Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Esfandiari freed

From The Washington Post:
"I'm delighted that she's finally out of Evin Prison. We look forward to her being able to come home without delay," said Esfandiari's husband, Shaul Bakhash, a George Mason University professor.

"They accepted her mother's apartment for bail, which means there are charges against her. But I'm hoping that they will give her passport and let her come home as soon as possible. She's now far from her family and grandchildren nearly eight months and it is time that they allowed her to come home," he said.


I'm happy too. Note that Esfandiari's mother had to put up her house as bail. This is the case time and time again. It is one way that the regime retains control over its middle class population. The family's financial security is held hostage. It is such a brilliant form of repression! A child (and we are all children for a long time) with no property in Iran must always consider that their parent's property may be confiscated. Thus imagined and real dissidence is both punished and prevented. Problems occur when imagined lines are crossed as in the case of Haleh Esfandiari.

I also would like to note that I like the way the Bush administration refers to both Esfanriari and Tajhbaksh as Americans. That's what the US does best: turn immigrants into Americans. Others may argue this point, but as the grandchild of immigrants, I've seen the process in action as flawed as it is.

2 comments:

Marie said...

Much as I would like to commend my president for referring to Esfanriari and Tajhbaksh as Americans, I cannot help but be aware that his administration is also sounding the drumbeat for war against Iran. Might not his choice of words be calculated to highlight Iran's aggression? How much worse it sounds to Americans that 2 Americans were arrested rather than 2 Iranians. This president and his administration have ruthlessly caused too much damage to our country and the world, for me to view his embrace of Iranian- Americans as anything but a cynical ploy.

Anonymous said...

Iranian goverment is carzy. It is not so weak that an old lady can crash it. most people in iran are not intrested in politics and so there is no revolution of any kind in near future
but the goverment(or at least some elements in it) do these actions for some political reasons(they want to repress the reformist)
but they don't think these kind of action made the image of iran(not only the goverment) worser than it is.

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