Aras Amiri

Last updated

Aras Amiri is an Iranian national who resides in London, where she works as an artist affairs officer for the British Council. In 2018, Amiri was arrested by the Iranian authorities during a visit in Iran, and in 2019 was sentenced to 10 years for "cultural infiltration". [1] [2]

Contents

Because she did not hold dual citizenship, she had no support from the Foreign Office during her arrest. [3] Amiri was then released on in April 2020, following the COVID-19 crisis. [4] In August 2021, Amiri was acquitted from her charges. [2] [5]

Arrest

Amiri was arrested when she travelled to Iran on a family visit. She was charged with subversion in relation to her work at the British Council involving Iranian artists. She avoided campaigning for her release in the UK at the time of her arrest, opting for discrete lobbying of the judiciary through her family. [6]

She was released after serving roughly a third of a 10-year sentence, including 69 days in solitary confinement, and returned to Britain. [6]

Later activism

In 2023, Amiri flagged the plight of Niloufar Bayani, Sepideh Kashani and five other imprisoned individuals from the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation. [6]

The group was accused of using their environmental projects tracking critically-endangered wild Asiatic cheetahs as a front for espionage. In 2019, despite a committee of Iranian ministers finding no evidence of espionage, the environmentalists were convicted by a Revolutionary Court on national security charges, resulting in prison sentences. [7] Aras Amiri said the arrests were part of a broader crackdown on environmentalists in Iran. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evin Prison</span> Prison in Iran

Evin Prison is a prison located in the Evin neighborhood of Tehran, Iran. The prison has been the primary site for the housing of Iran's political prisoners since 1972, before and after the Iranian Revolution, in a purpose-built wing nicknamed "Evin University" due to the high number of students and intellectuals detained there. Evin Prison has been accused of committing "serious human rights abuses" against its political dissidents and critics of the government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roxana Saberi</span> American journalist (born 1977)

Roxana Saberi is an American journalist who works as a correspondent for CBS News. In 2009, she was held prisoner in Iran's Evin Prison for 101 days under accusations of espionage. She subsequently wrote a book about the experience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2009–2011 detention of American hikers by Iran</span>

On July 31, 2009, three Americans, Joshua Fattal, Sarah Shourd and Shane Bauer were taken into custody by Iranian border guards for crossing into Iran while hiking near the Iranian border in Iraqi Kurdistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nasrin Sotoudeh</span> Human rights female lawyer in Iran

Nasrin Sotoudeh is a human rights lawyer in Iran. She has represented imprisoned Iranian opposition activists and politicians following the disputed June 2009 Iranian presidential elections and prisoners sentenced to death for crimes committed when they were minors. Her clients have included journalist Isa Saharkhiz, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, and Heshmat Tabarzadi. She has also represented women arrested for appearing in public without a hijab, which is a punishable offense in Iran. Nasrin Sotoudeh was the subject of Nasrin, a 2020 documentary filmed in secret in Iran about Sotoudeh's "ongoing battles for the rights of women, children and minorities." In 2021, she was named as of Time's 100 Most Influential People in the World. She was released on a medical furlough in July 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Narges Mohammadi</span> Iranian human rights activist (born 1972)

Narges Mohammadi is an Iranian human rights activist. She is the vice president of the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC), headed by her fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Shirin Ebadi. Mohammadi has been a vocal proponent of mass feminist civil disobedience against the hijab in Iran and a vocal critic of the hijab and chastity program of 2023. In May 2016, she was sentenced in Tehran to 16 years' imprisonment for establishing and running "a human rights movement that campaigns for the abolition of the death penalty." She was released in 2020 but sent back to prison in 2021, where she has since given reports of the abuse and solitary confinement of detained women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason Rezaian</span> Iranian-American journalist

Jason Rezaian is an Iranian-American journalist who served as Tehran bureau chief for The Washington Post. He was convicted of espionage in a closed-door trial in Iran in 2015.

Ghoncheh Ghavami, also spelled as Goncheh Ghavami, is a British-Iranian law graduate of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London who was held in solitary confinement in Evin Prison for protesting for equal access to sporting events in Iran.

Atena Farghadani is an Iranian artist and political activist, who was imprisoned for 18 months. Amnesty International considers her a prisoner of conscience. She was released on 3 May 2016.

Kamal Foroughi 3 September 1939 - 3 June 2024 is a British-Iranian businessman who was imprisoned in Evin Prison in Tehran, Iran. He is the oldest hostage of all time ever recorded in the world’s hostage history. Iranian authorities arrested him in May 2011 while he was 72 year old and living in Tehran as a consultant for the Malaysian national oil and gas company Petronas. In 2013, he was sentenced to eight years in prison, seven for espionage and an additional year for possessing alcohol in his home.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe</span> Iranian-British dual citizen (born 1978)

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is an Iranian-British dual citizen who was detained in Iran from 3 April 2016 to 16 March 2022 as part of a long-running dispute between Britain and Iran. In early September 2016, she was sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty of plotting to topple the Iranian government. While in prison, she went on at least three hunger strikes trying to persuade Iranian authorities to provide medical treatment for her health problems. She was temporarily released on 17 March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran, but subject to electronic monitoring.

Afarin Neyssari is an Iranian-American architect and the founder and owner of Aun Gallery. Neyssari and her husband Karan Vafadari, both Zoroastrians, were imprisoned in Evin Prison in Iran for two years without bail or trial before being released on July 21, 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xiyue Wang</span> Princeton University student detained by Iran

Xiyue Wang is a Chinese-American academic who was imprisoned in Iran from 2016 to 2019 after being accused of espionage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roya Saberi Negad Nobakht</span> Iranian-British housewife

Roya Saberi Negad Nobakht is an Iranian-British housewife who was imprisoned after she returned to Iran to visit her family. While living in England, she wrote on Facebook that Iran was "too Islamic". The Iranian government put her in prison and accused her of "insulting Islamic sanctities", a crime that carries the death penalty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ana Diamond</span> Academic

Ana Diamond is a British-Iranian scholar, author, and an advocacy strategist who is one of the founding members of The Alliance Against State Hostage Taking. The organization was formally founded in New York on 24 September 2019.

Kylie Moore-Gilbert is an Australian-British academic in Middle Eastern political science. She was employed as a lecturer at the University of Melbourne's Asia Institute and has carried out research into contemporary political developments in the Middle East. The subject of her PhD research was post-Arab Spring Bahrain.

Morad Tahbaz is an Iranian-American businessman and conservationist. He was born in London and holds British citizenship. Tahbaz is a co-founder of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation (PWHF). In January 2018, Iranian authorities arrested Tahbaz along with eight other PWHF-affiliated individuals.

Anoosheh Ashoori is a British–Iranian businessman formerly detained in Evin jail in Iran. Iranian authorities arrested Ashoori in August 2017, when he was in the country to visit his mother. In August 2019, the Iranian judiciary sentenced Ashoori to 12 years in prison; 10 years for allegedly "spying for Israel's Mossad" and two years for "acquiring illegitimate wealth", charges which Ashoori denies.

Niloufar Bayani is an Iranian wildlife conservation biology researcher and activist. She was convicted in 2019 of espionage by Iranian authorities in a closed-door trial in Iran, and received a 10-year prison sentence.

Jolie King, a British Australian, and Mark Firkin, an Australian, are a couple living in Perth, Australia. Online travel bloggers who have documented their experiences on social media since 2017, they are best known for being arrested in Iran in July 2019.

References

  1. ↑ "British Council Employee Aras Amiri Detained In Iran During Family Visit". Huffington Post.
  2. 1 2 "British Council welcomes reports of staff member being acquitted in Iran". The National.
  3. ↑ "Aras Amiri's fiance says UK government 'utterly blind' to responsibility". The Guardian.
  4. ↑ "Iran releases jailed UK resident Aras Amiri on furlough'". Al-Monitor.
  5. ↑ "Aras Amiri Larijani Acquitted after Enduring 3 Years in Evin Prison'". Hrana.
  6. 1 2 3 "'Loss for Iran's wildlife': woman jailed in Tehran calls for environmentalists' release". The Guardian.
  7. 1 2 "Aras Amiri highlights jailed Iran environmentalists' plight". BBC.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.