Iranian-American academic being held in notorious Iran prison

CAIRO, Egypt — An Iranian-American academic who works at a Washington-based institute is being held in a notorious prison after being prohibited from leaving Iran for more than four months, the institute and her husband said Wednesday.

Haleh Esfandiari, the director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, was sent Tuesday to Evin prison after she arrived at Iran's Intelligence Ministry for questioning, the center said.

Iran has not confirmed that it is detaining Esfandiari, and officials in Tehran could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

"This is extremely disturbing news," said Esfandiari's husband, Shaul Bakhash, in a telephone interview from their home in Potomac, Md. "I never expected they would jail a 67-year-old woman."

Her arrest comes as Washington and Tehran are locked in a bitter standoff over Iran's disputed nuclear program and involvement in Iraq. Although the two countries broke off diplomatic relations following the 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, tensions between them have escalated sharply in the past year.

Other Iranian-Americans have also been prohibited from leaving Iran in recent months including journalist Parnaz Azima, who works for the U.S.-funded Radio Farda. Another American, former FBI agent Robert Levinson, disappeared in March after going to Iran's resort island of Kish, and his whereabouts are unknown. Tehran says it's continuing to investigate.

Speaking about the two Iranian-American women, the State Department said it was working "closely" with their families to try to secure their release.

"If the regime is willing to harass these innocent people, it's just an insight into the kind of government we're dealing with," said department spokesman Sean McCormack. He refused to discuss specifics of their cases.

The Wilson Center said three masked men holding knives threatened to kill Esfandiari, who was in Tehran visiting her 93-year-old mother, on Dec. 30 as she was on her way to the airport. They took her baggage, including her U.S. and Iranian passports, 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.

"Although Dr. Esfandiari went home every evening, the some 50 hours of questioning were unpleasant — to put it mildly — and not free from intimidation and threat," the center said.

Former Rep. Lee Hamilton, director of the Wilson Center, wrote to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Feb. 20 to ask that Esfandiari be allowed to go back to the U.S. But Hamilton — who was co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group that recommend the Bush administration talk to Iran — did not receive a response, the center said.

Karim Sadjadpour, an expert on Iran at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, said the Tehran government is imprisoning, intimidating, and alienating those who seek to understand their viewpoint, and then complaining that Iran is misunderstood and media coverage is biased against it.

"Haleh was really providing a service at the Wilson Center by bringing in scholars and analysts from Tehran, many of whom were sympathetic to the Iranian government, and letting their voices be heard in Washington," he said. "By detaining her, the Iranian government only eliminates an advocate for diplomacy and strengthens the voices of those in Washington who say the regime is too cruel to be engaged."

Sadjadpour said Esfandiari was one of the few Iran scholars who traveled to the country frequently and interacted with people from across the political spectrum.

"The notion that Haleh is a threat to Iranian national security is beyond preposterous. ... Despite all their talk about being compassionate, Ahmadinejad's government is going back to the cruelty of the revolution's early days," Sadjadpour said.

"The regime feels it's sending a message to the U.S. government that there are repercussions for its democracy promotion efforts in Iran. But in the process they've increased the ranks of those in Washington who argue that the Iranian government is made up of radicals and engaging them would be a mistake. "

Esfandiari, who has been living in the U.S. since 1980, was allowed a telephone call to her mother after she arrived in at the prison Tuesday, the center said.

Bakhash, who is a professor of Middle East history at George Mason University in Virginia, said he believes there has been a "huge misunderstanding."

"She's not involved in politics and has done nothing to justify her incarceration in prison," he said.

The Wilson Center is a nonpartisan institution established by Congress in 1968 and funded through private and public funds, according to its Web site. Its Middle East program focuses on several areas, including "analysis of internal domestic and social developments in Iran; the aspiration of the younger generation for reform and expansion of individual liberties," according to the site.