LOS ANGELES – A California State University, Northridge student has been imprisoned in Iran since last week after authorities discovered she was conducting research on the country's women's rights movement, the university announced Thursday.
Esha Momeni, a 28-year-old mass communications master's student from Los Angeles, arrived in Tehran two months ago to visit her family and conduct research for her thesis. She was arrested Oct. 15 for a traffic violation, and authorities later confiscated her computer and video footage of her research interviews, London-based rights group Amnesty International said.
The university is calling for her release.
"Anyone who values knowledge and the role of academic inquiry in shedding light on the human condition should be concerned," said university President Jolene Koester.
She said the university is contacting various senators and congressional representatives and U.S. government officials to help get her released from the Evin Prison, the Tehran facility notorious for holding political prisoners.
Momeni is a California-based member of the Campaign for Equality, a women's rights group that works toward ending discrimination against women. She had been interviewing the group's members in Tehran for her thesis when she was arrested, Amnesty said.
The group said her family has not been allowed to visit her and authorities have refused to accept bail. Her family was told by an Iranian court on Monday that her case was still being investigated, and no details would be released until after the probe was completed, Amnesty said.
U.S. State Department spokesman Rob McInturff said the department is working on the case through the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, which routinely handles American interests since the United States has no direct representation in Iran.
"This is something our folks have been working on," McInturff said. "It does make it difficult not having folks there. The difficulty for us is just getting information about the case. That's really where we are right now – in the information gathering phase."
E-mails sent to various Iranian government officials, including the country's human rights director, Mohammad Javad Larijani, were not immediately returned Thursday night.
University professors have started a blog to campaign for her release in which they describe her as smart, talented and interested in Iranian culture.
"She was concerned that Americans often misunderstand Iran and she wanted to help them see a fuller picture of her country," David Blumenkrantz, one of Momeni's communications professors, said on the blog. He said he was "surprised by her arrest. I am certain she was doing nothing wrong."
Amnesty said dozens of other activists and supporters have been arrested in Iran in connection with their activities with the Change for Equality campaign, launched by Iranian women activists in September 2006.
The campaign is seeking to collect a million signatures in support of changing laws that deny women in Iran equal rights in matters such as divorce and court testimonies.
Momeni's arrest comes about a year after several Iranian-Americans accused of stirring up a revolution were released from Evin prison after spending months in detention. All four denied the accusations.
Born in Los Angeles, Momeni earned a bachelor's degree in graphic design at Azad University in Tehran in 2002. She enrolled at Cal State, Northridge in 2006. Momeni's father came to Los Angeles in 1977 to pursue a civil engineering degree at Cal State. He later returned to Iran with his family.