Ali Shakeri () is an

Iranian-American Iranian-Americans, also known as Persian-Americans, are United States citizens or nationals who are of Iranian ancestry, or who hold Iranian citizenship. Most Iranian-Americans arrived in the United States after 1979, as a result of the Irani ...

businessman and activist. He graduated from the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

with a business administration degree. He serves on the Community Advisory Board of the Center for Citizen Peacebuilding at the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...

. Shakeri was one of four dual-nationality Iranian-Americans detained by the

Iranian government The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran (), known simply as ''Nezam'' (), is the ruling State (polity), state and current political system in Iran, in power since the Iranian Revolution and fall of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. Its Const ...

in May 2007.

Activism

Shakeri has also been a founding and active member of Ettehade Jomhourikhahan-e Iran (EJI), which advocates a democratic and

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...

republic in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

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

, one of four Americans detained in a short period. The others were Kian Tajbakhsh,

Haleh Esfandiari Haleh Esfandiari () (born March 3, 1940) is an Iranian-American academic and former Director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. Her areas of expertise include Middle Eastern women ...

and Parnaz Azima. On June 8, 2007, the Iranian Student News Agency confirmed the detention. He was released on September 25, 2007, 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. Shakeri called the

American Iranian Council The American Iranian Council (AIC) was formed in 1990 as a US-based bi-partisan think tank focused upon promoting better relations between the United States and Iran. Former United States Secretary of State Cyrus Vance was the original honorary ...

on October 2 to thank the AIC and its members for diplomatic actions taken to gain his release from prison in Iran.American Iranian Council – AIC – A Platform for Dialogue
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References

External links

American Iranian Council

Much-admired UC Irvine figure is missing in Iran
Los Angeles Times, May 26, 2007 Living people American anti-war activists American businesspeople American people of Iranian descent Iranian activists 21st-century Iranian businesspeople Iranian prisoners and detainees American people imprisoned in Iran Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-activist-stub

Activism

Imprisonment

See also

References

External links