In April 2006, while passing through Iran en route to a Belgian conference, U of T professor Dr. Ramin Jahanbegloo was arrested, blindfolded and carried off to Tehran’s Evin prison. For the next 125 days, the Iranian-Canadian Jahanbegloo was confined to Evin’s Ward 209, frequently used for detaining political prisoners. Other than the three brief visits from his wife, he was held in solitary confinement.

Today, Jahanbegloo is busy teaching two courses and settling into an office at the university’s Centre of Ethics, a stark contrast to the two-by-three-metre cell that held him 18 months ago.

“My first reaction was like any normal human being. It was half fear and half astonishment as well as the uncertainty of not knowing what was going to happen to me.”

He was never charged with a crime or allowed to speak to a lawyer.

“I had to create my own rhythm of life by reading anything I could get my hands on, doing exercises, fighting against depression, and somehow trying to build my confidence and hope for the future,” explained Jahanbegloo.

During the first 40 days of his imprisonment, Jahanbegloo was only allowed two blankets to sleep on, no reading material, and was blindfolded whenever he left his cell for showers or bathroom breaks.

During interrogations, Jahanbegloo discovered that he was suspected of spying for foreign powers and inciting a “soft revolution” against the Iranian regime. the Calgary Herald reported speculations that the suspicions stemmed from an article Jahanbegloo wrote criticizing Iran for denying the Holocaust. Jahanbegloo, however, said that his mere participation in intellectual life was held up as evidence of treason.

“They were telling me that the fact that I had been going to conferences was somehow spying and working against the security of the Iranian state. I never thought going to a conference was spying. I never wanted to spy for anybody, but yes, I had been to conferences and meeting with Canadians and Americans,” said Jahanbegloo.

After over four months in prison, Jahanbegloo was told family members had reached a “bail agreement” with the intelligence ministry, and he was released. His Iranian and Canadian passports, confiscated by the Iranian Revolutionary Court, were never returned.

Since the release, Jahanbegloo has published a book based on notes he wrote on scraps of cardboard in jail, and lectured all over the world, but has not returned to Iran.

“Now that I’m back at U of T, I’m really happy. I’m looking forward to going back to teaching and seeing my students.”

Jahanbegloo teaches two poli sci courses at U of T. Next year, he will offer a new course, Politics and Non-violence.

Though he said he believes his arrest was fueled by his academic work, Jahanbegloo vowed not to censor himself, adding that his experiences as a political detainee have most definitely influenced his work and outlook.

“I will continue with my work of dissidence as a philosopher. I think that my days in prison have given me a new view of humanity and also of ethics and what can be ethical in the 21st century,” he said.