Iran Frees US Scholar But Won't Let Her Go
Iran finally released an Iranian-American academic scholar from prison, but they won't let her come home. Haleh Esfandiari, 67, who has dual US-Iran citizenship, had been imprisoned in Tehran's notorious Evin prison since May. Read the full story here.
Head of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC, Esfandiari was in Tehran to visit family when she was accosted by armed masked men, stripped of her passports and thrown in jail. She was accused of revolutionary activity by the Iranian Intelligence Ministry, a charge the scholar, her family, her employer and the US State Department have vehemently denied.
Esfandiari may be out of jail, but her passports remain confiscated. She will not be allowed to leave Iran until she faces charges of endangering national security. Her 93-year-0ld mother used the deed to her Tehran apartment to post the $330,000 bail necessary to gain Esfandiari's release.
Esfandiari is one of four Iranian-Americans jailed last spring on national security charges. The other three remain in jail and have been allowed no contact with their families.
Head of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC, Esfandiari was in Tehran to visit family when she was accosted by armed masked men, stripped of her passports and thrown in jail. She was accused of revolutionary activity by the Iranian Intelligence Ministry, a charge the scholar, her family, her employer and the US State Department have vehemently denied.
Esfandiari may be out of jail, but her passports remain confiscated. She will not be allowed to leave Iran until she faces charges of endangering national security. Her 93-year-0ld mother used the deed to her Tehran apartment to post the $330,000 bail necessary to gain Esfandiari's release.
Esfandiari is one of four Iranian-Americans jailed last spring on national security charges. The other three remain in jail and have been allowed no contact with their families.
Labels: arrests, Haleh Esfandiari, Iran, US-Iran citizens
