Iran TV Shows 2 Detained Iranian-Americans
Iran's state television broadcast video featuring two detained Iranian-Americans on its nationwide channel late Wednesday.
The TV images followed Iran's announcement this month that fresh evidence had pushed its judiciary to launch more investigations into the cases of Haleh Esfandiari and Kian Tajbakhsh, accused of endangering national security.
Esfandiari first appeared in the documentary, describing what appeared to be her activities as director of the Middle East program at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
"The aim of the Iran program was to plan sessions of lectures," she said in the prime-time documentary, entitled "Under the Name of Democracy."
"When people came to the U.S. for lectures, policy makers listened to their lectures... and a network was formed," she said.
"I twice attended an annual UCLA conference on the Mideast ... in which people from the U.S. and Israel were present," she said. "Some of them were former intelligent officers."
"For many people, the Wilson center was a highway to come to the U.S.," the detained scholar also said.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack lashed out at Tehran over the plans to broadcast the alleged confessions, which have been announced on state TV since Monday.
The documentary featured video of what was described as pictures of the so-called orange and velvet revolutions that toppled autocratic regimes in Ukraine and Georgia.
In a separate section, Tajbakhsh also explained his biography and his purpose for visiting Iran.
Esfandiari and Tajbakhsh appeared separately in the video clips, but they both spoke in Farsi and appeared to be in residential homes or offices.
Esfandiari and Tajbakhsh, who is an urban planning consultant with the New York-based George Soros' Open Society Institute, have been held in Iran's notorious Evin prison since being arrested earlier this year on charges of endangering national security.
Two other Iranian-Americans face similar charges.