Madam, - We, the undersigned Irish academics, are writing to express our concern at the arrest and incarceration of our fellow scholar, the Iranian social scientist Dr Kian Tajbakhsh.
He was taken from his home in Tehran on May 11th and has been held without access to legal counsel ever since.
We view the so-called "war on terror" as fundamentally unjust and misconceived, and can understand the misgivings it has generated among governments in the Middle East. Nonetheless, it must not be used as the pretext for an assault on intellectuals in Iran.
Dr Tajbakhsh is a highly regarded sociologist and urban planner, whose first book, The Promise of the City: Space, Identity, and Politics in Contemporary Social Thought (2001: University of California Press), has been seen as a notable contribution to urban social theory. His subsequent work in Iran - on public health, humanitarian relief and local government - has helped deflate Western misconceptions about processes within the Islamic Republic, and points to the vibrancy of grassroots Iranian society.
He is one of those rare members of the Iranian diaspora who has chosen to return to Iran to live permanently there, giving up a secure place in the American academic establishment in order to do so. In deciding to base his scholarly activities in Tehran and to raise a family there, he literally lives out his commitment to Iran.
Given his intellectual labours on behalf of Iran, and his personal commitment to Iran, we are appalled that he has been jailed on charges of espionage. We protest against the slander and hardship to which he is being subjected, and call upon the Iranian government to release Dr Tajbakhsh immediately. - Yours, etc,
Dr JOE CLEARY, Senior Lecturer in English,
Dr STEVE COLEMAN, Lecturer in Anthropology
Dr COLIN COULTER, Senior Lecturer in Sociology
Dr LAURENCE COX, Lecturer in Sociology
Dr HONOR FAGAN, Senior Lecturer in Sociology
Dr CHANDANA MATHUR, Lecturer in Anthropology
Dr SÉAMAS O'SIOCHÁIN, Senior Lecturer in
Anthropology
Prof LAWRENCE TAYLOR, Head of the Department of Anthropology
Dr GAVAN TITLEY, Director of Media Studies, NUI Maynooth
Dr ANDREW FINLAY, Lecturer in Sociology
Dr HILARY TOVEY, Head of the Department of Sociology, Trinity
College Dublin
Prof TADHG FOLEY, Chairman, Centre for Irish Studies
Dr SU-MING KHOO, Lecturer in Sociology, NUI Galway
Dr HEATHER LAIRD, Lecturer in English
Prof JOSEPH RUANE, Associate Professor of Sociology,
University College Cork
Prof RONALDO MUNCK, President's Office, Dublin City
University
Dr MIKE TOMLINSON, Head of School of Sociology, Social Policy
and Social Work, Queen's University Belfast.