‘DABBLING IN FEMINISM, SECURITY’
Retired Concordia University professor and anthropologist Homa Hoodfar was released from an Iranian prison on Monday after nearly four months in solitary confinement. Here’s how the situation developed.
February 2016: Hoodfar travels to Iran to see family and conduct academic research. It’s later reported she was researching the history of women’s participation in Iran’s elections.
March 2016: Hoodfar is arrested by a counter-espionage service of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution. Her computers and identification papers are seized, but she’s released on bail after being interrogated. June 6, 2016: Hoodfar is arrested again, and detained in Tehran’s infamous Evin prison.
July 11, 2016: Reports surface that Hoodfar has been indicted on unspecified charges. Her family tells the media she was being investigated for “dabbling in feminism and security matters.”
Canada’s Global Affairs Department says in a statement that it remains “actively engaged” in Hoodfar’s case and is working closely with “like-minded allies” to help her. Two influential legal organizations — Lawyers Without Borders Canada and the Quebec Bar — call on Iran to release the details of what Hoodfar was charged with.
Aug. 30, 2016: According to family, Hoodfar is hospitalized after her health rapidly declines. Her family alleges she has been routinely denied checkups or access to a medical specialist while in prison. Hoodfar, 65, suffers from a neurological condition and suffered a mild stroke last year.
Sept. 7, 2016: Concordia University colleagues appeal to the Iranian, Canadian and Irish governments to do everything possible to facilitate Hoodfar’s release. Kimberly Manning, principal of Concordia’s Simone de Beauvoir Institute, says it’s time to raise the volume on calls for her release and to begin targeted actions to put pressure on the Iranian government.
Sept. 20, 2016: Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion says he had his first meeting with Iran’s foreign minister at the United Nations General Assembly and “discussed consular cases.”
Sept. 21, 2016: Hoodfar’s former students and colleagues rally in downtown Montreal, demanding her release. She had been detained for 107 days at that point and was reportedly too ill to walk or speak.
Sept. 26, 2016: Hoodfar is released on humanitarian grounds. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada worked with other countries to secure her release.