Parviz Tanavoli, who is a Canadian citizen now after years of battling with local government officials in Tehran, was detained trying to leave Iran for Great Britain over the weekend.

The Globe and Mail reports that Canadian officials are aware that one of their citizens has had his passport confiscated:

[Tanavoli]  said he was about to board a flight to London from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport on Saturday when he had his passport confiscated and was told he could not leave.

“I went to the passport office and spent the whole day there and asked everyone for help, but it was of no use,” he wrote in a statement posted to his Facebook page by his daughter.

“However, my daughter’s calls to some of the art and culture authorities at the Ministry and at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art brought them into the scene. I am deeply grateful to them. Although I still don’t know why I am here and when I will be able to leave.”

Iranian-Canadian sculptor says he’s been barred from leaving Iran – (The Globe and Mail)