More Iranians with British links held in Iran

TEHRAN, IRAN — Iran’s intelligence operatives have arrested two, and possibly three, Iranians with British connections in the past two months, human rights activists and others said Thursday.

At least two of the three Iranians in question are also British citizens, and the arrests may be part of an attempt by Iranian authorities to gain leverage in an old dispute with Britain over more than $400 million US in undelivered weaponry.

Aras Amiri, 32, is an art student and an employee of the British Council, a cultural organization that promotes Britain abroad, is the latest known to have been arrested.

Amiri, an Iranian citizen who has lived in Britain for about 10 years and travelled to Iran at least three times a year, has been in custody in Iran since March 14, a cousin in the U.S., Mohsen Omrani, confirmed Thursday.

While some members of her family in Iran sought to keep the arrest quiet, Omrani said, he had decided to publicize it, beginning with a Twitter post Tuesday.

Omrani said that while he understood the family’s concerns about angering the authorities by publicizing arrests, “what has been proven again and again is that the ones that don’t have any media coverage slip through the cracks.”

The Center for Human Rights in Iran, a New York-based advocacy group, said that Amiri has been incarcerated in a wing of Tehran’s Evin Prison operated by the Intelligence Ministry, which is “holding her without access to a lawyer on national security charges.”

Without identifying Amiri by name, the British Council said, “We are aware that one of our staff has been detained in Iran while making a private family visit.”

The British Council also denied that she had travelled to Iran on its behalf.

“This colleague does not travel to Iran for work,” it said. “She works in the U.K. to support and showcase the Iranian contemporary art scene.”

At least one other Iranian with British connections arrested recently is a dual citizen of Britain and Iran. Abbas Edalat, an academic and antiwar activist, was arrested in mid-April, an Iranian judicial official confirmed last week. Edalat, a professor of computer science and mathematics at the Imperial College of London, had been invited to speak at an academic event in Tehran.

The fate of another BritishIranian citizen, Mahan Abedin, is somewhat murkier. A writer and analyst generally favourable to the Iranian government, Abedin didn’t return as scheduled April 29 from a family visit in Iran, said his publisher, Michael Hurst. His only contact with Abedin, he said, has been a brief note saying he was “fine” and to “please stop contacting me.”