U.S. academic released Woman, 67, jailed since early May out on bail

TEHRAN (AP) — A detained Iranian-American academic was released from a notorious Tehran prison yesterday after spending months behind bars on charges of endangering Iranian national security — accusations her family vehemently denies.

Haleh Esfandiari, the 67-year-old director of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, had been held in Tehran’s Evin prison since early May after enduring months of intense interrogations. She was released after her 93-year-old mother used the deed to her Tehran apartment to post bail, relatives said.

“I’m very happy. It was unexpected. I thank all those who made efforts to make it possible for me to go home,” Mrs. Esfandiari told Iranian television. The footage showed her walking out of the prison and meeting family members in a car on a nearby street.

Mohammed Shadabi, an official at the Tehran prosecutor’s office, said Mrs. Esfandiari had been released on $333,000 bail, but he could not say whether she would be allowed to leave Iran.

Meanwhile, Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency announced yesterday an agreement on a timetable to respond to questions over Tehran’s nuclear activities. The U.S. criticized the pact and urged the U.N. to consider boosting sanctions on Iran.

Although Iranian and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) officials did not elaborate to the press, the agreement was expected to provide for easier inspection of Iran’s nuclear facilities by the IAEA as well as urge Tehran to provide detailed answers on remaining questions over its nuclear activities.

The agreement was announced at the end of two days of talks in Tehran between senior officials from the IAEA and Iranian nuclear negotiators.

“We have now in front of us an agreed working plan,” IAEA chief of delegation Olli Heinonen told reporters. “We have a timeline for the implementation.”

Mrs. Esfandiari was detained Dec. 30 after three masked men holding knives threatened to kill her on her way to Tehran’s airport to fly back to the United States, the Wilson Center has said. The men took her U.S. and Iranian passports, making her unable to leave the country, the center said.

For several weeks, she was interrogated by authorities for up to eight hours a day about the activities of the Middle East program at the Wilson Center, the foundation said.

Iran confirmed in mid-May that it was detaining Mrs. Esfandiari and charged her later that month.

Mrs. Esfandiari told Iranian state-run TV after her release that her jailers were polite and that she had recently been allowed to read newspapers and watch television.

Mrs. Esfandiari’s daughter, Haleh Bakhash, said she spoke with her mother after her release and that she was elated to be out of prison.

Miss Bakhash said she thought the terms of Mrs. Esfandiari’s release prevent her from leaving Iran but that she was not under house arrest or any other form of detention. “I am guardedly optimistic that within a couple of weeks, she will be able to join us,” said Miss Bakhash, who lives in Washington.

Former Rep. Lee H. Hamilton, head of the Wilson Center, said he was unsure what prompted Mrs. Esfandiari’s release but added he had recently received a written response from Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after sending him a letter appealing for her freedom.

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