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"He got an invitation from one of the organizations of the Ahmadinejad government to go back and work for them," says Alemi. "So in a sense, they kind of lured him back and then arrested him."

She says most of Derakhshan's friends and family tried to convince him not to return to Iran.

"They all tried to stop him from going. Most of them said they told him, ‘Don't believe them; they're going to arrest you.' But he wanted to go back," she says.

Now, she says, those friends are working to secure Derakhshan's release. A number of petitions have emerged online and the hope now is that the Canadian government will put further pressure on Iran – a tactic that Alemi believes is effective.