U.S. Student Jailed In Iran

An American university student and women's rights activist has been arrested in Iran while visiting her family and conducting research for her graduate degree thesis, a human rights group has said.

Esha Momeni, a graduate student at California State University, Northridge, was arrested while driving on a highway in Tehran by officials who said they were traffic police, Amnesty International said in a statement.

The officials said the Oct. 15 arrest was for a traffic offense, but after arresting her, they took her to her family's home and confiscated her computer and other materials related to her research on the Iranian women's movement, the London-based rights group said in a statement posted on its Web site earlier this week.

Momeni, who is a member of the California branch of Change for Equality - an Iranian women's rights group - was later taken to Evin prison, Amnesty said. The Tehran facility is notorious for holding political prisoners.

Her family was told by an Iranian court on Monday that her case was still being investigated, and no details would be released until after the probe was completed, the group said.

Iranian judicial officials have not commented on the case, and no other details were immediately available in Iran.

The university is calling for her release.

"Anyone who values knowledge and the role of academic inquiry in shedding light on the human condition should be concerned," said the university's president Jolene Koester.

In Washington, the State Department said it was aware of reports of Momeni's arrest and was seeking more information.

Momeni was aware of the risks of her work, said Melissa Wall, her thesis adviser and director of the university's mass communications graduate program.

"We talked about the dangers," Wall said. "But in the end, it was her decision to go. She was interested in communicating to Americans a broader image of Iranian women. She has a lovely presence, she smiled a lot."

Momeni was nearing the scheduled end of her stay when she was arrested, Wall said.

Amnesty said dozens of other activists and supporters have been arrested in Iran in connection with their activities with the Change for Equality campaign, launched by Iranian women activists in September 2006.

The campaign is seeking to collect a million signatures in support of changing laws that deny women in Iran equal rights in matters such as divorce and court testimonies.

Momeni's arrest comes about a year after several Iranian-Americans accused of stirring up a revolution were released from Evin prison after spending months in detention. All four denied the accusations.

The jailings elevated tensions between the U.S. and Iran, which are already at odds over U.S. accusations that Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons and is fueling violence in Iraq. Iran denies both claims.

Born in Los Angeles, Momeni enrolled at Cal State, Northridge in 2006, according to the university. Momeni's father came to Los Angeles in 1977 to pursue a civil engineering degree at Cal State. He later returned to Iran with his family.