Washington scholar Haleh Esfandiari was released yesterday after more than 100 days in Iran's notorious Evin Prison, but Tehran did not indicate whether the 67-year-old grandmother still faces a trial on charges of "crimes against national security" or will be allowed to leave the country.
In a statement relayed through her family, Esfandiari said she was "delighted" to be out of prison, "but I live in the United States and I'm eager to be able to travel and rejoin my family." She was released on bail in exchange for the deed to her 93-year-old mother's home, where she is staying now, family members said .
Esfandiari, director of Middle East programs at the Smithsonian's Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, was one of at least four Americans detained in Iran. A fifth, former FBI agent Robert Levinson, has been missing since a trip there in March.
The turning point in Esfandiari's eight-month ordeal appears to have been a letter from Lee H. Hamilton, Wilson Center president and former congressman, to Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. An answer Hamilton received on Aug. 7 presaged Esfandiari's release.
"I appealed to him on the basis of his religious views. It was a carefully drafted letter," Hamilton told reporters yesterday. "I assured him that we had seen Haleh devote tireless efforts to understanding the culture and traditions of Iran, and I asked on humanitarian grounds for his help in obtaining the release of Haleh." Hamilton also pledged to devote "considerable time to trying to further respect and understanding between the two cultures."
Hamilton co-wrote the Iraq Study Group report, which recommended diplomatic outreach by the Bush administration to Iran to get its help in stabilizing Iraq. His quiet outreach to the influential Khamenei on June 29 was channeled through Iran's U.N. mission.
Hamilton's letter was one of hundreds of behind-the-scenes efforts made on Esfandiari's behalf by her employer, friends and family since she was put under virtual house arrest in December while visiting her ailing mother. After weeks of interrogation, she was detained in Evin Prison on May 8.
The letter was a long shot. In February, Hamilton said, he wrote Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to request that Esfandiari to be allowed to leave the country. Ahmadinejad did not reply.
In May, Hamilton wrote parliamentary speaker Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel, appealing for Esfandiari's freedom. He did not answer.
Hamilton then wrote former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani to ask for his intervention. Once again, nothing.
Hamilton; Esfandiari's husband, Shaul Bakhash; and a team of friends also made overtures to others including former U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana. Solana twice brought up Esfandiari's case with Iranian national security adviser Ali Larijani when they met to discuss Iran's controversial nuclear program.
Diplomats from more than 20 governments in Europe, Asia and the Middle East delivered strong messages to Iran's foreign ministry. More than 100 former officials from several countries used personal connections to Iranian officials, Hamilton said.
"We had an extraordinary outpouring of help. I don't think I made any contact that refused me. Every day I got some offer of help, and sometimes several, from people I do not know," he said. "Everyone wanted to help. We just didn't always know what to do."
The United States was not part of the effort, however. "I throughout all of this have tried not to involve Haleh's case in the difficult problems between the United States and Iran," Hamilton said. "At all times, the administration was supportive and helpful. But they played no direct role as far as I know in contacting Iranian officials about Haleh."
Khamenei, who has veto power over all branches of government, was the last resort. Two weeks ago, Hamilton went to Iran's U.N. mission in New York to receive Khamenei's two-paragraph note, which was unsigned.
Iran's supreme leader said he was "pleased" with Hamilton's communication and his "commitment to peace and justice." He indicated that he had given instructions to resolve Esfandiari's detention, Hamilton said. The response, however, did not mention Esfandiari's name.
"My own speculation is that the importance of the supreme leader's letter was that he was able to cut through Iranian bureaucracy and maybe the ideological differences within the government, and I don't know that anyone else could do that," Hamilton said.
Esfandiari had no inkling of her release, her husband said. At 5 p.m. yesterday, she was called out of her cell and asked how she was, he said. "Look at my hands. They're all swollen," she replied, according to Bakhash. Esfandiari has suffered several serious health problems during her incarceration, her family said.
She was then told that she was free to leave the prison -- and that her mother was on her way to pick her up, Esfandiari told her husband.
"They accepted her mother's apartment for bail, which means there are charges against her," Bakhash said. "But I'm hoping that they will give her passport back and let her come home as soon as possible. She's now far from her family and grandchildren for nearly eight months, and it is time that they allowed her to come home."
Iran still holds Kian Tajbakhsh, a New York-based social scientist and a consultant to George Soros's Open Society Institute; California businessman Ali Shakeri; and Parnaz Azima, a correspondent for the U.S.-funded Radio Farda.