May 26, 2018
The son of a Canadian-Iranian professor who died under suspicious circumstances in Evin prison says his widowed mother is now being investigated by the Pasdaran.
In an interview with Toronto’s Globe and Mail April 18, Ramin Seyed-Emami said the intelligence arm of the Pasdaran has opened a national security case against his mother, Maryam Mombeini. Mrs. Mombeini was barred from leaving Iran when she tried to flee the country with her sons in March after her husband, Kavous Seyed-Emami, died.
“They’ve opened up a national-security case against her saying that she’s complicit in the alleged accusations of espionage [against her husband],” Ramin said. “We’re really worried that any moment she could be taken away.”
Ramin, who now lives with friends in Vancouver after fleeing Iran, said his mother continues to languish in Tehran. He said she is facing a “bureaucratic runaround” from Iranian officials.
Prof. Seyed-Emami taught sociology at Imam Sadeq University in Tehran and conducted environmental research as managing director of the Persian Heritage Wildlife Foundation. He died in Tehran’s Evin prison after he was arrested at the end of January on what his family says were unsubstantiated allegations of spying.
Prof. Seyed-Emami’s arrest was part of an Iranian crackdown on environmentalists in recent months.
The Seyed-Emami family – all Iranian-Canadian citizens – decided to flee Iran because they were facing harassment, threats and smear campaigns for rejecting Iranian authorities’ claim that Sayed-Emami died by suicide in prison.
Iranian authorities confiscated Mrs. Mombeini’s Iranian passport at the airport on March 8, moments before she was scheduled to board a Vancouver-bound flight with her sons. She told her sons to board the plane without her and has been barred from leaving Iran since.
Ramin said his family has been in regular contact with the Canadian government officials working on his mother’s case.
“We’re really hoping that they’re exhausting all avenues to help expedite the situation. But to be honest, it doesn’t sound very promising at the moment,” Ramin said.
In March, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland called on Iran to allow Mrs. Mombeini to return to Canada. Freeland has also requested a one-on-one discussion with her Iranian counterpart, Mohammad-Javad Zarif, which has yet to happen.
Speaking on background, a senior Canadian government official told The Globe and Mail that Mrs. Mombeini’s case is the sole focus of Ottawa’s current dealings with Iran. Canada has no formal diplomatic relations with Iran, as the two countries severed ties in 2012 when the former Conservative government closed the Canadian embassy in Tehran and kicked Iranian diplomats out of Canada. The official said efforts to re-establish diplomatic relations are essentially on hold until Mrs. Mombeini is allowed to leave Iran.
Meanwhile, the Seyed-Emami brothers continue to press for their mother’s return to Canada, launching a #BringMaryamHome campaign. Ramin, a musician, will hold two concerts in Toronto and Van-couver in May to raise funds for the effort. The family has been under financial pressure since Iranian authorities seized the deeds to their home in Iran.
