Brother of Iranian dissident who spoke to PAC abducted hours later in Paris.

Mohammad Reza “Arash” Fakhravar

Update May 11 Arash’s family has not seen him since the abduction. In addition to having no contact with family, Abash was ordered to have bond set at $200,000. The steep bond is clearly punishment for having Amir as a brother and for Amir’s getting Amnesty International involved.

Friends are working to get funds for bond and also funds for legal defense and urgently need help.

Anyone willing, can  send checks to Iranian Freedom Institute P.O. Box 1722Falls Church, VA 22041-0722

Contributions to Iranian Freedom Institute, a 501(c)(3), are tax-exempt.

URGENT!
On Friday, April 29, the day after Amir Abbas Fakhravar, the leader of the Confederation of Iranian Students, spoke to members of To Protect Our Heritage and others 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.

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 in Tehran earlier this week and has not been heard from since.

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.

(Left)  Erica Kasraie, Representative CIS, (Center) Nina Cunningham, Board Member Clarion Fund producers of Iranium, (Right) Amir Abbas Fakhravar, Founder of CIS, at the Northbrook screening of Iranium, April 28.

Amir Abbas Fakhravar is an award-winning writer, blogger, and the recipient of the prestigious Annie Taylor Journalism Award. He is the founder of and Secretary General of the Confederation of Iranian Students and President of the Iranian Freedom Institute in Washington, D.C. Currently, Fakhravar serves as Research Fellow and Visiting Lecturer at the Center for the Study of Culture and Security at The Institute of World Politics.

Amir addressed the audience after the exclusive screening of Iranium at the AMC Northbrook Court on Thursday, April 28.

The film and event were presented by the Clarion Fund and co-sponsored by a number of diverse organizations including To Protect Our Heritage PAC, AFSI, CAMERA, Stand With Us, RJC, the Confederation of Iranian Students, the Unity Coalition for Israel, and the David Horowitz Freedom Center.