Hassan Rouhani's Renewed Call for the Return of Elites to the Country

During an iftar ceremony with local youth and students, Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, once again spoke about the necessity of the return of educated elites residing abroad to Iran. Mr. Rouhani, who has repeatedly expressed hope for the return of students or graduates from abroad since the beginning of his administration, stated that 200 Iranian elites have returned to the country in recent months: "In recent months, 200 elites, about 50 of whom studied at the top 10 universities in the world, have returned to the country, which means that hope has once again blossomed in the country." Without providing more details about the specifics of these elites' return, Mr. Rouhani mentioned that some still have doubts about returning to Iran, but according to him, conditions for the return of Iranians residing abroad should be facilitated through more collaboration. The Rouhani government and its officials have called for the return of young Iranians living abroad since the beginning of their activities, stating that the political and social conditions of the country have changed. Mehdi Mahdavi Azad, an analyst on Iranian issues, believes that the government's significant attention to the return of Iranian students abroad is part of its effort to engage students with itself. Permanent emigration of Iranian elites abroad, referred to as "brain drain," has always been newsworthy in recent years. According to the International Monetary Fund, in 2009, Iran ranked first among 91 developing and underdeveloped countries in terms of elite migration. Two years ago, Reza Faraji Dana, the then Minister of Science, Research, and Technology, stated that about 150,000 talented Iranians leave the country every year. These figures indicate the continuation of the trend of elite emigration from Iran, while reports of judicial and security actions against some returning students and elites raise doubts about the conditions for their return. The case of Omid Kokabi, a PhD student in physics at the University of Texas at Austin, is one of the most significant examples. Mr. Kokabi, who came to Iran for a short visit, was arrested at the airport in February 2011 while trying to leave the country and was sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of "contact with a hostile government" and "illicit gain." In recent weeks, the arrest of Homa Hoodfar, a professor at Concordia University in Canada, is another example of the crackdown on Iranians living abroad. Several political activists and journalists residing abroad also traveled to Iran after Hassan Rouhani took office, but ultimately were arrested and imprisoned. Hossein Nourani Nejad, Sirajeddin Mirdamadi, Saeed Rezavi Faqih, Sajedeh Arab-Sorkhi, Mostafa Azizi, and Saeed Pourheidar are among those who have been arrested after returning to Iran in the past two years. Mehdi Mahdavi Azad considers these cases as signs of the government's inability to resolve this issue and the dominance of judicial and security institutions in this regard. In addition to government officials, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic has also warned about Iranian students traveling abroad and has asked officials to be vigilant regarding a trend that he claims "seeks to identify the scientific elites of the country and direct them abroad." Babak Ghafouri Azar is a producer at Radio Farda and follows developments in the cinema and theater sectors. He joined Radio Farda in 2010 and has published various investigative reports about events during the first decade of the establishment of the Islamic Republic. Babak Ghafouri Azar began journalism in Iran in 2001.