Monash University student group Activists Committed to Change and Truth (ACCT) is partnering with international advocacy network Scholars at Risk (SAR) to spotlight concerns over academic freedom in Iran at a panel in Caulfield this week.
The "Hostage Diplomacy and Human Rights Abuses in Iran" panel this Wednesday will bring together activists with experience and expertise on the improper imprisonment of scholars in Iran.
It will highlight the cases of two scholars, Dr Ahmadreza Djalali and Niloufar Bayani, now imprisoned in Iran.
According to Human Rights Watch, in Iran the Islamic Republic restricts academic and civil freedoms, leading to the suppression of scholars and activists through arrests, torture, imprisonment and morality police enforcing religious dress codes, despite Iran's ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
One speaker on the panel will be Sara Kowal, deputy director of Eleos Justice, a collaboration between Capital Punishment Justice Project, an NGO working to end the death penalty, and the Faculty of Law at Monash.
“Iran is notorious for having terrible conditions in prison,” Kowal said.
She will focus on the case of Djalali, an Iranian-Swedish disaster medicine doctor, who was arrested in Iran in April 2016.
“I really want to highlight the total breach of provision Dr Djalali has faced," Kowal said.
According to SAR, Djalali believes the Iranian government targeted him for refusing to spy using his European academic connections. Accused of spying for Israel in January 2017, he received a death sentence for "spreading corruption on earth" based on coerced confessions obtained through torture. To date, he remains imprisoned at a secret location despite deteriorating health.
“UN experts made a statement in March 2021 saying he has had severe physical and physiological ill-treatment,” Kowal said.
The other scholar to be highlighted by the panel, Bayani, is a wildlife conservationist who was arrested in January 2018 while working with the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation.
According to SAR, in October 2018 Bayani and three colleagues were accused of espionage and "spreading corruption on earth", which could lead to the death penalty. She initially received a death sentence based on a coerced confession, but her sentence was later reduced to 10 years in prison following international pressure.
Kowal will be joined on the panel by lawyer and activist Ek Taghidr and scholar Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who was wrongfully imprisoned in Iran from 2018 to 2020 on charges of espionage.
ACCT founding member and Monash student Sonia Kulkami said Moore-Gilbert has spoken about how, when she went to Iran, "there were not adequate warnings" and she "was not adequately prepared for the situation”.
“She didn’t realise the level of risk,” Kulkami said.
The panel is being held as part of a new undergraduate unit that focuses on activism for academic freedom.
Monash senior lecturer Dr Kate Murphy, who coordinates the unit, said SAR has partnered with Monash to help deliver a unit in which students can develop skills in human rights and advocacy by working on case studies.
“Students are dealing with real life-and-death situations,” Murphy said.
At the end of the unit, SAR will build upon the advocacy work of the students to increase public awareness of the scholars they assist.
Kulkami said increased awareness and media coverage are paramount to help force governments to act on behalf of their citizens and engage in hostage diplomacy with other states.
“That’s what instigates the governments to actually do something for their release,” Kulkami said.
"Hostage Diplomacy and Human Rights Abuses in Iran" will be held at Monash University's Caulfield campus on October 18 from 6pm.
To register or learn more about the free panel, see here.