CSUN graduate student arrested in Tehran!

Esha Momeni has been arrested in Tehran while working on her thesis project for Cal. State Northridge on October 15. According to Change For Equality, an Iranian women's movement, Ms. Momeni was arrested for unlawfully passing another vehicle while driving. The subject of her Master's thesis was on the Iranian women's movement.

Ms. Momeni was part of the Change 4 Equality campaign in California. She went to Iran a couple months ago for the one-million signature petition which demanding change to discriminatory laws.

According to CNN.com, " Momeni is being held in a section of Tehran's notorious Evin Prison that is managed by the Intelligence Ministry, the group said. Evin Prison houses many Iranian dissidents and political prisoners, and it is where four Iranian-Americans were held for several months last year. All have been released."

World Organization Against Torture's Appeal for Immediate Release of Esha Momeni reports,
"This appeal also calls for the government of Iran to protect other women's activists and human rights defenders, including from judicial harassment. It notes that Iran has an obligation to do so according to the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and other international human rights instruments, all of which Iran has ratified."

CNN.com also reported that "Iranian Officials had promised Ms. Momeni's family that she would be immediately released if news of her arrest were not published, the organization said."

I'm personally sending my prayers to Esha Momeni and her family. I commend her for being extremely brave and wish to meet heronce she returns safely to the United States.