Syed Essa Hashemi’s family believed her husband had been “kidnapped” when he disappeared from their home in Los Angeles County on Thursday, so much so that they called the police — before ICE agents returned to arrest them.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio withdrew the green cards of “Maryam’s blatant” son, Masoumeh Ebtekar, as well as his wife, Maryam Tahmasbi, and their young son, just one week after the daughter and granddaughter of the late Iranian terrorist mastermind, General Qasem Soleimani, were arrested.
The family was arrested just days after The Post determined they were living in a luxury Agoura Hills apartment, “The Avalon,” on Monday.
Hashemi, an adjunct assistant professor who teaches at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, had refused to denounce his notorious mother when he approached her after a workout.
He graduated from the University of Tehran in 2006 before moving to the United States in 2010 to finish his doctorate in organizational leadership from the Chicago School.
Neighbors said on Saturday that they had no idea about the family’s relationship with the Iranian regime, and did not even know which country they belonged to.
“They were terrified because they thought he had been kidnapped,” his neighbor Natalie told the newspaper about the aftermath of his arrest on Thursday.
Neighbors said Al-Hashemi left his keys but still had his phone with him, allowing his family to track him down.
“They said our father had disappeared and that someone had come and taken him and held him.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement later arrested Al-Hashimi’s wife and son, although details are unclear.
Al-Hashemi’s mother, Ebtekar, “drafted propaganda falsely portraying the humane treatment of hostages, and arranged staged interviews in which American hostages were pressured to describe their treatment in positive terms — even while they were held in solitary confinement, blindfolded and starving, and subjected to physical and psychological terror, including beatings and mock executions,” according to the State Department.
The State Department said the family’s right to live in the country was revoked in an effort “to not allow America to become a home for foreign nationals associated with anti-American terrorist regimes.”
The decision to cancel the visa comes after a long campaign by anti-Iran activists.
In January, protesters gathered at the $20,000-a-year Chicago School in Claremont, and other educational institutions in the area with ties to Al-Hashemi, to participate in rallies demanding his deportation.
The organizers of the Change.org petition want Al-Hashemi expelled from the country.
One wrote: “Although the mother does not regret the occupation of the US embassy in Tehran, many Iranians were affected by this action while her son took advantage of living in the United States.
“We want to expel Issa Hashemi and his wife, Maryam Tahmasbi, from the United States as soon as possible.”
“Mr Al Hashemi has never publicly distanced himself from his mother’s actions or legacy,” one poster on Instagram said.
“I believe that Essa Hashemi’s affiliations could undermine the safety, trust, integrity, values, or commitment to human rights at an American college, warranting further examination.”
Hamida Soleimani Afshar, 47, Soleimani’s niece, is being held in an ICE detention center in Texas after being arrested at her home in Tujunga on April 3.
Soleimani’s granddaughter, Sarinsadat Hosseini, 25, flaunted her luxurious Los Angeles lifestyle and attractive outfits on her social media accounts.
The US government also terminated the legal status of Fatemeh Ardeshir Larijani, the daughter of senior Iranian security official Ali Larijani, who was killed in a US-Israeli attack last month.
She worked as an assistant professor at the prestigious Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University in Atlanta.
Representative Buddy Carter, who in an official letter called for her dismissal, said that American institutions should not serve as a “safe haven” for individuals associated with hostile regimes.
The ministry said that Fatima and her husband, Sayed Kalantar Motamedi, “are no longer in the United States and are prohibited from entering in the future.”