The Iranian father of an American-born college student being held in Tehran says in an interview published by the official Iranian news agency that he hopes his daughter’s situation ends “amicably” but he was angered by her “illegal” activities.
“When I became aware of the fact that my daughter’s activities were illegal, I got so angry that I and her mother decided not visit her,” Gholamreza Momeni said in an interview published by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). Momeni’s American-born daughter, Esha Momeni, a graduate student at California State University-Northridge, was arrested October 15 in Tehran.
The elder Momeni did not elaborate in the interview on any accusations against his daughter or offer any information about her custody.
According to a statement by California State University-Northridge President Jolene Koester published on the school’s Web site, Esha Momeni was in Iran working on her master’s thesis on women’s issues in that country when she was arrested.
Esha Momeni was born in Los Angeles after her parents came to the United States. Her family returned to Iran after the 1979 Islamic revolution but she came back to the United States for graduate school.
“Ms. Momeni is a U.S. citizen. She is a student invested in learning and understanding current conditions in the country of her family’s origin,”
Koester said in the statement.
In the IRNA interview, the elder Momeni said that his daughter, “is the accused, but considering the kindness of the responsible authorities of the
Islamic system (of government) I hope that they will make a good judgment.
“Those who are in charge of the judiciary believe in the Shariah (Islamic) law and I imagine that they would resolve this issue amicably,” he said.
He added, “Iran speaks the first word in this region on democracy, and the condition of women in our country is not comparable to other countries.”
