The arrest of Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, Middle East programme director at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Centre, by Iranian security forces in Tehran on May 8 has sparked grave concerns among Iranian-Americans with dual citizenship who travel to Iran.
In the last two years, there has been a wave of arrests and accusations of espionage against Iranian scholars, academics and activists who reside outside of Iran and attempt to create dialogue with colleagues inside the country.
On Monday, a spokesperson for Iran's judiciary confirmed that Dr. Esfandiari was detained on charges of violating national security and is being held by the Intelligence Ministry.
"The investigation is totally unfounded," Michael Van Dusen, deputy director of the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars, a nonpartisan research institute, told IPS. "We've given Iran all the information on what the Middle East Programme did and where it got its money. We have been very open. We have nothing to hide."
Considering the voluminous allegations of espionage against Esfandiari by the radical conservative newspaper Kayhan, and the paper's closeness to Iran's intelligence services, some fear that the 67-year-old researcher is under immense pressure to make a false "confession".
Dr.Hadi Ghaemi, a Middle East and North Africa Division researcher at Human Rights Watch, told IPS that "based on our experience, whenever the judiciary and intelligence agents lack a proper case against a detainee, the authorities bring charges of 'acting against national security' against them."
"It is absurd to charge Dr. Esfandiari with endangering Iran's national security," he added. "Her activities are transparent and she is an internationally renowned scholar. To imprison a 73-year-old woman on these charges is a huge setback for Iran's international image. She should be released immediately and unconditionally."
Dr. Esfandiari has traveled to Iran numerous times over the past decade to visit her 93-year-old ailing mother. She is one of several individuals who have tried to provide a more accurate view of current social and political changes in Iran, by inviting Iranian researchers to the U.S.
During her last visit, her passports were "stolen", and the incident was followed by five months of house arrest, travel restrictions and lengthy interrogations. She was finally arrested last Tuesday.
"The claim that Haleh was in any way acting against Iran's national security is totally baseless," Haleh's husband, Dr. Shaul Bakhash, told IPS in an email message. "The idea that Haleh Esfandiari, 67 years old, a grandmother, who has never been involved in politics, is now involved in actions threatening to Iran's national security is truly absurd."
"I feel confident that the Iranian authorities will realise that, whatever their pre-suppositions, in her case, they have made a colossal mistake. It is time they allowed Haleh Esfandiari to return to her home and her family," he said.
Several sources told IPS that she has been urged to "confess", similar to other activists who have been detained and interrogated on a daily basis. One such example is Ali Farahbakhsh, an Iranian journalist who has been in jail for five months despite a lack of evidence against him.
Iranian intelligence has a long history of pressuring political prisoners. Typically, interrogators will promise the prisoner freedom in return for a written and often false confession; of course, they are still forced to pay a substantial bail regardless. If the prisoner refuses to comply, they face a long prison sentence and are denied travel rights.
Esfandiari's arrest was preceded by a front-page report in Kayhan on May 11 that accused her of being "an agent of the Israeli intelligence service" who converted to Judaism, escaped Iran to live in Israel, and is "responsible for creation of a virtual secret network" for journalists.
Esfandiari is Muslim, and her husband is Jewish.
The paper attacked her closeness to Iranian journalists employed by Radio Farda, the Iranian website Rooz Online, and her direct involvement in selecting reformist newspaper reporters for work in Prague, the United States and France. She was also labeled as a member of the "Israel Lobby" who helped organise conferences attended by U.S. President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Iranians are not permitted to travel to Israel, or to have any contact with Israeli citizens.
The article also accuses Esfandiari's husband, Shaul Bakhash, a history professor at Virginia's George Mason University, of cooperating with the Central Intelligence Agency: "Since October 1964, Shaul Bakhash has been sent to a series of covert missions and trainings in the U.S. According to existing documents in Kayhan Institute's personnel files, Shaul Bakhash was in the U.S. until 1973."
All of these charges have been refuted by Bakhash, but Kayhan refuses to print his rebuttal.
However, in a letter circulated among Iranian websites, Professor Bakhash described the accusations as "full of errors, lies, and deliberate distortions."
"It is regretful that Kayhan, one of Iran's oldest newspapers which is still in publication and boasts a distinguished history, should allow so much untruth to appear on its pages," he wrote.
Sections of Kayhan's report appeared in Raja News, a website dedicated to hardliners and the radical faction close to the regime, prior to going to print.
Over the past several months, Esfandiari has been repeatedly called to appear at the Ministry of Information to answer questions regarding her professional activities and her relations with other individuals.
Parnaz Azima, an Iranian-American reporter for Radio Farda, has faced similar problems in the last few months, and has been unable to reclaim her passport or travel outside of Iran
What is particularly ironic about this arrest is that Esfandiari's efforts have focused on creating solidarity between the people of the United States and Iran to avoid misunderstandings that may lead to war. Her employer, former U.S. congressman Lee Hamilton and current director of the Woodrow Wilson Centre, was the co-chair of the Iraq Study Group that recommended negotiation with Tehran instead of military force.
It appears that the Iranian government not only fears its citizens who reside abroad, but is also greatly concerned about Iranians who travel to other countries for events, conferences, or educational workshops.
In recent years, academics and authors who travel to U.S.- or European-funded events have been targets of suspicion by authorities in Iran. Some of these activists or academics have been summoned for interrogation after their trips, and some have been arrested.
These encounters appear to be related to Washington's announcement that it will allocate 75 million dollars in an effort to "reach out to the Iranian people." The Iranian government subsequently announced that it too has allocated an undisclosed amount of money to "neutralise" U.S. efforts.
Omid Memarian is an Iranian journalist and civil society activist. He has won several awards, including Human Rights Watch's highest honour in 2005, the Human Rights Defender Award. (END/2007)