A Columbia University dean was imprisoned immediately after a
speech at the University of Tehran yesterday, exactly a year after
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke at Columbia at the
dean’s invitation.
John Coatsworth, dean of Columbia’s School of International and
Public Affairs, had been invited to speak at Iran’s largest
university by the president himself as a formal thank you for
having allowed the controversial Iranian leader to speak at
Columbia last year. Several groups had formally requested that
Columbia cancel the event, but Coatsworth waved away their
criticisms, saying the Iranian leader deserved to be heard and
famously remarking that the university would let Adolf Hitler speak
on campus if it could.
In Tehran yesterday, Coatsworth had just finished an hour-long
speech about the importance of open inquiry and a free exchange of
ideas when he was arrested by agents of the Iranian government.
“We believe he was arrested for criticizing the Ahmadinejad
regime,” said a U.S. State Department official who wished to remain
anonymous. “It is a crime in Iran to utter untrue statements
against the system.”
Coatsworth spent a few minutes of his speech criticizing the
Iranian government for shutting down opposition media
organizations, imprisoning journalists and dissidents, and
tolerating little in the way of open debate in the Western
tradition. He did not criticize the president for pursuing nuclear
weapons, arming terrorists or calling for the destruction of
Israel.
“President Ahmadinejad must’ve interpreted those rather tame
criticisms as false statements against his regime,” the State
Department official said. “Frankly, Coatsworth should have known he
would provoke such a response. Ahmadinejad has arrested Americans
before for saying or writing similar things.”
Since Ahamdinejad’s speech last September, which was followed by
an address to the United Nations General Assembly, the Iranian
president became a cause celebre among some American
university students for his bold anti-Bush statements. A nationwide
speaking tour followed, in which Ahmadinejad spoke to sold-out
crowds of angry liberals at college campuses across America.
Instead of getting hammered with “hard questions,” as Coatsworth
predicted, the Iranian leader was greeted with standing ovations
for opposing Bush administration policies, especially the Iraq
war.
At the University of California-Berkeley he even was lauded for
providing terrorists in Iraq weapons they then used to kill
American soldiers and Marines. Ahmadinejad posters became hot
sellers at campus bookstores, coming in fifth behind Che Guevara,
Bob Marley, Karl Marx, and a sixpack of Budweiser.
The Iranian president’s standing in the world also rose. Other
universities invited him to speak, as did high schools, think
tanks, and even a San Francisco synagogue. He wrote a best-selling
memoir, “If I Did Nuke Israel,” and released a CD of duets with
famous singers, including Neil Young, Natalie Maines, Melissa
Etheridge and Willie Nelson. Ahmadinejad, who is fiercely anti-gay,
was told after making the album that Etheridge is a lesbian, at
which point he bathed for seven days straight, ordered all copies
of the CD destroyed and banned Etheridge from entering Iran.
It is not known where Coatsworth was taken after his arrest. He
has not been seen or heard from, and Iranian government spokesmen
are not talking. However, it is believed that he is not enjoying
the gourmet meal, police protection or other courtesies extended to
Ahmadinejad during his visit to Columbia.
