by Patricia Meehan Vásquez
Managing Editor, The WIP
- USA -

In 2006, what to Saudi society seemed a routine case settled in Sharia court, exploded into headlines of outrage, protest and disbelief across the globe. Qatif is a center of the very large Shia minority in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia, near where I lived for almost eight years. Most of Saudi practices the Wahhabi interpretation of Sunni Islam.

• Taken with a camera phone, public photography is banned in Saudi Arabia. Photograph by Majib. •

by Patricia Vásquez
Managing Editor, The WIP
USA

Think about it. The headlines scream it out. Lives of unspeakable pain and loss. And usually it is women, the caretakers of children and a vulnerable population by themselves, bear the vast brunt of the suffering. But even worse is that a pattern of growing violence, more and more barbaric, is being directed at women at a level never seen before in the annals of human history.

Genocide. Ethnic Cleansing. War. Terrorism. Torture. Human rights abuses. Repressive military governments. Repressive religious fundamentalist governments. Rape as a tool of war. Child soldiers. AIDS. Ebola. Global warming. Epic drought. Famine.

by Patricia Vásquez
Managing Editor, The WIP
USA

• Haleh Esfandiari. Photograph courtesy of the WWICS •

The outlook was grim. That day, Sharon McCarter, communications director of the Woodrow Wilson Center declared, “We are extremely dismayed about Haleh’s situation, and our concerns about her health and mental well-being have only increased as weeks of captivity have stretched into months. A renowned scholar and a tireless advocate for greater dialogue between Iran and the United States, Haleh has committed no crimes.”

by Patricia Vásquez
Managing Editor, The WIP
USA

• Haleh Esfandiari. Photograph courtesy of the WWICS •

The would-be documentary claims it demonstrates the “confessions” of Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, Director of the Wilson Center’s Middle East Program and her fellow Iranian-American, New York-based social scientist Kian Tajbakhsh. The program featured blurry footage of revolutions in progress in Eastern Europe; only snatches of the two prisoners’ voices could be heard.

by Patricia Vásquez
Managing Editor, The WIP
USA

An incredible story broke worldwide on Tuesday, July 17, 2007:

• Haleh Esfandiari. Photograph courtesy of the WWICS •

Esfandiari and Tajbakhsh both spoke in Farsi and appeared to be in homes or offices. Esfandiari was sitting, wearing typical Islamic clothing - a black headscarf that completely covered her hair, and what appeared to be the traditional black cloak called a chador.