{"id":364,"date":"2016-09-02T00:56:41","date_gmt":"2016-09-01T23:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/codir.net\/?p=364"},"modified":"2016-09-02T00:56:41","modified_gmt":"2016-09-01T23:56:41","slug":"canadian-prof-homa-hoodfar-jailed-in-iran-falls-ill-in-solitary-confinement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/codir.net\/?p=364","title":{"rendered":"Canadian prof Homa Hoodfar, jailed in Iran, falls ill in solitary confinement"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 class=\"story-deck\">Authorities &#8216;are not prioritizing her health and do not intend to respect Homa&#8217;s due process rights&#8217;<\/h3>\n<p class=\"small lighttext\"><span class=\"spaced\">By\u00a0Susan Ormiston, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/cbc-news-online-news-staff-list-1.1294364\">CBC News<\/a><\/span> <span class=\"delimited\">Posted: Aug 29, 2016 11:27 PM ET<\/span> Last Updated: Aug 30, 2016 6:11 PM ET<\/p>\n<p>A professor from Montreal who has been\u00a0imprisoned in Iran since June\u00a0was recently hospitalized,\u00a0is barely conscious\u00a0and can hardly walk or talk,\u00a0according to family.<\/p>\n<p>Homa\u00a0Hoodfar, an anthropologist\u00a0at\u00a0Concordia University, is being kept\u00a0in\u00a0solitary confinement\u00a0nearly three months after her arrest in Tehran on June 6\u00a0while on a personal and research visit to Iran, said\u00a0her niece, Amanda\u00a0Ghahremani.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>ANALYSIS |<\/strong>\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/politics\/homa-hoodfar-jailed-iran-1.3674316\">Homa\u00a0Hoodfar \u2014 hostage, not criminal<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/montreal\/homa-hoodfar-concordia-prof-iran-1.3673167\">Concordia prof Homa\u00a0Hoodfar indicted in Iran<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Hoodfar&#8217;s family says Iranian authorities have refused regular visits by her lawyer\u00a0and have tried to dismiss him. During his one visit in July, he was forbidden to discuss her case and has been denied all access to her legal file, the family said.<\/p>\n<p>She has had only one other visitor, a few weeks ago, who informed the family\u00a0Hoodfar\u00a0had been hospitalized\u00a0at one point\u00a0before being returned to her cell.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It has become clear that the authorities are not prioritizing her health and do not intend to respect Homa&#8217;s due process rights under Iranian law,&#8221; Ghahremani said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re incredibly scared.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"figure wrap6 \">\n<div id=\"player754239555511\" class=\"cbc-caffeine col6width\" data-playerid=\"caffeine13740988\">\n<div id=\"container51683570\" class=\"cbc-caffeine-outer-container\">\n<div id=\"Caffeinecaffeine13740988\" class=\"cbc-caffeine-player\">\n<div id=\"CaffeinePlayercaffeine13740988\" class=\"cbc-caffeine-container player-loading\">\n<div class=\"cbc-caffeine-content\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"thumbnailcaffeine13740988\" class=\"thumbnail-container\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"thumbnail\" src=\"http:\/\/thumbnails.cbc.ca\/maven_legacy\/thumbnails\/451\/914\/Hoodfar-Amanda-Ghahremani.jpg\" alt=\"Media placeholder\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"iconscaffeine13740988\" class=\"icons\"><button class=\"play-button\">Play Media<\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"CaffeineErrorMessages\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"playlist-content57787424\" class=\"caffeine-playlist\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"figure-caption\"><strong class=\"spaced\">We are so scared for her: Hoodfar&#8217;s niece<\/strong>5:22<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Hoodfar is 65 and suffers from a rare neurological disease called\u00a0myasthenia gravis, which causes severe muscle weakness.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"pullquote\"><p><span class=\"pullquote-quotation\">&#8216;We were asked by the Iranian judicial authorities to tone down the media on\u00a0Homa&#8217;s case.&#8217;<\/span><cite class=\"pullquote-source\">\u2014 Amanda\u00a0Ghahremani, niece<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>She\u00a0writes frequently on sexuality and gender in Islam.\u00a0She went to Iran in February to see family\u00a0and conduct research in a visit that\u00a0coincided with Iranian elections.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;My aunt is an academic. She&#8217;s not an activist,&#8221; Ghahremani\u00a0said. &#8220;She has never violated any Iranian law. She&#8217;s always worked \u2026 within the parameters of the constitution and Islamic strictures.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Two days before her departure back to Canada in March, she was visited by the counter-intelligence unit of Iran&#8217;s\u00a0Revolutionary Guards, who seized her computer and passport and told her not to leave the country. After interrogation at Evin prison in June, she was arrested and since then has had no contact with her family.<\/p>\n<p>Iranian authorities have charged her with collaborating with a hostile government against national security and with propaganda against the state \u2014\u00a0charges her family calls trumped-up.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/montreal\/lawyers-associations-support-homa-hoodfar-1.3688795\">Lawyers associations call\u00a0on\u00a0Iran\u00a0to detail case against\u00a0Hoodfar<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The charges were never presented to her lawyer\u00a0and\u00a0instead were published in the Iranian press, quoting the prosecutor as saying Hoodfar\u00a0was &#8220;dabbling in feminism&#8221;.\u00a0A court set terms for her to be released on bail, but her lawyer&#8217;s numerous attempts\u00a0to post bail have been ignored.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We were asked by the Iranian judicial authorities to tone down the media on Homa&#8217;s case in order to allow the legal process to take its course,&#8221; Ghahremani said. &#8220;The court has blatantly and repeatedly violated Iran&#8217;s own laws.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>&#8216;This case is a priority&#8217;<\/h2>\n<p>Amnesty International weighed in on Tuesday, calling Hoodfar a prisoner of conscience and contextualizing\u00a0her detention against what it called a\u00a0&#8220;broad and chilling\u00a0crackdown against women&#8217;s rights activists and researchers&#8221; in Iran.<\/p>\n<p>Hoodfar&#8217;s family met with Foreign Affairs Minister St\u00e9phane Dion in June\u00a0and was assured the government was trying every diplomatic channel.\u00a0Ghahremani\u00a0received similar assurances in a further meeting with Global Affairs Canada officials\u00a0Tuesday in Ottawa, she said.<\/p>\n<p>In an emailed statement from Global Affairs Canada on Monday night, spokesman\u00a0John Babcock said: &#8220;We are working with our allies and on every option in order to press the case\u200e.\u00a0Privacy considerations prevent the department from discussing Government of Canada involvement in further detail;\u00a0however, rest assured that this case is a priority for us.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Without formal diplomatic channels in Iran \u2014\u00a0Canada <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/politics\/canada-closes-embassy-in-iran-expels-iranian-diplomats-1.1166509\">closed its Tehran Embassy<\/a> in 2012 \u2014\u00a0Ottawa has to rely on allies with official diplomatic ties.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/politics\/canada-iran-talks-stephane-dion-1.3630446\"><strong>Canada has started &#8216;official&#8217; talks with Iran to renew ties<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Thomas Juneau, a Middle East expert at the University of Ottawa, said &#8220;not having an embassy in Tehran makes this hard.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But because Hoodfar is a triple citizen \u2014 of Canada, Iran and Ireland \u2014 her\u00a0family is also hoping for help from diplomats in Dublin.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re hoping that the Canadians, the Irish, and the Iranians are all paying attention,&#8221;\u00a0Ghahremani said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I\u00a0would always love for [Ottawa]\u00a0to do more, for the Irish to do more. I&#8217;m hoping they will do everything that they have within, you know, their diplomatic power.&#8221;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/montreal\/amnesty-international-report-raises-new-concerns-homa-hoodfar-1.3683526\">Iranian authorities withhold prisoners&#8217; health care as &#8216;tool of repression,&#8217; rights group claims<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"share-this\">\n                    <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share\"\nclass=\"twitter-share-button\"\ndata-count=\"horizontal\">Tweet<\/a>\n                    <script type=\"text\/javascript\"\nsrc=\"http:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\"><\/script>\n                    <div class=\"facebook-share-button\">\n                        <iframe\nsrc=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fcodir.net%2F%3Fp%3D364&amp;layout=button_count&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=200&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;height=21\"\nscrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none;\noverflow:hidden; width:200px; height:21px;\"\nallowTransparency=\"true\"><\/iframe>\n                    <\/div>\n                <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Authorities &#8216;are not prioritizing her health and do not intend to respect Homa&#8217;s due process rights&#8217; By\u00a0Susan Ormiston, CBC News Posted: Aug 29, 2016 11:27 PM ET Last Updated: Aug 30, 2016 6:11 PM ET A professor from Montreal who [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":314,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-human-rights-reports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=364"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":365,"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364\/revisions\/365"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}