The Honourable Dr. Hassan Rouhani
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
c/o H.E. Mr. Gholam Ali Khoshroo
Ambassador and Permanent Representative of
the Islamic Republic of Iran to the UN
Email: iran@un.int
RE: Detainment of Professor Dr. Homa Hoodfar in Iran
Your Excellency:
We are writing on behalf of the University of Toronto Faculty Association (UTFA) to call for the immediate release of our colleague, Professor Homa Hoodfar. Professor Hoodfar is a member of the faculty at Concordia University who is being detained (though she has to our knowledge not been formally charged with any offense) in Evin Prison in Tehran.
Professor Hoodfar is a well-known Canadian-Iranian anthropologist with an international scholarly profile and audience for her work. Her research is of an academic nature and she has a well-earned reputation for conducting rigorous scholarly inquiry in numerous countries in the Middle East. It is imperative in the name of academic freedom and informed international scholarly exchange that her legitimate research interests and her reputation for scholarly rigour and excellence be respected and recognized and that she not be subject to additional harassment. It is our understanding that she has been through a very trying and taxing ordeal, that she is in need of immediate medical attention, and that she needs and has not obtained legal representation.
We respectfully call for the Iranian government to release Prof. Hoodfar immediately. She must be allowed to return to Canada for medical treatment and to resume her important academic work here with her colleagues, including numerous graduate students whose research has also been disrupted by this highly unfortunate misunderstanding.
Yours truly,
Scott Prudham
Professor, University of Toronto
President, UTFA
Linda Kohn
Professor, University of Toronto
Vice-President, UTFA
cc:
His Excellency, Ayatollah Sadeqh Larijani
Head of the Judiciary
Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh
(Office of the Head of the Judiciary)
Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave. (south of Serah-e Jomhouri)
Tehran 1316814737
Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: info@dadiran.ir
Her Excellency, Ms. Shahindokht Molaverdi
Vice President for Women and Family Affairs
No. 162, Nejatollahi
Tehran
Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: info@women.gov.ir
His Excellency, Mr. Mohammad Javad Zarif
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Imam Khomeini Avenue
P.O.Box: 1136914811
Tehran
Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: info@mfa.gov.ir
The Honourable Stéphane Dion
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Canada
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
Email: stephane.dion@parl.gc.ca
