Academic from U.S. center arrested in Iran

[IronScorpio5]

Source: ABC NEWS

A Washington-based academic with dual Iranian and U.S. citizenship has been arrested in Tehran after meeting with officials at the Ministry of Intelligence, her U.S. institution said on Wednesday.

Haleh Esfandiari, the director of the U.S. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars' Middle East program, was arrested on Tuesday and taken to Tehran's Evin prison, according to a statement issued by the center and her family.

The statement also said she needed medical attention but did not say why. She was allowed one phone call from the prison, it said. Iranian officials were not immediately available for comment.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack condemned the arrest and said Esfandiari was among a number of U.S.-Iranians being detained by Tehran.

Iran has also confiscated the passport of Parnaz Azima, a reporter based in Prague for U.S.-funded Radio Farda, which broadcasts programs about Iran. Azima went to visit her ailing mother in Iran in January and has been prevented from leaving.



Read more: http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=3157462

[IronScorpio5]

1. Yeah...can't have those academics talking freely or anything...

what charges ???....oh, they dont need charges.


freightening.

[stillcool]

2. wow...sounds down-right spooky... n/t

[ohio2007]

3. just another spy exposed by the regime.

/sarc

[lonestarnot]

4. And no habeas corpus ... tisk tisk

[Eugene]

5. Iran confirms U.S.-based scholar arrest

Source: Associated Press

Last updated May 13, 2007 11:29 a.m. PT

Iran confirms U.S.-based scholar arrest

By KATARINA KRATOVAC
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

CAIRO, Egypt -- Iran confirmed Sunday that it has detained a
prominent Iranian-American academic, and a hardline newspaper
accused her of spying for the United States and Israel and
trying to start a revolution inside Iran.

Haleh Esfandiari's arrest, part of a spate of recent crackdowns
against Iranian activists, appears to reflect President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad government's growing fear that the United States
is using pro-democracy advocates to promote regime change,
analysts say.

Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow
Wilson Center for Scholars in Washington, went to Iran on a
personal visit to see her ailing mother last year. She had been
prohibited from leaving for four months, then was sent Tuesday
to Iran's notorious Evin prison after arriving at the Intelligence
Ministry for questioning, the institute said.

Iran's Foreign Ministry confirmed her arrest for the first time
Sunday, saying it was "based on law" and that the 67-year-old
Esfandiari would be treated like other Iranian nationals. It gave
no reason for the arrest.

-snip-

Read more: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iran_American_Detained.html