The United States said Monday it was “deeply concerned” with the reported arrest in Iran last week of Iranian-American scholar Kian Tajbakhsh and called for his immediate release.
“We’re deeply concerned of reports that an Iranian-American scholar has (been) unjustly detained in Iran,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters.
“We have urged the Iranian authorities to immediately release Kian Tajbakhsh, as well as return the passports of all Americans being kept in Iran on groundless charges,” he added.
Kelly specifically mentioned Iranian-American student Esha Momeni, who was detained for a month at the end of 2008 as a threat to national security, and who has since been barred from leaving Iran.
“And we additionally call again on Iran to be forthcoming with information toward determining the whereabouts of Robert Levinson, who’s been missing in Iran since March 8, 2007,” he said.
Tajbakhsh, a sociologist who has both Iranian and US citizenship, was arrested last Thursday at his home in Tehran without any legal justification, according to the International Campaign for Iran, a human rights group.
He was previously detained in Iran, which does not recognize dual nationality, between May and September 2007 for breaching national security and released on bail.
