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PrintMay 2, 2011
Brother of Iranian dissident leader in U.S. abducted in Paris
On Friday, April 29, the day after Amir Abbas Fakhravar, the leader of the Confederation of Iranian Students, spoke to a suburban Chicago audience about the Green Revolution in Iran, his brother was kidnapped in Paris by Iranian agents and forcibly returned to Tehran.
Mohammad Reza "Arash" Fakhravar, Amir's twenty-year-old brother was living under the protection of the French government after escaping from Iran in January. He had previously applied for asylum in the U.S. but was denied by the U.S. State Department. Details of the abduction are still coming in, but right now we know that on Friday, April 29, agents of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran kidnapped Arash off a Paris 
street and got him into an embassy vehicle with diplomatic plates. Claiming diplomatic privilege, the agents were able to get him past airport security and on to an Iran Air flight bound for Tehran. Arash's family has not been able to obtain any information about his location or condition.
street and got him into an embassy vehicle with diplomatic plates. Claiming diplomatic privilege, the agents were able to get him past airport security and on to an Iran Air flight bound for Tehran. Arash's family has not been able to obtain any information about his location or condition.The bold kidnapping in Paris of Arash Fakhravar is seen as a tactic to silence Arash's brother Amir Abbas Fakhravar, a former political prisoner and outspoken critic of Iran's repressive government. As general secretary of the Confederation of Iranian Students, the largest secular democratic student opposition movement in Iran, Amir addresses citizens and legislators across the U.S. to gain support for Iran's Green Revolution. At his address to the Northbrook, Illinois audience on Thursday, April 28, Amir explained the CIS mission as pro-democracy, pro-Western, and anti- theocratic state. "We want Iran to be a normal country that lives in peace with its neighbors (including Israel). America is our model for liberty. I love this country!" He was not aware that only hours after he issued that statement, his younger brother would be kidnapped by agents who loathe America and its liberty.
French authorities are investigating the kidnapping. Iran's authorizing and executing the kidnapping of a legally protected person in a foreign land outside their jurisdiction is a clear violation of international law.
Arash is the second member of the Confederation of Iranian Students to be kidnapped this week. Shiva Kamalipour Azad was taken from her grandfather's house and has not been heard from since. The Confederation of Iranian Students (CIS) is a pro-western, independent student movement which is described by the Congressional Research Service as "Generally young and well-educated, want free and open media and contact with the West."
Traditional news sources have ignored the abductions as they tend to ignore the most egregious human rights violations in the Islamic Republic. Amir and other representatives of the Confederation of Iranian Students are hoping to draw public attention to the abductions and by shining a light on the crimes protect the victims who may otherwise face unspeakable conditions in an Iranian prison.
For updates, go to Iran Channel
