CSUN vigil/celebration for Esha's release and awaiting her safe return

A vigil/celebration for Esha's release and awaiting her safe return is scheduled for tomorrow, Nov. 12, in Calstate Northridge in front of the Oviatt Library at 4:30. Daily News reported on the release of Esha Momeni including interviews with her professors and classmates:

At California State University, Northridge, professors and classmates of Momeni, who are busy planning a vigil/celerbration [for tomorrow] in support of the grad student's release, celebrated the news. "These three weeks have probably been some of the most difficult weeks I have ever experienced," said professor Melissa Wall, adviser for the communications graduate program at CSUN.

"But these weren't wasted weeks. We have all learned a lot about ourselves and about the obstacles that exist in communication between these two very different countries and cultures. These were the exact issues Esha's work focused on and even though this has all been very difficult, maybe eventually something good will come out of this."

Read more>> http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_10951919

CNN's report on Esha Momeni's release

In an interview with CNN, Elise Auerbach, the Iran specialist for Amnesty International USA, commented on a recent news on Esha Momeni's charge.

According to CNN, Auerbach stated that "Tehran's deputy general prosecutor, Hasan Hadad, has 'deliberately leaked' to the state-run media his intentions to charge Momeni with propaganda against the state". The Iranian judiciary has not commented on Momeni's release. "A lot of people have faced that charge," Auerbach said. "It's kind of a vague, loosely worded charge that's kind of convenient. They can use it against whomever they want basically." Auerbach said Momeni is not the only woman involved with Change for Equality who has been jailed recently; at least three women who worked with the group are being detained, she said. As of Tuesday morning, the Iranian government had not returned Momeni's passport and travel papers, Auerbach said.

According to this report, Hadi Ghaemi, coordinator for the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, said he believes Tehran wants to stifle the women's rights movement, and Momeni's arrest was meant to intimidate like-minded scholars or activists. "We see here detention as a method of pressuring that movement on a broader scale," he said. "The government would very much like to quiet these women."

Read more:
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/11/11/iran.student.released/