Ali Shakeri
{{Short description|Iranian-American businessman}}
Ali Shakeri ({{langx|fa|علی شاکری}}) is an Iranian-American businessman and activist. He graduated from the University of Texas with a business administration degree. He serves on the Community Advisory Board of the Center for Citizen Peacebuilding at the University of California, Irvine.{{Cite web |url=http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~cpb/about.html#Ali |title=About Us |access-date=2007-06-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070525062319/http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~cpb/about.html#Ali |archive-date=2007-05-25 |url-status=dead }} Shakeri was one of four dual-nationality Iranian-Americans detained by the Iranian government in May 2007.Wright, Robin, Dreams and Shadows : the Future of the Middle East, Penguin Press, 2008, p.336-7
Activism
Shakeri has also been a founding and active member[http://www.iran-emrooz.net/index.php?/politic/more/12998/ Iran Emrooz (iranian political online magazine)] of Ettehade Jomhourikhahan-e Iran (EJI), which advocates a democratic and secular republic in Iran.{{Cite web |url=http://jomhouri.com/plus/platform_for_unity.htm |title=Platform for Unity |access-date=2007-06-25 |archive-date=2020-03-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200320054213/http://jomhouri.com/plus/platform_for_unity.htm |url-status=dead }}
Imprisonment
In 2007 Shakeri went to Iran to visit his mother, who was ill and died during his visit. On May 8, 2007, while in Iran, he was detained by the Iranian government,{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/31/AR2007053100995.html | newspaper=The Washington Post | title=Wife Appeals for Information on Husband Held in Iran | first=Robin | last=Wright | date=June 1, 2007 | accessdate=April 23, 2010}} one of four Americans detained in a short period.{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/24/AR2007092400168.html | newspaper=The Washington Post | title=Ahmadinejad's Day One in New York: A Hostile Reception, a Rambling Talk | first1=Anthony | last1=Faiola | first2=Robin | last2=Wright | date=September 25, 2007 | accessdate=April 23, 2010}} The others were Kian Tajbakhsh, Haleh Esfandiari and Parnaz Azima. On June 8, 2007, the Iranian Student News Agency confirmed the detention.{{cite news|title=Tehran confirms holding American Iranian| url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna19107061 |date=June 8, 2007|agency=Associated Press | work=NBC News}} He was released on September 25, 2007,[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/26/world/middleeast/25cnd-iran.html Iran Says American Detainee Released - New York Times] and the other three were also released "in phases, from prison or allowed to leave the country ... in the run-up to President Ahmadinejad's" September 2007 speech before the United Nations.Wright, Robin, Dreams and Shadows : the Future of the Middle East, Penguin Press, 2008, p.339
Shakeri called the American Iranian Council on October 2 to thank the AIC and its members for diplomatic actions taken to gain his release from prison in Iran.[http://us-iran.org/ American Iranian Council – AIC – A Platform for Dialogue]
See also
References
{{reflist|2}}
External links
- [http://www.american-iranian.org American Iranian Council]
- [http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-me-missing26may26,0,7338132.story?coll=la-home-center Much-admired UC Irvine figure is missing in Iran], Los Angeles Times, May 26, 2007
{{Iran–United States relations}}
{{List of foreign nationals detained in Iran}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shakeri, Ali}}
Category:American anti-war activists
Category:American businesspeople
Category:American people of Iranian descent
Category:21st-century Iranian businesspeople
Category:Iranian prisoners and detainees
Category:American people imprisoned in Iran
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
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