Columbia Human Rights News

Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh, a Columbia University faculty member detained in Iran since July 2009, has been transferred from prison to house arrest, according to a family representative.
 
Dr. Tajbakhsh was scheduled to assume duties as an associate professor of urban studies last fall at Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.  He was arrested while working in Iran as a consultant, providing nonpolitical urban technical advice with explicit permission from the Iranian government.
 
Dr. Tajbakhsh was found guilty of “political crimes” by an Iranian court on Oct. 20, 2009.  He appealed his sentence only to then be accused of new espionage charges on Nov. 23.
 
Twenty Columbia faculty members sent a letter on Jan. 11, 2010, to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, asking her to work for Dr. Tajbakhsh’s release.
 
According to news reports, Dr. Tajbakhsh’s sentence was recently reduced from 15 years to five years.  He was transferred out of Iran’s Evin Prison and placed under house arrest, according to a Tajbakhsh family representative.

Twenty Columbia faculty members and officers signed a letter requesting that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton help secure the release of Kian Tajbakhsh from Iranian prison.  Dr. Tajbakhsh was found guilty of “political crimes” by an Iranian court on October 20, following his support of the Iranian uprising against the government in the aftermath of the disputed election last summer.  He appealed his sentence only to then be accused of new espionage charges on November 23, 2009.

Dr. Tajbakhsh, who earned a doctorate from Columbia in urban studies, was providing nonpolitical urban technical advice as a consultant with explicit permission from the Iranian government. He was scheduled to assume duties as an associate professor of urban studies last fall at Columbia’s Morningside Heights campus at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

More information about Dr. Tajbakhsh's situation is available at http://www.freekian09.org/. A copy of the letter to Secretary Clinton is available as a PDF.