Feministing pal Roja Bandari gave us the heads up about her dear friend Esha Momeni, whom while in Iran interviewing members of the One Million Signatures Campaign for her Masters thesis at CalState Northridge, was arrested and taken to Evin Prison, which is managed by the Intelligence and Security Ministry.
We've been covering this great campaign for quite a while, and Esha is not the first to be arrested. She is a member of the campaign in California, and came to Iran two months ago to work on her thesis there. Her parents were told by court officials yesterday that nothing can happen until the investigation of Esha's case is resolved.
Our thoughts go out to Esha and her friends and family who are working tirelessly for her release.
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This is vile, disgusting and pure evil. Can't someone from her school speak up on her behalf?
Hi, I've been reading Feministing for about a year now but have never posted. I am a journalism major and women's studies minor at California State University Northridge. I was horrified when I read this. It strikes very close to home.
I don't know what the school can do (I'm just a lowly undergrad) but I sent this article to the head of the Women's Studies department to see if we can maybe organize on Esha's behalf. I'm sure her family has people working like crazy to get their daughter back home, but maybe there is something the students can do too. I thought we could petition our government to step in, maybe contact our congresswomen...
Thoughts or suggestions?
oh dang, from CSUN? that school is about 5 minutes away from my house. I really hope she makes it out safely and as quick as possible.
michelleane, if you gals need any other help, feel free to update us all. I would love to help her out. if we women unite, we build a bond that holds us strong.
oh dang, CSUN? that's like 5 minutes away from my house.
it hurts to know that someone who is doing the right thing gets in trouble. i really hope she gets out safe and as quick as possible.
and michelleanne, if you gals need any help, feel free to contact me and keep us informed in how we can help.
Dear michelleanne and lucy,
Thank you for your concern and support. You can definitely ask the department to issue a statement in support of Esha. we are also pursuing this. A letter from the students is also very helpful.
please stay in touch with us when the statement is prepared and before signatures are collected, so we can give you feedback about the wording and tone.
Hi Roja,
I have a class tomorrow evening and will meet with the Department Head for Women's Studies. I will certainly speak to her about the letter writing campaign and a statement from the school. I believe Esha is actually a student in the Media and Communications department but I'm sure Women's Studies will be interested as well.
Also, some of the faculty at CSUN have started a page on Facebook. Here is the link:
http://apps.facebook.com/causes/132375?m=a3c03490&recruiter_id=23085495
There is also a blogger page about her here:
http://for-esha.blogspot.com/