February 11, 2009 4:21 PM
- Text
Iran Releases Detained U.S. Academic
(AP)
After months spent in a notorious prison with no access to lawyers, Haleh Esfandiari was released on bail on Tuesday. It remained unclear if the 67-year-old Iranian-American academic, charged with endangering Iranian national security, would be allowed to leave the country.
Esfandiari, director of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, had been jailed in Tehran's Evin prison since early May after enduring months of intense interrogations.
"I'm very happy. It was unexpected. I thank all those who made efforts to make it possible for me to go home," Esfandiari told Iranian television, speaking in Farsi, outside the Evin prison. State-run television showed her walking out of the prison grounds before meeting family who were waiting in a car on a nearby street.
Earlier Tuesday, Mohammad Shadabi, an official at the Tehran prosecutor's office, told The Associated Press that Esfandiari was released after she paid a bail of 3 billion rials (about US$333,000). Family members said her elderly mother used the deed to her Tehran home to post the bail.
Former U.S. Representative Lee Hamilton, head of the Wilson Center, said he was unsure what had prompted the bail release but said he had recently received a written response from Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after sending him a letter appealing for Esfandiari's release.
"I cannot speak to that (why she was released) with certainty, because I do not know what goes on inside the Iranian government. I think an important factor was my letter to the supreme leader a few weeks ago," Hamilton told reporters by phone. Hamilton also had met with Iran's U.N. representative, who told him Esfandiari's release was imminent.
Hamilton, who has not been in direct contact with Esfandiari, said as far as he knew, the charges against her had not been dismissed. He also said he didn't have information about three other Iranian-Americans facing security-related charges in Iran.
Esfandiari's husband said his wife's 93-year-old mother received a call from an Iranian judiciary official Tuesday morning informing her of the decision to release Esfandiari on bail. Fanny Esfandiari used the deed to her Tehran apartment to post bail, Shaul Bakhash said.
"I feel extremely good. It has been a very anxious several months. Now we hope she will not only be released from prison but allowed to come back home," Bakhash said from his home in Potomac, Maryland.
Esfandiari's troubles in Iran began when three masked men holding knives threatened to kill her on Dec. 30 as she was her way to the Tehran airport after visiting her mother, the Wilson Center has said. They took her baggage, including her U.S. and Iranian passports, making her unable to leave the country, the center said.
For several weeks, she was interrogated by authorities for up to eight hours a day, according to the center. Most of the questioning focused on the activities of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center.
Iran confirmed in mid-May that it was detaining Esfandiari and charged her later that month. The only contact her family has had with her since then have been short phone calls to her mother from prison. In the calls, Esfandiari indicated she was under immense stress and was having trouble receiving medications for health conditions, Hamilton said.
Esfandiari, director of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, had been jailed in Tehran's Evin prison since early May after enduring months of intense interrogations.
"I'm very happy. It was unexpected. I thank all those who made efforts to make it possible for me to go home," Esfandiari told Iranian television, speaking in Farsi, outside the Evin prison. State-run television showed her walking out of the prison grounds before meeting family who were waiting in a car on a nearby street.
Earlier Tuesday, Mohammad Shadabi, an official at the Tehran prosecutor's office, told The Associated Press that Esfandiari was released after she paid a bail of 3 billion rials (about US$333,000). Family members said her elderly mother used the deed to her Tehran home to post the bail.
Former U.S. Representative Lee Hamilton, head of the Wilson Center, said he was unsure what had prompted the bail release but said he had recently received a written response from Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after sending him a letter appealing for Esfandiari's release.
"I cannot speak to that (why she was released) with certainty, because I do not know what goes on inside the Iranian government. I think an important factor was my letter to the supreme leader a few weeks ago," Hamilton told reporters by phone. Hamilton also had met with Iran's U.N. representative, who told him Esfandiari's release was imminent.
Hamilton, who has not been in direct contact with Esfandiari, said as far as he knew, the charges against her had not been dismissed. He also said he didn't have information about three other Iranian-Americans facing security-related charges in Iran.
Esfandiari's husband said his wife's 93-year-old mother received a call from an Iranian judiciary official Tuesday morning informing her of the decision to release Esfandiari on bail. Fanny Esfandiari used the deed to her Tehran apartment to post bail, Shaul Bakhash said.
"I feel extremely good. It has been a very anxious several months. Now we hope she will not only be released from prison but allowed to come back home," Bakhash said from his home in Potomac, Maryland.
Esfandiari's troubles in Iran began when three masked men holding knives threatened to kill her on Dec. 30 as she was her way to the Tehran airport after visiting her mother, the Wilson Center has said. They took her baggage, including her U.S. and Iranian passports, making her unable to leave the country, the center said.
For several weeks, she was interrogated by authorities for up to eight hours a day, according to the center. Most of the questioning focused on the activities of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center.
Iran confirmed in mid-May that it was detaining Esfandiari and charged her later that month. The only contact her family has had with her since then have been short phone calls to her mother from prison. In the calls, Esfandiari indicated she was under immense stress and was having trouble receiving medications for health conditions, Hamilton said.
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