TEHRAN, Iran — An Iranian fertility expert accused of working with foreign “espionage networks” to downplay the country’s population crisis has been arrested, state news agency IRNA confirms on Sunday.
It does not give details of the charges, but quotes a lawyer who names the expert as Meimanat Hosseini Chavoshi.
She is listed by the University of Melbourne as working at its School of Population and Global Health, published widely on Iran’s once-lauded fertility and family-planning policies.
On Saturday, hardline newspaper Kayhan reported the arrest of several population “activists… who, under the cover of scientific activities, had infiltrated state bodies.”
It said they manipulated statistics and handed sensitive information to Iran’s enemies as part of efforts at “cultural and social invasion.”
Iran was once considered an international success story in population control, bringing birth rates down from seven per woman in the 1980s to 1.66 in 2016, according to World Bank figures.
But lately there has been concern that Iran overshot its target, with the number of births falling well below the level needed to keep the population growing.
— AFP
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