Sir, – On June 6th, an Irish citizen, Prof Homa Hoodfar, was detained in Iran while undertaking research on behalf of Concordia University in Canada, where she works.
Prof Hoodfar is a renowned anthropologist, who has decades of experience working in culture and gender politics.
She had visited Iran to meet family and undertake work on women’s participation in politics there. Although 65 years old and suffering from a serious neurological condition, she is being held as a “security prisoner” and denied access to her lawyer, doctor and family. Among the initial reasons for her arrest was that she was a feminist.
The Irish Federation of University Teachers has written to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, urging Ireland to seek the early release of Prof Hoodfar on humanitarian grounds. We are willing to provide any further information or facilitate a meeting between the Minister and his officials with Prof Hoodfar’s relatives in Ireland. – Yours, etc,
MIKE JENNINGS,
General Secretary,
Irish Federation
of University Teachers,
Dublin 2.