Ali Shakeri is an Iranian-American

Iranian-American

Iranian-Americans are Americans of Iranian ancestry or people possessing Iranian and American dual citizenship.Iranian-Americans are amongst the most highly educated groups in the United States...

 businessman and activist. He graduated from the University of Texas with a business administration degree. He serves on the Community Advisory Board of the Center for Citizen Peacebuilding at the University of California, Irvine

University of California, Irvine

The University of California, Irvine , founded in 1965, is one of the ten campuses of the University of California, located in Irvine, California, USA...

. Shakeri was one of four dual-nationality Iranian-Americans detained by the Iranian government in May 2007.

Activism

Shakeri has also been a founding and active member of Ettehade Jomhourikhahan-e Iran (EJI), which advocates a democratic

Democracy

Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...

 and secular republic in Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

.

Imprisonment

In 2007 Shakeri went to Iran to visit his mother, who was ill and died during his visit. On May 8, 2007 while in Iran he was detained by the Iranian government, one of four Americans detained by the Iranian government in a short period. The others were Kian Tajbakhsh

Kian Tajbakhsh

Kian Tajbakhsh is an Iranian-American scholar, sociologist and urban planner. He is a dual citizen of the United States and Iran, and has taught at both American and Iranian universities. Tajbakhsh is also an international expert in the areas of local government reform, urban planning, public...

, Haleh Esfandiari

Haleh Esfandiari

Haleh Esfandiari is an Iranian American academic and the Director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. Her areas of expertise include Middle Eastern women's issues, contemporary Iranian intellectual currents and politics, and...

 and Parnaz Azima. On June 8, 2007, the Iranian Student News Agency confirmed the detention. He was released on September 25, 2007. and the other three were also released "in phases, from prison or allowed to leave the country ... in the run-up to President Ahmadinejad's" September 2007 speech before the United Nations.
Shakeri called the American Iranian Council

American Iranian Council

The American-Iranian Council was formed in 1997 as a bi-partisan think tank focused upon promoting better relations between the United States and Iran. Former United States Secretary of State Cyrus Vance was the original honorary Chair of the organization...

on October 2 to thank the AIC, and its members for diplomatic actions taken to gain his release from prison in Iran.

External links

• American Iranian Council
• Much-admired UC Irvine figure is missing in Iran, Los Angeles Times, May 26, 2007