Muscat: A Canadian-Iranian retired professor was released from prison on “humanitarian grounds” and flown out of Iran on Monday, Iran’s state-run news agency said, ending her months of detention alongside other dual nationals swept up by hardliners in the security services.
Dr Homa Hoodfar was flown to Oman, the brief report from the Irna news agency said. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hailed her release in a statement, thanking Italy, Switzerland and Oman for their help in the matter.
Oman said on Monday that it had helped with the release of a Canadian-Iranian professor, Dr Homa Hoodfar, who was detained in Iran since June.
“In response to the royal orders of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Saeed responding to a request from the Canadian government to assist in releasing Dr Homa Hoodfar, a Canadian national who was detained in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the respective organisations in the Sultanate communicated with the Iranian government which released her,” reported Oman News Agency (ONA).
Hoodfar, 65, was questioned and barred from leaving Iran in March after travelling to the country to visit family following the death of her husband. Her family said she has been held in Tehran’s Evin Prison since June. Hoodfar until recently taught anthropology and sociology at Montreal’s Concordia University.
Arrangements have been made to transport her from Tehran to Muscat on board a Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO) aircraft in preparation for her return to Canada.
While the Sultanate appreciates the stance of the Islamic Republic of Iran, it hopes that this step will result in more rapprochement and resuming normal relations between Iran and Canada, the Omani statement said. In July, Iran announced indictments for Hoodfar and three others, without providing any details about the accusations. In recent weeks, Hoodfar’s supporters described her health as deteriorating while she was in solitary confinement, saying she was “barely able to walk or talk.”
Hoodfar’s supporters had pressed diplomats to discuss her case during the recent United Nations General Assembly in New York. Canadian Foreign Minister Stephane Dion met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on the sidelines of the meeting on Wednesday, state television reported.
Kaveh Ehsani, a friend of Hoodfar’s in Chicago, said on Monday that her supporters asked for “a period of crucial privacy before Homa and her family can address the media.”
Hoodfar landed in Muscat on Monday evening on an air force jet and greeted by her niece.
Hoodfar, 65, is a teacher at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, and an expert on gender and Islam.
Oman, maintains good relations with Tehran, has previously helped facilitate prisoner exchanges between Iran and the United States.
Canada shut its embassy in Iran and expelled all Iranian diplomats in Canada in 2012 after accusing Tehran of posing the biggest threat to global security, mainly over its nuclear program and military assistance to Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.
— With inputs from agencies
