UC-Berkeley lecturer being held in Iran

The Mercury News ^ | Fri, Oct. 17, 03 | Dana Hull

[DH]

"...Here we go again! Is this espionage or an American held hostage?"

Don't worry about it...there are no real AMERICANS at Berkeley.

[Prodigal Son]

He is American.

I agree. I'm can't side with the mullahs on this. I don't care what the man's politics are- he's an American and he's being held by Medieval Thugs. There's a big difference between Rachel Corrie and this fellow.

[F14 Pilot]

There's a big difference between Rachel Corrie and this fellow.

[blackie]

Free Iran, now ~ Bump!

[Swanks]

Wish it were a female lecturer from Berkeley. She could appear at her trial in a burka.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Thanks for the heads up! It does sound like a case the mainstream media would have jumped on - unless, in Iran's 'war', they side with the French and Mullahs and against freedom - as they did with Saddam in Iraq.

Is this American Prof. a leader in the pro-Democracy Iranian student movement in CA? A good guy? Why did he then have no qualms about regular trips to Iran?

Hmmm...

[Tall_Texan]

With any luck, we could get Alan Dershowitz to go rep for him and they can jail him too.

[LADYAK]

Sorry, hope he gets a good dose of what it is like in prison.....

[Prodigal Son]

For what it's worth- Rachel Corrie sided with the terrorist. Here the prof was against them. F--k the mullahs. They need to be transported right back into the past where they came from. No way can I take sides with them just because this guy teaches at Berkley.

[Wondervixen]

And he's from BERZERKELY? We've been waiting for this chance for nearly twenty-five years...I say we have some fun with it & send Jimmy Carter over to negotiate his release!

[ridesthemiles]

I suggest the whole campus go over there. Move it lock,stock and barrel.

I second that motion:
How much money could cash-strapped California save by doing exactly that?
Arnold- About saving money in the budget.... Lookeee here..

Be still my heart!!

[Timesink]

Remember the old saying, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do."

When you visit a foreign country, you're subject to their laws - no matter how unfair or Draconian - not America's laws. And the State Department makes it very clear to Americans traveling overseas that they're not going to send in the Navy SEALs to rescue you if you get yourself thrown in jail over there for doing something you shouldn't have been doing.

Unless there is serious hard evidence that this guy is being held hostage because he's an American, there's no reason for the US to get involved.

[Prodigal Son]

The guy is from Iran though. It is personal for him. He isn't an outsider. Better to have people like him interested in fighting for freedom, than whole nations of people who judge other whole nations of people when the only interface they have ever had with those people was a television screen. The rest of the world is more than a 21" diagonal picture. If I had family and friends somewhere and wanted to help them, I would probably do the same thing.

[PhilDragoo]

``At first, we just heard that an American professor was arrested by the Ministry of Information and charged with spying,'' said Amirahmadi, who closely follows Iranian news. ``He was acquitted of the charges, but obviously the Justice Department in Iran intervened and would not let him go. They have kept him in the Evin prison in Tehran.''

Iran is officially Orwellian/Kafkaesque.

The Ministry of Information is for propaganda: lies and disinformation.

The Justice Department is for injustice: detaining a Berkeley professor for views critical of the regime.

There is an outrage here, and it is ignored by the Leftist U.S. press.

There is a defining irony here: the Leftist here is defended; but abroad--if critical of a Leftist regime--is abandoned.

Regime change becomes more necessary with every passing day--while the citizens are repressed, the militarist mullahs construct the Islamist bomb for us, the great Satan.

This is part of the paradox: the Left sports bumper stickers shouting FREE TIBET--yet historically spat upon the CIA working to do just that.

While a fellow Berkeleyite is imprisoned by fascists, the majority has no intention of supporting regime change.

Far more comfortable to remain in the great Satan's comfortable freedom.

Justice will come, but who will be ground in its wheels in the meantime?

Leftists, arise--you have nothing to lose but your lame-brain delusions.

[windchime]

Bump!

[F14 Pilot]

Berkeley lecturer held in Iran on espionage charges

October 18. 2003
Herald Tribune

BERKELEY, Calif. --
A political scientist from the University of California, Berkeley has been detained since July in Iran on charges of espionage, according to friends and Iranian media reports.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031018/APN/310180929

[PhilDragoo]

Hooshang Amirahmadi, a political science professor at Rutgers University, friend of Zahedi and president of the American Iranian Council in New Jersey, said Zahedi was arrested for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"I don't know why they're keeping him," he said. "He's nobody, in a way. He has no political force. He's not organized in any political group."

Amirahmadi has been working with Iranian diplomats in the United States toward Zahedi's release, which he hopes to attain in a couple of weeks.

Iran's knee-jerk militancy will be self-defeating: Bush is more like Reagan than he is like Carter.

There are a lot of knee-jerks in Iran right now, candidates for Darwin awards, not Nobels.