This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

British officials are investigating claims a British-Iranian academic has been detained by authorities in Tehran.

Abbas Edalat, a professor of computer science and mathematics at Imperial College London and a political activist, was arrested by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on 15 April, according to a US-based watchdog.

On Wednesday, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it was “urgently seeking information from the Iranian authorities” about Edalat’s status, but could offer no further details.

The New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said Edalat, who has also written for the Guardian, had initially been bailed, but refused to cooperate with the process on Wednesday and was detained by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It said he argued “that he is an innocent man and should be released unconditionally and cleared of any charges”.

“Iran’s continued arbitrary arrests of dual nationals without transparency and lack of due process is extremely concerning,” said the watchdog’s director, Hadi Ghaemi.

Edalat is the founder of the Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran, which describes itself as an organisation that opposes “sanctions, foreign state interference and military intervention in Iran”.

Last January, he told Times Higher Education he had stopped submitting research papers to US conferences the previous year over Donald Trump’s attempts to impose a travel ban on passengers from several mainly Muslim countries – including Iran.

The CHRI cited a “verified source” as saying the Revolutionary Guards raided Edalat’s home in Tehran and confiscated his belongings, including his computer, CDs and notebooks. It said he was in the country to attend an academic workshop.



His detention comes as Tehran holds other British-Iranians, including Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Kamal Foroughi, who have been held since 2016 and 2011, respectively.

The watchdog said Edalat was one of “at least 30 dual nationals” detained by Tehran since the signing of the Iranian nuclear deal in July 2015.