46 Facts About Kameel Ahmady

Kameel Ahmady is a British-Iranian scholar working in the field of social anthropology, with a particular focus on gender, children, ethnic minorities, and child labour.

Kameel Ahmady holds a HND and bachelor's degree in printing and publishing from the London University of Communication and a master's degree in social anthropology and visual ethnography from the University of Kent in the United Kingdom.

Kameel Ahmady has completed specialised training and courses on politics in the Middle East, research methods, and empowerment at other universities in England.

In mid-August 2019, media inside and outside Iran reported that Kameel Ahmady had been arrested by the security forces of the Revolutionary Guard Corps of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Kameel Ahmady was born in 1972 in the bilingual city of Naghadeh in West Azarbaijan province, Iran and grew up in the mostly monolingual city of Piranshahr in the same province.

Kameel Ahmady went on to complete specialised courses related to Middle Eastern politics and research methods at other universities in London.

Kameel Ahmady has published several field-research team work books and articles in English, Persian, and Kurdish.

Kameel Ahmady believes he was taken by the Revolutionary Guards partly due to his research work, but because Iran was looking for British assets to seize in reprisal after the British Marines helped seize an Iranian ship, Grace 1, off the shores of Gibraltar on 4 July 2019.

The infamous judge Abolqasem Salavati of the Islamic Revolutionary Court formally charged Kameel Ahmady with trying to secure socio-cultural changes in the Islamic Republic by allegedly conducting "subversive" research related to social issues, such as lobbying to raise the age of child marriage, promoting homosexuality, trying to divide Iran through scientific research, sending false reports to the human-rights rapporteur of the UN, and several other charges.

Kameel Ahmady was sentenced to nine years and three months in prison and fined 600,000 euros.

Kameel Ahmady was interrogated and kept in solitary confinement for more than one hundred days by the IRGC in the infamous Ward A section of Evin Prison in Tehran.

Since Kameel Ahmady was born and raised in the Kurdish regions of the western provinces of Iran, and because of the culture and religion of his region, he and his teams conducted some of his earlier anthropological and ethnographic research in those regions.

Kameel Ahmady wanted to look at their consumption of local, national, and transnational forms of media and how these influenced their views of events and their local environment, and the ways they choose to narrate these.

Kameel Ahmady used reflexive visual methods, asking them to take their own photographic pieces dealing with themes they saw as relevant to local current events and their places within these.

Kameel Ahmady published the results of this research in Istanbul in the book Another Look at East and Southeast Turkey in English, Turkish, and Kurdish.

Kameel Ahmady, while conducting this research, documented interviews and information obtained from the fieldwork, which later led to the creation of a documentary film entitled In the Name of Tradition.

One of the most important issues that Kameel Ahmady has researched is early child marriage.

From his field findings, Kameel Ahmady concluded that the most important factors in the continuation of child marriage in Iran are poverty, low levels of education and literacy, the lack of legal protection, social pressures in a male-driven society, and traditional and religious beliefs.

One controversial piece of Kameel Ahmady's research is about the status of "White marriage", or cohabitation, in Iran.

Kameel Ahmady was the coordinator and compiler of the book Traces of Exploitation in Childhood: A Comprehensive Research on Forms, Causes and Consequences of Child Labour in Iran and the supervisor of a separate study called "Childhood Yawn: A Study on Recognising, Preventing and Controlling the Phenomenon of Child Scavenging in Tehran".

The final research project that Kameel Ahmady was involved in before he escaped Iran was group fieldwork investigating the topic of identity and ethnicity in Iran.

Kameel Ahmady during examining the origins and nature of opinions for and against male circumcision, tried to point out the importance of issues such as the right to own the body of individuals and guaranteeing the individual physical and mental health of boys.

In mid-August 2019, after Kameel Ahmady returned from a UN conference in the United Nations' African headquarters in Ethiopia, a man knocked on his door, claiming to be a postman.

When Kameel Ahmady opened the door, 16 Revolutionary Guards stormed in and arrested him.

At the time, Kameel Ahmady was working as an anthropologist and researcher in Iran.

Kameel Ahmady was held for more than one hundred days in the notorious Evin Prison, where many academics, dissidents, and other dual nationals have been held.

Kameel Ahmady was kept in Ward A of the prison, in solitary confinement, where he was interrogated by the Revolutionary Guard.

KHRN reported that Kameel Ahmady had been working on two studies before he was arrested, one on LGBTQ+ communities and one on identity and ethnicity in Iran.

Kameel Ahmady's family told Radio Farda that prosecutors refused to tell them what he was charged with after he had been taken to Evin Prison.

Kameel Ahmady was released in November 2019 on bail of five billion rials, or about $40,000.

Kameel Ahmady was suspected of sending false reports about the country to the UN's special rapporteur on human rights, as well as conspiracy to change marriage laws by increasing the marriage age of children.

At the time Kameel Ahmady was working as an anthropologist in the field in Tehran.

Kameel Ahmady was held for three months in the notorious Evin Prison, where many academics and dissidents have been held, including a spell in solitary confinement where he was interrogated by the Revolutionary Guard.

KHRN reported that Kameel Ahmady had been working on two studies before he arrested, into LGBT communities and identity and ethnicity in Iran.

Kameel Ahmady's family told Radio Farda that prosecutors refused to tell them what he was charged with after he had been taken to Evin Prison.

Kameel Ahmady was released in November 2019 on bail of five billion rials, or about $40,000.

In media interviews later on Kameel Ahmady told The Guardian that the judge in his trial, Abolqasem Salavati, accused him of taking courses at universities where "subversive institutes and centres relevant to spying services organised these courses" and that by lobbying Iranian MPs on raising the age of child marriage, he was seeking to undermine Iran.

Kameel Ahmady stated on Twitter and Facebook that he had been denied access to a lawyer during his detention.

Kameel Ahmady published about his appeal and the court verdict on his website.

Kameel Ahmady said his decision to jump bail and escape was based on the fear that, if did not get out, he would be stuck in prison for nine years and not be able to see his son until he was 15.

Kameel Ahmady packed a bag with a shaving kit, a few books, a laptop, and a pair of pyjamas.

Kameel Ahmady said the escape was "very cold, long, dark and very scary".

Kameel Ahmady pointed out that he is ready to be taken to court or in case there are any doubts over not receiving fair judgment for women in Iranian courts he can come before a civil court or civil society formed jury.

Kameel Ahmady added, these accusations have never been legally cross-examined.

The report concluded that Kameel Ahmady never been contacted or asked about the allegations and the committee's decision were based on anonymous accounts from the social media and they were pressured and rushed to such decision.

Onnce in the UK Kameel Ahmady posted a statement on his website, saying:.