According to Iranian human rights activist Shabnam Assadollahi, Iranian Canadian academic Homa Hoodfar recently came to Iran in order to conduct research and despite not being involved in politics, she was arrested and is now being held hostage so that Iran can use her as leverage so that Canada will be compelled to send duel Iranian-Canadian citizen Mahmoud Reza Khavari to Iran: “After the Iran deal and 5+1 empowering Iran and since the West has lost her sanity and is in friendship with terrorism, I would not be surprised if Iran even bargains with Trudeau liberals asking Canada to hand over the Iranian Canadian patriots to Iran.”
According to the Globe, Hoodfar is being held in the notorious Evin Prison where prisoners are routinely tortured. The report noted that Professor Hodfar has a neurological disorder and where she is being imprisoned, she is unlikely to have access to the medical treatment that she needs. However, Professor Homa Hoodfar is not the only apolitical person in Iran to face persecution from the regime. According to the Boroujerdi Civil Rights Group, 35 college students were arrested and given 99 lashes each for attending a mixed gender graduation party, where the women did not dress in accordance with Islamic law. In addition, 23-year-old Mohammed Mohsen Bakhtayri is now getting prosecuted merely for publishing forbidden books and engaging in activities in cyberspace that the regime did not like. It should be noted that Iranian prisoners who are political active and are on the frontlines of the struggle against the regime can expect an even worse fate than Professor Homa Hodfar, Mohammed Mohsen Bakhtayri and these 35 college students.
This means that Iranian activists like Benyamin Gholizadeh are not safe in Turkey or even in far-away countries like Canada for the Iranian regime is dedicated to going after all political dissidents regardless of their location. This is why Iran arranged to sabotage Gholizadeh receiving political asylum both in the US and Canada. This is why Iran arranged for Gholizadeh’s UN aid to get cut off after he spoke to an Israeli journalist. And this is why Iran took an Iranian Canadian professor hostage so that they could pressure Canada into getting their hands on another Iranian that they want to prosecute. For the Iranian dissidents, there is virtually no safe location in the entire world.
Analysis: The plight of political prisoner in the Islamic Republic of Iran