Penn visiting scholar reportedly detained in Iran

Iranian professor Mehdi Zakerian, who has published extensively on human rights issues in the Middle East and was to begin this semester as a University of Pennsylvania Law School visiting scholar, has reportedly been detained in Tehran by Iranian authorities. He was seized while awaiting action on his application for a U.S. visa, Penn professor William Burke-White said yesterday.

Zakerian was fired last year from his job at the government-controlled Tehran University in an apparent "purge of liberal scholars," and later got a job at the private Islamic Azad University, Burke-White said. He said Penn created the visiting scholar opportunity for Zakerian "to give him the chance to write and think" while also enriching Penn students with his lectures.

According to the Web site Iranian Human Rights Voice, Zakerian's confinement at an "intelligence ministry detention center" began "on or about Aug. 15." The government has not released any information about him or formally charged him, the Web site said.

Burke-White, an expert in international law, said it was "unclear if the act of applying for the visa somehow triggered Zakerian's arrest." He said he had contacted the office of Sen. Arlen Specter to seek help in the matter.

- Michael Matza