Homa Hoodfar. Max Stern Restitution Project.
Concordia in the news
Posted on July 13, 2016
University affairs
Various issues concerning Concordia University are often reported on by news outlets. Here is the most recent coverage pertaining to the institution:
- Media around the world continue to report on the indictment in Iran of Homa Hoodfar on charges that have not been made public: Radio Canada International, Canoe, UPI, The World Post, Saudi Gazette, Foreign Policy headline news, Equilibrio Informativo, Bénin Monde, IX Network News, News Dog.
- In related coverage: The Canadian Press quotes Canadian-Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari about Hoodfar's detention at Evin prison. Bahari, who was held at the same prison in 2009, says the federal government and Hoodfar's supporters must speak out early and often if they are to put effective and sustained pressure on Iran to obtain her release. The article is picked up by CTVnews.ca, theMontreal Gazette, The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, Winnipeg Free Press, The Brandon Sun, Medicine Hat News, Metro News, Journal Métro, L'actualité, EnManchette.ca, Blackburn News, Lethbridge Herald, Bay Today, Sudbury.com, Penticton Herald, Life in Québec, The Kelowna Daily Courier, MySask.com, Alaska Highway News and more than 80 others; Times Higher Education, writing about a petition for the Iranian government to free Hoodfar, signed by more than 5,000 academics and authors, quotes president Alan Shepard from a Concordia statement issued last montht; CBC.ca reports that Global Affairs Canada refuses to say how many Canadians are currently being held in Iran; The Canadian Press lists Iranian-Canadians who are or have been held in an Iranian jail. The piece is picked up by Times Colonist and Life in Quebec; Iran Human Rights.org reprises an earlier piece whose author speculates that recent arrests of Hoodfar and other dual nationals in Iran are part of a crackdown by a shrinking group of hardliners in Iran; a piece appears in Le Devoir whose author urges the Canadian government to do all that is possible to secure Hoodfar's freedom; the Vancouver Sun publishes a piece on continuing speculation that Iran is using Hoodfar and fellow-Canadian-Iranian Parviz Tanavoli as diplomatic pawns; the speculation is reported also by France News, Topix.com and Terrorism Reports, which link to earlier stories fromLe Devoir and CBC.ca; The Globe and Mail publishes an opinion piece by UCLA gender studies professor and Homa Hoodfar friend Sherene Razack, who reflects on the value of academic freedom and says Hoodfar's research helps remove Muslim stigma; the Hoodfar arrest is mentioned in a report in the Toronto Sun and the Edmonton Sun that the government of Justin Trudeau will lead a UN effort to single out Iran for its poor human rights record; Canada Standard links to an earlier piece in The Globe and Mail which reports a statement from the federal government that it is actively engaged in Hoodfar's case; CBC Radio's The Current interviews two personal friends of Hoodfar: Vrinda Narain, a law professor at McGill, and Nader Hashemi, Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Denver. The online text introducing the interview includes a link to a an interview transcript, along with an earlier CBC story (video and text) about Hoodfar's indictment. The audio of The Current is reprised on ivoox; Hoodfar's arrest is mentioned in coverage of the detention in Iran of British charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: The Guardian,Independent, Mirror, itv.com (video and text), Amnesty International UK, BT.com, Ham & High, South Wales Argus.
- Kunstmarkt reports (in German) that a judge in Cologne has confirmed a lower court ruling dismissing a suit from New York gallery owner Richard Feigen, who had sought damages in a legal battle over ownership of the Lodovico Carracci painting, St. Jerome with the lion and two angels. The article notes that the painting was recovered by the Concordia-led Max Stern Art Restitution Project.