Wednesday, March 12, 2008
CONTACT: Gian Galassi (702) 895-3104
MIDDLE EASTERN SCHOLAR HALEH ESFANDIARI TO DISCUSS IRANIAN IMPRISONMENT AND FUTURE U.S./IRANIAN RELATIONS MARCH 24

Date: Monday, March 24
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: UNLV Student Union
Details: Free and open to the public
Haleh Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, will discuss her experience last year of being arrested by Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and detained for the next eight months on suspicion of participating in a U.S.–led “velvet revolution” designed to bring about regime change in that country. She was released in August 2007 after prominent individuals, newspapers, and people worldwide protested her imprisonment.
During her lecture, titled “Iran and the U.S.: A View from Prison,” Esfandiari will describe her incarceration and what she learned about how one powerful faction in the Iranian regime views the United States. She will also discuss the seemingly intractable problems between the two countries, possible solutions, and future relations in light of Iran’s recent parliamentary elections and presidential elections in both countries this year and next.
The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is part of the Peace in the Desert Lecture Series, sponsored by the Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution at UNLV’s Boyd School of Law.
For more information about the event, call 895-2421.
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