Academics to protest over arrest of colleague in Iran

A group of scholars from Dublin’s major universities will gather in full academic garb outside the Iranian embassy today to appeal to the Iranian government for the release of an Irish citizen from a Tehran jail.

The group also plans to highlight what it describes as the “Irish government’s lack of action” in relation to the ongoing detention of world-renowned anthropologist, Professor Homa Hoodfar, jailed on June 6 at the notorious Evin prison in Tehran.

According to Prof Hoodfar’s supporters, the Iranian-born academic, who holds Canadian and Irish citizenship, travelled to Iran in February 2016 to visit family as well as to access the archives of the Iranian parliamentary library for an historical book project.