ICE kidnaps US-based Iranian scholar Vahid Abedini en route to MESA conference

The location of a US-based Iranian scholar is unknown after he was detained at the Oklahoma City airport en route to the annual Middle East Studies Association conference in Washington, DC.

Vahid Abedini, a tenure-track professor at the University of Oklahoma, was arrested as he was boarding his flight at the Oklahoma City Airport on Saturday and booked at the Logan County Sheriff’s Office. He was then released to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Oklahoma City field office on Monday morning. He was sent to an unknown facility, where he remains as of early Tuesday morning.

"He should be at the conference discussing his research," Joshua Landis, director of the Centre for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, told The New Arab. "Nobody knows why [he was taken]. No one can get an ICE agent to talk with them."

Landis, who took part in Abedini's hiring process at the University of Oklahoma, where Abedini has been for the past semester, says they did everything by the book, ensuring he was fully compliant with employment and immigration protocols.

"I was involved in getting his work arranged and to make sure it was streamlined," he said.

"We made sure his employment started here the day he ended his employment in Arkansas [where he previously taught], so he wouldn’t have one day of not working in the US. We filed all the requisite papers. His visa is pending. That's normal," Landis added.

Abedini is currently on an H-1B visa, a non-immigrant work visa for those in "speciality occupations" including higher education.

It is unclear why he was arrested or what he has been charged with, as ICE have not released any information on his status or whereabouts.

His arrest comes amid an intensified crackdown on immigrants, most of them with no criminal background. This includes academics who have been active in protesting US support of Israel's military assault on Gaza.

Some crackdowns on Iranians who have not necessarily been politically active appear to be related to their nationality. So far, most ICE detentions of academics have targeted politically active students rather than professors.

Abedini came to the US after being expelled from graduate school in Iran for opposing the government and supporting the 2009 Green Revolution. He did his PhD at Florida International University on elite formation in post-revolutionary Iran.

Despite the criticism of his home government, some have responded with hostility on social media. Some fellow US-based Iranians have accused him of supporting their government, and some Americans have questioned why an Iranian should get a visa to the US.

Those who know him have been quick to support him. Some of his friends at the MESA conference were made aware of his arrest on Saturday and had initially hoped that keeping the matter private would help secure his release. Two days later, however, with his whereabouts unknown, they decided to make his case public.

"I asked him about the conference, and he was very excited," one of his Iranian friends at the MESA conference told TNA. "And then I arrived at the conference, and I said, Hi, are you OK? Did you arrive at the conference? He said: I’m still at home, and I’m about to go. I said: I’ll see you soon. That was 2:11, and then it was 5 when we heard he was arrested."

His friend continued, "he's a good person, a good scholar."

Another one of his friends shared a lengthy message, describing Abedini as kind and thoughtful.

"Vahid is a rare soul whose kindness doesn't announce itself – it simply lives in everything he does," the statement reads. "He's funny in a way that disarms you, very witty, very smart without ever needing to prove it, and impossibly generous with his time, especially toward those just starting out. If there's a call for papers or a conference deadline out there, you can bet Vahid is already texting the quiet ones – the new PhD students, the early-career scholars – urging them to step forward, remind them they belong in the room."

The statement continues, "Now that the news has spread – unjust, incomprehensible, it's telling who's speaking up. People who rarely post. Those who guard their privacy fiercely. Yet there they are, breaking their silence to say simply: He was there for me. That's Vahid. Not just a contact, but a constant. The name nearly everyone has saved not under 'Vahid' but 'Amo Vahi' – the beloved uncle…"

As of Tuesday morning, there have been no public statements on the matter from ICE, MESA, or the University of Oklahoma.