Afshin Ellian

Afshin Ellian (born 27 February 1966 in Tehran, Iran) is an Iranian-born Dutch professor of law, philosopher, poet, and critic of political Islam.

He is an expert in international public law and philosophy of law.

During the Iranian Revolution 1978-1979 he became, like many youngsters of his age, a supporter of the Fedayan-e Khalq-e Iran.

After the revolution, however, there came a split in this party.

Many followers become adherents of either the majority branch of this party or supporters of the Tudeh Party of Iran.

Ellian became both a member of the Tudeh Party of Iran and active with the Youth Organization of Tudeh Party of Iran.

It is worth noting that the Islamic regime prohibited and suppressed all political parties and activities which were not aligned with it after the Revolution.

This meant that also Ellian was in danger of being arrested which, hence, led him to go underground and finally to escape the country.

He decided to escape to Pakistan.

However, there he still faced extradition back to Iran thus shortly afterwards he fled to Afghanistan where already a community of intellectuals and activists from Iran had gathered.

There he met Siavash Kasraie who was also a member of the Tudeh Party of Iran and from whom he learned poetry.

Besides he studied medicine for few years in the capital, Kabul.

Slowly on an ideological struggle occurred between him and the leaders of the Tudeh Party in Kabul who were, in Ellian's point of view, Stalinist figures which was reason enough for him and few of his friends to break up with the Tudeh Party of Iran.

In the fall of 1987, he decided to seek asylum with the Permanent Representative of the United Nations in Kabul whereupon, in 1989, he was invited to come to the Netherlands and was flown out of the country by the United Nations together with other dissidents who were also in danger.

Ian Buruma, among others, accuses Ellian of misrepresentation.

On the other hand, Ibn Warraq asserts “Buruma gets these basic facts upside down.

Ellian never misrepresented his identity or his past, nor did he arrive in the Netherlands under false pretenses”.

Spuriousness of such allegations is, for instance, also asserted by others like J. Hoeksma who, as part of the legal staff of the Dutch representation of the UNHCR at the time, also confirms the opposite of the aforementioned allegations.

The same grievances have been brought to the fore by, among others, Ellian himself and Frits Bolkestein due to which Buruma was, together with his publisher “Publishing House Penguin”, forced to make many changes and removals in later editions of his book.

Other prominent persons defending the truthfulness of Ellian's case include the Nobel Prize winner of Literature Mario Vargas Llosa.

In the Netherlands Ellian started his studies of law at the Catholic University of Brabant (now the University of Tilburg).

In 1989, Ellian came to the Netherlands as a political refugee.

Having experienced first-hand the Islamic theocratic government of Iran, he writes often about how such issues are affecting the world in general and the Netherlands in particular.

Due to threats on his life tied to such criticism, he is currently heavily guarded.

Ellian grew up in Iran.

As a youngster, he learned the profession of journalism with one of the most prominent journalists of Iran.

He was a freelance journalist for Iranian political magazines aimed at youth.

In 1996, he graduated with a degree in international public law, criminal law, and philosophy.

He remained in Brabant as a researcher until he found a position with the Amsterdam Center for International Law, of the University of Amsterdam.

He obtained a PhD from the University of Tilburg in 2003, The title of his doctoral dissertation is: "A Investigation into the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa".

In this research he focused on the political transition sparked by the South-African Truth and Reconciliation Commission; questions pertaining to both international criminal law and legal philosophy.

Central in his research stood the question: “why did the South Africans opt for a tribunal and the possibility of amnesty instead of a criminal tribunal that could try and punish the crimes of the past?”.

It is worth to bring to attention for those who are interested in this topic that a further reading on this can be found in a later academic book wherein he has contributed by means of his article titled “Political Transition to a Democratic Regime: The South African Echoes of Forgiveness, Truth Commission and Negotiating Justice”.

In his aforementioned research, he concluded that the commission was an acceptable tribunal worthy of international respect.

In 2003 he became an associated professor of jurisprudence, and since 2005 he is a full professor at the law faculty of the University of Leiden.

Following the 2009 Iranian presidential election, Ellian wrote an open letter to Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran.

The letter was published by German magazine Der Spiegel, Le Monde, The Wall Street Journal, and Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad.

Since 2012 he is the academic director of the Institute for the Interdisciplinary Study of the Law at the law faculty of Leiden.

Ellian was a regular columnist for NRC Handelsblad, and makes appearances on political discussion programs on Dutch television.

Ellian writes articles for the magazine Elsevier but also for international magazines and newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal, Le Monde, and Le Figaro.