Hoodfar vows to continue research
MONTREAL • The 112 days she spent in Iran’s notorious Evin prison won’t stop Homa Hoodfar from continuing her research into women and Islam, the Concordia University anthropologist said Thursday. Quite the opposite.
Smiling jubilantly, she told reporters gathered to meet her at Trudeau airport she would be staying put in Montreal for the time being. But, if anything, the ordeal made her more determined to continue her work, “dabbling in feminism” as the Iranian prosecutor put it.
“Not only (it won’t) stop me from that, but it has opened new avenues that I would not have pursued in the same way as before,” Hoodfar said. “For better or worse I have always been media-shy, staying in the background. Now you see what the Iranian government has done.”
Hoodfar thanked all those who worked for her release.
“It’s wonderful to be home,” she said. “I’ve had a bitter seven months, and the detention has left me weak and tired.”
She added she was grateful to the governments of Canada and Oman for their work.
She also thanked the Iranian officials who helped facilitate her release on humanitarian grounds, students, family and colleagues, “and especially civil society, human rights and feminist organizations who campaigned and mobilized for my freedom.”
The hardest part was the isolation, she said.
“Not being able to communicate with anyone, especially family members, that was the hardest thing — knowing that my family was very worried,” she said.