Kameel Ahmady

Ahmady was born in the multicultural town of Naghadeh and has been a British citizen since the 1990s.[1] He is an anthropologist who studied at the University of Kent.

His name came up in the Iranian #metoo movement on sexual misconduct.[2]

In 2013, Ahmady undertook the first comprehensive study of female genital mutilation in Iran.[3] In 2009 he also published a travel guidebook for the Kurdish regions of Turkey.[1][4]

Ahmady is also known for his country-wide research on early child marriage “An Echo of Silence”,[5] which drew attention from the public and lawmakers to change the age of marriage in Iran, which is currently 13 for girls (with the permission of the court and the guardian, this can go down to 9 years) and 15 for boys, a move which was stopped by hardliners in the early stages in Parliament.

Ahmady was working as an anthropologist in the field in Tehran when he was arrested in August 2019. According to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, Ahmady's home and car were searched by security officials, and some of his belongings were confiscated. KHRN also reported that Ahmady had been working on two studies before he arrested, into LGBT communities and identity and ethnicity in Iran.[8][9]

Ahmady's family told Radio Farda (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) that prosecutors refused to tell them what he was charged with after he had been taken to Evin Prison.[10] In September, Radio Farda reported that Ahmady's detention had been extended by another month.[11] Ahmady was released in November 2019 on bail of five billion rials, or about $40,000.[1]

On 13 December 2020, Reuters and other news agencies reported that judge Abolqasem Salavati, the head of the 15th branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran, had handed a nine-year jail sentence to British-Iranian anthropologist Kameel Ahmady, after convicting him of conducting “subversive” research work. Ahmady was also fined 600,000 euros ($727,000). The Iranian authorities said he had been carrying out research and accused him of seeking to topple Iran’s Islamic government through so-called "Soft subversion or Soft overthrow(ing)". The Tasnim news agency, which is linked to Iran's hardliners and Revolutionary guards, said he was also accused of seeking "cultural changes" related to gender and children, and that he had allegedly been in contact with foreign media and with the embassies of European countries with the aim of "promoting homosexuality" in Iran referring to his research "The Forbidden Tale: A Comprehensive Research Study on LGB of Iran". He was also convicted of sending false reports about the country to the UN's special rapporteur on human rights in Iran as well as infiltration aimed at changing the marriage law by increasing the age marriage of children with help of two women ex-MP and support from the office of The Vice Presidency for Women & Family Affairs. The current age of marriage for girls is 13 (with permission from the guardian and the court that can go down to 9 years of old) and 15 for boys.[12]

Ahmady’s lawyer, Amir Raesian, said his client had received an eight-year sentence for “collaborating with a hostile government”. “We will present an appeal request against this ruling and we are still hopeful,” Raesian said on Twitter.[13] Ahmady stated on Twitter and Facebook that he had been denied access to a lawyer during his detention. "Contrary to all legal analysis and #hope for fair judgment, I was sentenced to 9 years and 3 months. During my last year 100 days of detention and extrajudicial interrogation without access to a lawyer, and this sentence was issued by judge Salavati after two non-expert court hearings in a process full of legal flaws.[14] The legal focus of my accusation goes back to one of my research on FGM ((Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting) which is one serious forms of harmful tradition practices about children in some of the most affected areas of Iran, but the main purpose is to link my research to so called the cultural influence, 2030 UN deed and to stop my activities with the target community of my research and minorities. Now, with all that remains in my strength, I will appeal this verdict and hope for a fair trial on appeal process." Ahmady tweeted.

The case has been compared to other British-Iranian dual nationals such as Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe who were arrested during the 2010s, similarly under apparently dubious grounds.[15]

At some point between his sentencing in December 2020 and February 2021, Ahmady escaped while on bail in Iran. After nearly 100 days in Evin prison, including time in solitary confinement, he decided to flee Iran, crossing the mountainous northwest border using smuggling routes. During an interview with The Guardian newspaper in which he announced his escape, he alleged that 'the regime was opposed to his work on FGM and early child marriage' and that he was arrested in part as a response to the British government's seizure of an Iranian ship.[16]

On 1 February 2021 Iran formally rejected Ahmady's appeal in absentia; it is not clear whether the courts were aware at the time that Ahmady had successfully escaped the country.[15]

• Iran–United Kingdom relations
• List of foreign nationals detained in Iran

• Kameel Ahmady website
• Kameel Ahmady on Instagram
• Kameel Ahmady on ResearchGate
• Kameel Ahmady on LinkedIn

Articles

• hilaryburrage.com
• www.theguardian.com