[FREE IRAN Project] In The Spirit Of Cyrus The Great

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"Iranian-born US university lecturer detained in Iran"

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct22 , (AFP) -- Authorities in Iran have arrested an Iranian-born lecturer at a top US university on suspicion of espionage and have been holding him for at least three months, colleagues said.

Political scientist Dariush Zahedi, who lectures at the University of California, Berkeley, is being held in Tehran's Evin prison, his colleague Professor Edwin Epstein told AFP.

Tehran-based news service Iran Emrouz reported that the academic and author was being held in solitary confinement on suspicion of espionage after returning home for a visit in June.

"I learned about this from family associates in late July, but when exactly he was detained, no-one really knows," Epstein said.

"I am in contact with the family on a daily basis but nobody really knows terribly much of anything. That's the whole problem, we have very little by way of specifics, including what the specific charges are."

Zahedi was allowed to make "one or two" calls to some family members in Tehran following his arrest, but since then virtually no news of his fate, condition or charges has been forthcoming, he said.

But colleagues, who are lobbying the US government and various non-governmental organisations in a bid to secure Zahedi's release, say he may be caught in rivalry between Iran's religious and secular forces.

"We gather that there is governmental politics involved here too, powerplays between various ministries and the endemic competition between religious and secular authorities," Epstein said.

Zehedi had been scheduled to teach courses at Berkeley for the political science and the Peace and Conflict Studies departments -- which Epstein heads -- this year.

His family in California had kept news of his detention secret up until now in the hope that he may be quietly released. "But that has changed, now," Epstein said.

Zahedi was born in Iran and immigrated to the United States as a teenager. He is an expert on Iranian politics, and is director of the West Coast operations of the American Iranian Council.

He published a book in 2000 entitle "The Iranian Revolution Then and Now: Indicators of Regime Instability."