Iranian legal scholar Medhi Zakerian, who was scheduled to be a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School this fall, has been arrested by the Iranian authorities and detained without charges for the last three weeks. Since I am serving as a visiting professor at Penn myself this semester, I thought I would make note of this egregious behavior by the Iranian regime. Apparently, Zakerian has been targeted because of his criticism of the regime's human rights abuses, and perhaps because the government feared that his visit at Penn would make it possible for him to reach a broader audience for his views. This website provides a bit more information about Zakerian and states that he is being held by the Ministry of Intelligence.

I don't know much more than this about Zakerian or his work. So I can only say I hope that he will be released soon, and urge my fellow legal scholars, among others, to pressure the Iranian government towards that end.