Kaveh L. Afrasiabi

Dr Kaveh L. Afrasiabi is a political scientist and author of Iranian origin who has lived for many years in the United States.

Teaching

Afrasiabi has taught political science at Tehran University, Boston University, and Bentley College. Afrasiabi has been a visiting scholar at Harvard University, UC Berkeley, Binghamton University, Center For Strategic Research, Tehran and Institute for Strategic Studies in Paris. During 2004-2005, Afrasiabi was involved as an advisor to Iran's nuclear negotiation team. From 1996 to 2003, Afrasiabi was involved in a legal conflict with Roy Mottahedeh, former director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University, who had been his superior during Afrasiabi's time as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard, and Harvard University itself. The conflict started with an alleged extortion against Mottahedeh's subordinates and a "pre-dawn" arrest of Afrasiabi by Harvard police, and terminated in 2003 with a civil rights case against Harvard, Mottahedeh and the Supreme Court of the United States, in which Afrasiabi acted as his own attorney. During associated controversies, Afrasiabi was supported by Mike Wallace of the US television program 60 Minutes, author David Mamet, linguist Noam Chomsky and political scientist Howard Zinn, and former deputy prime minister of Iran, Farhang Mehr.^{[citation needed]}.In a video deposition, Mr. Wallace has defended Afrasiabi and accused professor Mottahedeh of making false statements to him about Afrasiabi. His "David and Goliath" battle with Harvard has been praised by Mike Wallace, who has stated "I admire Dr. Afrasiabi. He has been wronged. The cannons of Harvard are lined up against a pea shooter."

Books

Afrasiabi has written several books in relation to international relations, Iranian foreign policy and Iran – United States relations, including After Khomeini: New Directions in Iran's Foreign Policy (1994), Nir/North: A Cinematic Story about the Iran-Contra Affair (1996), Iran's Nuclear Program: Debating Facts Versus Fiction (2006) and Reading in Iran's Foreign Policy After September 11 (2008). Afrasiabi has also written several book chapters on Islam, environment, and theology, published by Harvard University Press, Chicago University Press and Wadsworth.^{[citation needed]}. Also, Afrasiabi has published a chapter on Islam, globalization, and ethics of non-violence in a compendium on Mahdism published by the Islamic Center of London.^{[citation needed]}. Afrasiabi's latest book is Looking For Rights At Harvard (2010) which chronicles the abuse of his human rights by Harvard University, described by professor Noam Chomsky as "a shameful chapter in American history and at one of its cherished institutions." In the Appendix section of the book, Afrasiabi has written an open letter to President Obama entitled,Where is My Right?

Media

Afrasiabi has worked as a consultant to CBS's "60 Minutes" and has appeared on numerous television programs including CNN, MSNBC, Voice of America, and Al-Jazeera. Afrasiabi is a regular contributor to the New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Global Dialogue, and Asia Times. Afrasiabi has written hundreds of articles in these and other newspapers and in scholarly journals including Harvard Theological Review, Harvard International Review, UN Chronicle, Brown's Journal of World Affairs, Middle East Journal, Journal of International Affairs, Telos, and Mediterannean Affairs. A supporter of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he has spoken out in support of the fairness of the 2009 presidential election results on CNN and elsewhere and has been critical of protests over the results while at the same time calling for national reconciliation. In September 2010, Afrasiabi accompanied president Ahmadinejad's delegation to the United Nations and was quoted in Los Angeles Times expressing optimism on US-Iran dialogue. He is also a supporter of Iran's nuclear power program that was launched in the 1950s with the help of the United States as part of the Atoms for Peace program. Afrasiabi has called for education on the Holocaust in the Muslim Middle East as a "moral imperative."^{[citation needed]}Afrasiabi once challenged the right wing media host Glenn Beck who questioned the Harvard's decision to invite former president of Iran, Mohamamad Khatami, to speak at the university.

Peace/media activism

Afrasiabi is a former consultant to the United Nations "Dialogue Among Civilizations", for which he interviewed the former Iranian president, Mohammad Khatami. He occasionally contributes to the UN Chronicle on peace and human rights related topics. Afrasiabi was the chairman of World Youth Festival on Dialogue Among Civilizations that took place in Vilnius, Lithuania during the Summer of 2000.Afrasiabi is frequently referred to as the director of an non-governmental organisation called Global Interfaith Peace. On 24 December 2002, he issued a statement on behalf of the organisation in opposition to the risk of an invasion of Iraq. Afrasiabi is a member of the advisory board of the Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran and has appeared at numerous international conferences, most recently at the Tehran International Conference on Nuclear Disarmament, April, 2010. He has also issued a statement in the New York Times in support of nonproliferation and disarmament.

June 2010 incident

On June 27, 2010, Afrasiabi went to the Zuzu restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts (United States). According to Afrasiabi, employees there showed "racist and indecent behavior" and "treated him unprofessionally", after which he exited the restaurant without finishing his meal nor paying for it. He approached some police standing nearby. A restaurant employee approached the police. The police then arrested Afrasiabi, on the basis of an outstanding warrant. Afrasiabi claims the warrant was issued in error, based on a 1986 unregistered vehicle incident, for which he had already paid the fines. The police claim it originated from an incident in 1999. Afrasiabi described the arrest taking place with "a racist attitude." While in custody, Afrasiabi claims that he was denied the right to a telephone call to contact his family and/or a lawyer. He said that the police officers were racist and brutal, stating, "If I had blond hair and blue eyes and had an American-sounding last name, no, I wouldn't have been subjected to this. They did this to me because they're racist."

In July 2010, Afrasiabi filed a formal complaint against Cambridge police alleging racism and physical injury in the hands of Cambridge police, who placed him under arrest after he had approached them to complain of being mistreated at a restaurant. The basis for his arrest was an outstanding warrant for a 1986 ticket, which Afrasiabi claimed to have paid at the time. A judge in Newton, Massachusetts agreed with Afrasiabi and dismissed the warrant without imposing any fines. Afrasiabi has alleged that while being transported to a court the next day, he was deliberately injured when the police van slammed the break after driving in full speed, resulting in Afrasiabi's multiple visits to the hospitals. The Cambridge police initially claimed that Afrasiabi had walked out of a restaurant without paying and then changed their story, deleting any reference to the restaurant. In a letter to The Cambridge Chronicle, Afrasiabi has demanded an apology from Cambridge police for what he alleges is their racist and brutal mistreatment of him