Iranian authorities have released British-Iranian anthropologist Kameel Ahmady who had been arrested on August 11 on “unspecified charges in connection with his activities.”
Ahmady is an internationally renowned scholar known for his research on female genital mutilation in rural Iran for which he published a study in June 2015. Before the study, Iran had not been recognized as a country affected by female genital mutilation; however, according to Reuters, Ahmady’s research, which was based on 4,000 interviews, showed such that such acts are performed in the “secret pockets” of four Iranian provinces: West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, and Kermanshah in the west, and Hormozgan in the south.
Endangered Scholars Worldwide welcomes the news of Ahmady’s release with great relief and urges the officials of the Iranian government to end the tactic of taking foreign nationals and dual citizen scholars and students hostage for political gains and to respect, guarantee, and implement the provisions and principles of human rights.