The head of OU’s Center for Middle East Studies says federal immigration officers detained an Iranian studies professor while he was traveling to a conference. 

Joshua Landis said Doctor Vahid Abedini, the Farzaneh Family Assistant Professor of Iranian Studies, was taken into custody Saturday while boarding a flight to Washington, D.C. Landis said Abedini was wrongfully detained because he holds a valid H-1B visa, a visa category commonly used for university faculty.

State Representative Jacob Rosecrants wrote on Facebook that no one appears to know where Abedini is being held. He said he has been in contact with the professor’s family.

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.

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.

"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."