The Momeni family went back to live in Iran after the 1979 Islamic revolution, but, as an adult, Esha returned to the United States to study.
As a graduate student of the School of Communications, Media and Arts at California State University, Northridge campus, Momeni traveled to Iran in August 2008 to work on a master's degree.
This involved making a documentary film about the women's rights movement in Iran, and she conducted interviews (in accordance with Iranian laws) with members of the One Million Signatures Campaign in Tehran as part of her California-based studies.
However, many members of the One Million Signatures Campaign have been arrested for “propaganda against the state.” US-Iranians Kian Tajbakhsh, Haleh Esfandiari, and Ali Shakeri were imprisoned on these grounds.
"[11] An official Iranian spokesperson, Alireza Jamshidi, said that Esha was charged with “acting against national security.”[9] On 1 May 2009 Momeni was honored in her absence with the Kappa Tau Alpha Outstanding Service Award at CSU Northridge.