Dubai: Iran has detained a University of Melbourne academic on charges of trying to “infiltrate” Iranian institutions, according to official state media.
Meimanat Hosseini-Chavoshi, a dual Australian-Iranian citizen, was detained as she was leaving Iran, the state news agency IRNA confirmed on Sunday.
Hosseini-Chavoshi is a population expert affiliated with the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health.
Population control has become a sensitive issue in Iran since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued an edict in 2014 calling for a population increase after decades of state-promoted birth control.
In October, Khamenei called for greater efforts to combat enemy “infiltration” as tensions escalated with the United States after Washington withdrew from a landmark nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions on Iran.
Asked about reports that several experts advocating population curbs had been arrested, judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei told reporters on Sunday: “One person has been arrested in this regard … and three or four people are being sought,” the judiciary’s news website Mizan reported.
IRNA said last week authorities had detained an Australian-based population expert – believed to be Hosseini-Chavoshi – on charges that she had tried to “infiltrate” state bodies in Iran.
Read the article in The Sydney Morning Herald.