Sons of late prof fight for mother’s release from Iran
VANCOUVER — Almost two months after an Iranian-Canadian professor died in a Tehran prison, his sons still haven’t had a moment to grieve.
Mehran Seyed-Emami said it’s too important to get his mother, Maryam Mombeini, safely to Canada and out of Iran to focus on anything else.
Iranian authorities blocked Mombeini from boarding a Vancouver-bound plane with her sons in Tehran two weeks ago and confiscated her passport.
“The longer we wait, the higher the risk of something potentially happening to her,” Seyed-Emami said in an interview. “Me and my brother are trying to stay strong, trying to get my mom home as soon as possible. And then, we can grieve together.”
He said he’s grateful for the Canadian government’s efforts to secure her release. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland has spoken with Mombeini directly twice, he said.
But he also understands that Canada does not have an embassy in Iran and must depend on allies such as Italy to act as diplomatic conduits.
On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted: “Iran must allow Maryam Mombeini to leave the country and travel to Canada to be with her family — and the regime must provide answers in the death of her husband, Kavous Seyed-Emami, in Evin prison.”
Mehran Seyed-Emami described his father as a calm and balanced man, who taught sociology at Imam Sadeq University in Tehran for 27 years, before he was arrested on Jan. 24 and sent to the country’s notorious Evin prison.
He believes it was his father’s work as managing director of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation that made him a potential target.
In February, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said authorities had arrested several unidentified people on suspicion of spying under the cover of scientific and environmental projects. Iranian authorities have said Kavous Seyed-Emami’s death was a suicide, but the family rejects that contention.