Case Update

Esha Momeni Iranian-American student who had returned to Iran to complete her thesis involving a film documentary on women's situation -arrested on 15 October 2008-, has been released on a 198000 dollar bail from Evin prison. According to Reza Momeni, her father, Esha is not allowed to leave Iran and has to be present in a political court hearing on charges of "acting against national security and propagating against the government". These charges are heavy enough to have her sentenced to a life prison term. Read more about Esha Momeni's release.

Further Information

Esha Momeni, womens rights activist and a member of the Campaign from California was arrested on Wednesday October 15, 2008, while on a visit to Tehran. Momeni who is a photographer and graduate student was arrested in an unusual and illegal manner after being pulled over on Moddaress highway, by individuals who identified themselves as under cover traffic police on the pretense that she had unlawfully passed another vehicle while driving. Esha was arrested and taken to Section 209 of Evin Prison, managed by the Intelligence and Security Ministry.

Prior to her transfer to Evin, security officials searched her home and seized property, including her computer and films which were part of her thesis project. The security officials had an arrest warrant and court permission to search the home and seize property.

While Eshas friends and colleagues were insistent about announcing the news of her arrest immediately, based on requests from her family this news was announced with delay. Security forces had promised Eshas family that she would be released quickly if news of her arrest was not published.

Eshas parents went to the Revolutionary Courts today, on the fifth day of her arrest, to follow up on the case of their daughter. Court officials told the Momeni family that they should not come to the courts again, and that their questions will be answered until the investigation of Eshas case comes to a close.

Esha Momeni is a graduate student at the School of Communications, Media and Arts at California State University, Northridge. Esha had come to Iran two months ago to visit with her family and to work on her Masters thesis project, focused on the Iranian womens movement. To this end, she had conducted video interviews with members of the One Million Signatures Campaign in Tehran.