amy Mills, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, University of South Carolina
29. Omnia El Shakry, Department of History, University of California, Davis
30. Nancy Gallagher, Chair of the Middle East Studies Program and Co-Director of the Center for Middle East Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
31. Neda Toloui-Semnani
32. Barbara Ibrahim, American University in Cairo
33. Heather Darling
34. Jang Family
35. Dana Coelho, MS Sustainable Development & Conservation Biology 2007, University of Maryland
36. Professor Diane Singerman, Department of Government, School of Public Affairs, American University
37. Jehan Mullin, American University of Beirut Graduate
38. Alexandra Pittman, Assistant Coordinator of the Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Program, Boston College
39. Matthew Rooney
40. Mary Elaine Hegland, Associate Professor, Anthropology/Sociology Department and Program for the Study of Women and Gender, Santa Clara University
41. May Seikaly, Associate Professor, Department of Near Eastern & Asian Studies, Wayne State University
42. Nimat Hafez Barazangi, Cornell University
43. Genevieve Fitzgerald
44. Neelam Sethi, Cornell University
45. Margot Badran, Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University
46. Nerissa Russell, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Cornell University
47. Matthew Evangelista, Professor of Government and Director of the Peace Studies Program, Cornell University
48. Chris Crews, Graduate Student in Political Theory, Ohio University, Athens
49. Michelle Ajamian, Millfield, Ohio
50. Mara Giglio, Peace and Justice Organizer, Athens, Ohio 10
51. Madhu Mukherjee, Research Student, University of Kent
52. Dede Tete-Rosenthal, Cornell University
53. Saad Eddin Ibrahim, American University in Cairo
54. Amal Abdel Hadi, Founder, New Woman Research Foundation
55. Azar Nafisi, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University