In May 2022, Dr. Saeed Madani, a prominent sociologist and a member of the Iranian Sociological Association, was arrested and charged with “propaganda against the State” by the Islamic Republic's authorities.

Saeed Madani is a sociologist who holds a doctorate in criminology and was a researcher at the Social Welfare Research Group at the University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences in Tehran. Madani has an exceptional academic record studying how social injustice affects women, children, and disadvantaged and minority groups. He has published several books and articles over the decades with topics spanning child abuse and violence against children, the sociology of sex work, the necessity of combating poverty and inequality, substance-use disorders and addiction, the civil disobedience and social movements in Iran. Madani was the chief editor and a founding member of the Social Welfare Quarterly at the University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences. He is a member of the Society for Protecting the Rights of the Child.

Madani has been arrested multiple times in 1994, 2000, and in 2011. In 2013, he was again arrested and sentenced to six years in prison and ten years in exile in Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan. He was permitted to return home in Tehran in November 2017. During these years, many of his books and publications have been banned from dissemination in Iran.

In December 2021, Madani was barred by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forces at the Tehran Airport from leaving the country to join a one-year research program at Yale University. In May 2022, Madani was arrested yet again, and was charged with “assembly, collusion, and propaganda against the State.” Madani remains at Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, where he has been subjected to solitary confinement.

Following his arrest, the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tehran has found Madani guilty of "forming and managing antiestablishment groups" and of "propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran". The court has sentenced him to nine years in prison.

We, a group of Iranian academics, are seriously concerned about the Islamic Republic’s actions in controlling and suppressing academics in Iran. We demand Madani’s immediate and unconditional release and to ensure that he receives urgent medical treatment.

We urge the international academic community to join us in our demands by signing this petition and adding their voice.

●      Saeed Madani, Sociologist, Arrested in Iran

●      Dr. Madani’s profile on Iran’s Prison Atlas (a data base documenting ethno-political prisoners in Iran)

●.     Radio Liberty: Iran Sentences Prominent Sociologist To Nine Years In Prison

●      Radio Liberty: Prominent Iranian Sociologist Prevented From Leaving Country To Conduct Research At Yale

●      The statement by the Iranian Sociological Association’s Board of Directors about Dr. Saeed Madani’s situation (in Persian)