Haleh Esfandiari

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

Bush urges Iran to free Americans

US President George W Bush has condemned the detention of four American citizens in Iran and called for their immediate release.
He said they had gone to Iran "to visit their parents or to conduct humanitarian work" and posed no threat.

Academic Haleh Esfandiari, social scientist Kian Tajbakhsh and journalist Parnaz Azima are accused of spying.

A fourth Iranian-American, businessman Ali Shakeri, is believed to have been arrested but not officially charged.

"They should be freed immediately and unconditionally," President Bush said.

He also demanded to know the whereabouts of former FBI official Robert Levinson, who went missing in March while visiting Iran.

The president added: "The United States is committed to protecting its citizens at home and abroad."

The three who have been charged with espionage could face the death penalty if found guilty.

Tehran has accused Washington of using intellectuals and others to try to bring about what it calls a velvet revolution aimed at undermining the Islamic authorities.

The US denies the accusation.

[Rasputin]

Iran has detained an Iranian-American consultant working for George Soros' Open Society Institute, the latest U.S. citizen connected to a non-governmental organization to be seized in the country, the institute said Wednesday.

The detention of Kian Tajbakhsh comes amid a crackdown on NGOs at a time when Iranian authorities accuse the United States of using critics and dissidents to overthrow the country's hard-line government.

Tajbakhsh, an urban planning consultant who has also worked for the World Bank, was detained on or about May 11, the Open Society Institute — a private foundation that encourages democracy-building — said in a statement.

"We are concerned for his safety and call for his immediate release," the statement said. It said the 45-year-old Tajbakhsh was working as a consultant for the insitute since 2004 "with the knowledge of the Iranian government."

Iranian officials could not be reached to comment on the detention.

Earlier this month, Iranian authorities arrested Haleh Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars.

[Rasputin]

دانشجويان سابق هاله اسفندياري، در نامه*اى به آيت*الله خامنه*اي، خواستار آزادى وى شدند. 36 نفر از دانشجويان سابق هاله اسفندياري، در نامه*اى به رهبر ايران كه قرار بوده روز جمعه به سفير ايران در سازمان ملل تحويل داده شود، درخواست آزادى هاله اسفنديارى را از ايشان مطرح كردند.

به گزارش سرويس بين*الملل ,بازتاب,، اين دانشجويان پيش از اين، كلاس*هاى زبان و ادبيات فارسى را در دانشگاه ,پرينستون, با اسفنديارى گذرانده*اند.

در بخش*هايى از نامه آمده است:

,جناب آيت*الله سيدعلى خامنه*اى
با تقديم احترامات

ما امروز از شما مي*خواهيم انسانيت، عدالت و عشق به يادگيرى و ايران خود را بروز دهيد. ما همه دانشجويان هاله اسفنديارى هستيم.

او براى هر كدام از ما يك انگيزه است ... او به ما ياد داد براى مردمى كه از ما خيلى فاصله داشتند، ارزش قايل شويم. ما از طريق او به شاهنامه عشق پيدا كرديم و با دنياى زيباى حافظ، مولوى و سعدى آشنا شديم و همچنين نويسندگانى مانند جلال آل احمد ... . دوران كارى وى به عنوان يك استاد، تماما صرف ساخت پل*هايى براى درك بهتر بين آمريكايي*ها و ايراني*ها شده و اقدامات دولت ايران، اين درك متقابل را زير سؤال برده است.

ما به عنوان دانشجويان سابق، او اميدواريم شما حسن نيتى را كه او در مورد ايران ايجاد كرده است، مد نظر قرار دهيد. ما از شما خواستاريم براى آزادى وى از زندان اوين مداخله كرده، به او كمك كنيد كه به آغوش خانواده*اش و به جمع دانشجويانش در آمريكا بازگردد,.

رونوشت همراه با احترام به آقاى محمود احمدي*نژاد، رئيس*جمهور ايران

اسامى امضاكنندگان اين نامه عبارت است از:
اتا لبلانك كان، آنته داوسون، جاناتان كاتز، ارين لوگان، پريناز وهاب*زاده، شيلا پاتل، كركند كوزين، مصطفى سعيد، ميندى بريكمن پاترون، كيت لوينستين، كريستوفر تايلور، جيل كمپل پالمر، اورين پالمر، فردريك شولتز، سوميا پراساد، كامبيز شكدار، ويليام بلر، ميترا مارتين، اليزابت فريرسون، افسر فرمان*فرمايان، جاناتان بركي، سلمان احسن، محسن حميد، رابرت وينسكوفسكي، هيبت*الله باقي، جين هاتاوي، لسلى پيرس، شون مارمون، دينا گال، رضا اسماعيلي، دنيل ولف، ميشل گال، بيژن صالحي*زاده، مايكل بونر، مولى گرين و شادى بارچ.

[Rasputin]

ايرانی آمريکايی های بازداشت شده اعتراف کرده اند»

معاون دادستان تهران، روز چهارشنبه ۱۶ خرداد، از «پذیرش انجام اقداماتی» توسط ايرانی- آمريکايی های متهم به جاسوسی در ايران خبر داد و گفت اما اين افراد می گويند «قصدشان کمک بوده است».

حسن حداد معاون امنيت دادسرای عمومی و انقلاب تهران در گفت و گو با خبرگراری دانشجويان ايران ايسنا، گفت بازداشت هاله اسفندياری، بر اساس «دلايل محکم» ارايه شده از سوی وزارت اطلاعات صورت گرفته که به دنبال آن کيان تاجبخش نيز بازداشت شده است.

آقای حداد، اتهام هاله اسفندياری را «جاسوسی» خواند و گفت در اين زمينه به نتيجه «بسيار خوبی» رسيده ايم.

به گفته وی اسفندياری و تاجبخش «پذيرفته اند که اقداماتی انجام داده اند، اما بيان می کنند که قصدشان کمک بوده است.»

اتهام عظيما، «همکاری با راديو ضدانقلابی فردا»

درباره پرونده پرناز عظيما خبرنگار راديو فردا، آقای حداد گفت که اتهام خانم عظيما، «همکاری با راديو ضدانقلابی فردا و ساير راديوهای ضدانقلابی بوده است.»

بازپرس در قبال وثيقه سنگين نيم ميليارد تومانی، تصميم گرفت که من را بازداشت نکند. اين در حالی است که تحقيقاتی، که از سوی وزارت اطلاعات صورت می گيرد، ادامه دارد

نازی عظیما
به گفته وی، پرونده نازی عظيما آماده ارسال به دادگاه است.

حسن حداد گفت با آنکه تمام موارد جاسوسی و امنيتی از طريق وزارت اطلاعات اعلام می شود، «اگر دلايل وزارت اطلاعات برای دستگيری فرد کامل بود، با دستور قاضی فرد دستگير می شود، اما اگر تحقيقات انجام شده کامل نبود، درخواست تکميل تحقيقات مطرح می شود.»

عظيما: در حالت انتظار به سر می برم

نازی عظيما روز چهارشنبه، در پاسخ به پرسشی درباره روند پرونده خود به گلناز اسفندياری از راديو اروپای آزاد/راديو آزادی گفت: «بازپرس در قبال وثيقه سنگين نيم ميليارد تومانی، تصميم گرفت که من را بازداشت نکند. اين در حالی است که تحقيقاتی، که از سوی وزارت اطلاعات صورت می گيرد، ادامه دارد.»

به گفته نازی عظيما، وزارت اطلاعات سپس نتيجه تحقيقات را به بازپرس قوه قضاييه يعنی به بازپرس پرونده ارايه می دهد و در نهايت تصميم گرفته می شود که آيا دادگاه تشکيل شود يا نه.

وضعيت خانم عظيما، به گفته خودش، در انتظار جواب وزارت اطلاعات به بازپرسی پرونده است که پاسپورت را بازگردانند يا نه.

نازی عظيما خود را «فردی خوشبين توصيف» کرد و گفت: «احتمال دارد که تصميم بگيرند پاسپورت مرا برگردانند.»

با اين حال به گفته وی، «ممکن است برعکس اين اتفاق بيفتد. به هر حال من در حالت انتظار به سر می برم. الان در حدود ۵ ماه است که در اين انتظار هستم.»

وضعيت ايرانی-آمريکايی ديگر

معاون امنيت و دادسرای عمومی انقلاب تهران گفت دستگیری علی شاکری فعال ايرنی آمريکايی، از سوی حوزه معاون امنيت دادسرای نبوده است.

يک متهم به جاسوسی در ايران به ده سال زندان محکوم شد

از سوی ديگر به گزارش ايسنا، حکم ده سال زندان برای يکی از متهمان به جاسوسی در ايران در يکی از شعبه های ديوان عالی کشور ابرام شده است.

ايسنا به نقل از محمدرضا فقيهی وکيل مدافع اين متهم، از اعتراض به حکم ياد شده خبر داده است. خبرگزاری دانشجويان ايران از اين متهم به جاسوسی با بهره گيری از حروف اول نام و نشان او به عنوان «ع.ش» ياد کرده است.

همزمان، محمدرضا فقيهی می گويد: پرونده يی جديد با اتهام های جديد برای موکلش باز شده که قرار است روز بيست و نهم خرداد ماه جاری در شعبه ۱۵ دادگاه انقلاب به آن رسيدگی شود.

[Rasputin]

Two Iranian-Americans detained in the Islamic Republic on spying charges have "accepted that they carried out some activities," an Iranian judge was quoted as saying on Wednesday.



Judge Hossein Haddad said a third dual national, journalist Parnaz Azima, had been arrested for cooperating with "anti-revolutionary" media. Another Iranian official previously said she also faced spy charges but was not under arrest.

The Iranian judiciary last month said Azima, academic Haleh Esfandiari and social scientist Kian Tajbakhsh were accused of spying. The United States has strongly condemned Iran's detentions of American citizens and called for their release.

The detentions come at a time of increased tension between Tehran and Washington over Iran's disputed nuclear program, which Western powers suspect is a cover for building atom bombs. Iran says it only aims to generate electricity.

Iran accuses Washington of using intellectuals and others inside the country to undermine it through what it calls a "soft revolution." A charge of spying could carry the death sentence under Iranian law.

"There were a lot of investigations in this field and we've reached very good results," Haddad, security deputy of Tehran's Revolutionary Court, told the ISNA news agency about the cases of Esfandiari and Tajbakhsh.

"They have accepted that they have carried out some activities but they say their aim was to help," he said, suggesting the probe had also uncovered other suspects in the Iranian capital but without giving details.

Azima was accused of working with "anti-revolutionary" radio stations, including U.S.-funded Radio Farda, he said.

"She has been arrested and her case is ready to be sent to the court," Haddad said.

Esfandiari, the director of the U.S. Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars' Middle East program, was detained on May 8 while visiting Tehran. The New York-based Open Society Institute says Tajbakhsh was arrested around May 11.

Washington, which has not had diplomatic ties with Tehran since shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution, has said a fourth dual national has also been detained and has demanded they all be freed unconditionally.

Iran, which does not recognize dual nationalities, has told Washington to focus on its own cases of human rights abuses.

Some analysts link the arrests by Iran to the detention of five Iranians by U.S. forces in Iraq in January. Iran says the five are diplomats but U.S. officials say they were involved in supporting militants inside Iraq.

Iran has dismissed any linkage between the detentions in Iraq and any other issues.

[Rasputin]

چهارصد و یازده عضو مجلس نمایندگان آمریکا با صدور قطعنامه ای از دولت ایران خواسته اند هاله اسفندیاری را به سرعت آزاد کند، مدارک مسافرتش را به وی تحویل دهد، به آزار و اذیت او خاتمه دهد و از وی عذرخواهی کند.
این قطعنامه که توسط کریس ون هالِن و 15 نماینده دیگر کنگره تنظیم شد، به اتفاق آرا و بدون هیچ رای مخالفی به تصویب رسیده است.

پیش از این نیز سنای آمریکا با تنظیم قطعنامه مشابهی که از حمایت همه سناتورها برخوردار بود از ایران خواست هاله اسفندیاری را هر چه زودتر آزاد کند.

هاله اسفندیاری مدیر بخش خاورمیانه مرکز وودرو ویلسون در واشنگتن است که یک ماه پیش به خاطر آنچه مقام های جمهوری اسلامی "اتهام تلاش برای براندازی" اعلام کردند دستگیر شد.

تاکنون مقام های گوناگون آمریکایی از جمله جورج بوش رئیس جمهور این کشور خواستار آزادی خانم اسفندیاری و سایر افرادی که دارای تابعیت دوگانه ایرانی آمریکایی هستند و به اتهام جاسوسی در ایران در بازداشت هستند، شده اند.

هاله اسفندیاری که دارای تابعیت دوگانه ایرانی آمریکایی است در هشتم ماه مه گذشته دستگیر شد.

او سال گذشته برای دیدار با مادر 93 ساله اش به ایران رفت اما هنگامیکه قصد بازگشت به آمریکا را داشت گذرنامه اش توسط مردان مسلح ربوده شد و چند ماه بعد پس از بازجویی های مکرر توسط وزارت اطلاعات دستگیر و به زندان اوین منتقل شد.


آقای هملیتون که زمانی از روسای گروه مطالعه عراق بود، اکنون مدیر مرکز ویلسون است

پس از صدور قطعنامه مجلس نمایندگان آمریکا، لی همیلتون رئیس مرکز ویلسون گفت: "سر سوزنی حقیقت در اتهام های هاله اسفندیاری وجود ندارد. او محقق است نه جاسوس. خانم اسفندیاری متعهد به گفتگوست نه فعالیت برای تضعیف حکومت ایران."

لی همیلتون افزود: "از زمان دستگیری هاله اسفندیاری تاکنون مادر و بستگانش، سفارت سوئیس، صلیب سرخ بین المللی و وکلایش نتوانسته اند به او دسترسی داشته باشند."

خبرگزاری های ایران اخیرا به نقل از مقام های قضایی این کشور گزارش دادند که خانم اسفندیاری به اقداماتی در راستای اتهامات آنها اذعان کرده است.

اما لی همیلتون با تاکید بر بیگناهی خانم اسفندیاری افزود: "با توجه به سابقه بد زندان اوین و اینکه هیچ کس جز بازداشت کنندگانش تاکنون به او دسترسی نداشته، من به هر بیانیه ای که به هاله نسبت داده می شود مشکوک هستم."

[Rasputin]

American Detained in Iran Appeals for State Dept. Help

Parnaz Azima, one of several Americans detained in Iran, said yesterday that her lawyers and Iranian officials have warned that her case could take years to resolve and appealed to the State Department to keep pressure on Tehran over the fate of the imprisoned or detained Americans.

Azima, a correspondent for U.S.-funded Radio Farda, has been charged with endangering Iran's national security by promoting anti-revolutionary propaganda and receiving illicit funds from the U.S. government. She has been detained in Iran since her passport was confiscated in January. While three other dual U.S.-Iranian citizens are imprisoned, she is out on bail.

"The Iran government pretends that it doesn't care about Western government reaction, but in fact they consider it very much. It's very important that the State Department keeps talking about and putting pressure on the Iranian government," she said in a telephone interview from Tehran.

An Iranian judge said yesterday that two other Americans imprisoned for alleged espionage and acts endangering national security -- scholar Haleh Esfandiari of Potomac and social scientist Kian Tajbakhsh of New York -- have acknowledged conducting "some activities" and suggested that other suspects have been identified, Iran's ISNA news agency reported.

Rejecting claims of their innocence from senior U.S. officials, including President Bush, Judge Hossein Haddad of Tehran's revolutionary court said they had been arrested "on the basis of firm grounds" provided by Iran's ministry of intelligence. "There were a lot of investigations in this field, and we've reached very good results," Haddad, a deputy in Tehran's revolutionary court, told the agency. "They accepted that they took some activities but they say their aim was to help."

Both family members and employers rebutted the accusations. "Since my wife has been kept incommunicado and can't speak for herself, nothing that is alleged by judicial authorities in Tehran is plausible because it is not independently verifiable," said Esfandiari's husband, Shaul Bakhash. Esfandiari, who was detained May 8 after more than four months of house arrest, directs Middle East programs at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

In New York, the Open Society Institute dismissed any "admissions" by Tajbakhsh because he is in Evin Prison without access to lawyers. Tajbakhsh, who works for the institute on HIV/AIDS and drug-addiction programs, has been detained since May 11.

Haddad said Azima's case is ready to be sent to court, although Azima said in the interview that she had not been informed of what will happen next. "This is my fifth month living like this. It's just like living in prison, but a larger one," she said. She believes her home and activities are monitored and her telephone is tapped. During an earlier interrogation, she was shown photographs taken in front of her home and questioned about people who had visited her, she said.

Late yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution demanding that Iran immediately release the five Americans -- Esfandiari, Tajbakhsh, Azima, California businessman Ali Shakeri and a fifth unnamed person -- and allow them to leave Iran. The resolution, introduced by Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), says the Iranian government has not produced evidence of wrongdoing by the Americans.

[Rasputin]

The current arrest of five Iranian-Americans in Tehran on charges of promoting “velvet revolution” has once again raised the issues of Iranians in Diaspora to the forefront of headline news. What has been considered a lingering dilemma between the two governments for nearly thirty years has now spilled over to impact the ordinary citizens of both nations at a much-heightened level. In the meantime, the Iranian-Americans, who could otherwise serve as the bridge of mutual understanding between the West and the East, find themselves in a dichotomy of feeling between a rock and place in that they are subjected to xenophobic mistreatment from both sides.

Specifically, the arrest, detentions and interrogations of Americans of Iranian heritage while visiting their motherland Iran, are as deplorable as the ill treatment by some zealot inspection officers of returning travelers at the U.S. airports. One might accept the reality of the ill-treatments in Iran, due in part to the political predicaments there; nonetheless, lengthy, albeit temporary airport detention of Iranian-Americans anywhere runs counter to the fundamentals of human rights and hospitality of expatriates, for which the Community in Diaspora has held Iran in high esteem for. Such treatments, regardless of where they take place, are affront to the rule of law and common human decency. Due process and the internationally accepted Habeas Corpus for an objective, transparent and expeditious legal proceedings if warranted under the code of law, is the minimum required of a credible government.

The Iranian-Americans have made significant progress in all aspects of life, thereby contributing immensely toward the American ideals and quality of life for ALL during the past three decades. They have embraced the many positive and core values of the American life. They have truly embraced and assimilated in the American life and culture. And most importantly, they have taken oath of allegiance to the United States Constitution. The Iranian-Americans have been peace-loving and law-abiding model citizens in the United States. Their achievements have been garnered despite the fact that there has existed antagonism between the two countries, hovering above them for decades. By the same token, they have instilled in their children the many noble aspects of the historically rich culture of the motherland, Iran.

Upon a closer assessment of the Iranian-Americans, their multifaceted contributions in the advancement of science, medicine, technology, business, academe, art, etc. to the U.S. and to humanity as a whole is well established. Such paramount achievements have occurred as the community has endured challenges; notwithstanding, they have managed to overcome these barriers and live productive lives.

The Iranian-Americans, therefore, find it meritorious to support an independent forum for free, open and informed dialogue between the people in Iran and the U.S. It is envisaged that such dialogue will proactively promote harmony and tranquility against such tumultuous backdrop for our community of nearly a million in the U.S.




One cannot necessarily argue with the right of a sovereign government to bring specific charges, based on solid evidence, against an alleged individual if that evidence has been obtained without coercion, intimidation, political pressure, and physical and psychological torture. Neither can one argue with the in-depth questioning of Iranian-Americans leaving or arriving in the United States by the Immigration, Border and Customs agents.

Iran, in lieu of its long history several millennia in the making, has struggled for modernization in the last 200 years with limited success. The covert or at times overt hegemonic intervention of western foreign governments has been by and large responsible for such setbacks. The Iranian people, in quest for sovereignty, cultural reforms and individual rights, are being stymied by an ineffective internal administration on the one hand, and by torpedoing external meddling forces, on the other. This has in turn been detrimental to the aspiration of Iranian people to achieve homegrown democratic reforms anchored on justice, security, peace and equity. As the apprehension from foreigners grows stronger, the fear mongers in positions of power exploit it to their own ulterior motives from all sides. The political schizophrenia in Iran has now spilled over to tarnish Iranian-Americans who travel to Iran. Great many summer vacation plans have been canceled due to the recent events in Iran. This does produce psychological ramifications as well as economic impact for a country whose official inflation rate runs at 17%. Yet, the majority of the Iranians hold favorable views toward Americans.

The Iranian-Americans believe the best way to reach a reciprocal trust between the two nations, is to treat the respective citizens with respect and admirations. Citizens of both countries should be allowed to travel freely and peacefully and with no harassment and intimidation inflicted upon them in either Iran or the U.S.

The Voice of Iranian-Americans advocates for a civil resolution of the existing tensions. Initial steps are being taken by the U.S. in formulating a special visa category for parents to enable them to travel frequently with fewer restrictions to the U.S. to visit their children, who have been forced to cancel their summer vacations in Iran. The Voice of Iranian-Americans has been working closely with community leaders to encourage civic participation and interaction among Iranian-Americans in the community.

The Voice of Iranian-Americans believes citizens of both Iran and the U.S. should be spared from any political and psychological intimidation and that both governments should benefit immeasurably when their citizens act as ambassadors for peace and reconciliation.

[Rasputin]

خانم اسفندياری پس از چندين ماه بازجويی توسط ماموران وزارت اطلاعات دستگير شد
چهارصد و يازده عضو مجلس نمايندگان آمريکا با صدور قطعنامه ای از دولت ايران خواسته اند هاله اسفندياری را به سرعت آزاد کند، مدارک مسافرتش را به وی تحويل دهد، به آزار و اذيت او خاتمه دهد و از وی عذرخواهی کند.
اين قطعنامه که توسط کريس ون هالِن و 15 نماينده ديگر کنگره تنظيم شد، به اتفاق آرا و بدون هيچ رای مخالفی به تصويب رسيده است.

پيش از اين نيز سنای آمريکا با تنظيم قطعنامه مشابهی که از حمايت همه سناتورها برخوردار بود از ايران خواست هاله اسفندياری را هر چه زودتر آزاد کند.

هاله اسفندياری مدير بخش خاورميانه مرکز وودرو ويلسون در واشنگتن است که يک ماه پيش به خاطر آنچه مقام های جمهوری اسلامی "اتهام تلاش برای براندازی" اعلام کردند دستگير شد.

تاکنون مقام های گوناگون آمريکايی از جمله جورج بوش رئيس جمهور اين کشور خواستار آزادی خانم اسفندياری و ساير افرادی که دارای تابعيت دوگانه ايرانی آمريکايی هستند و به اتهام جاسوسی در ايران در بازداشت هستند، شده اند.

هاله اسفندياری که دارای تابعيت دوگانه ايرانی آمريکايی است در هشتم ماه مه گذشته دستگير شد.

او سال گذشته برای ديدار با مادر 93 ساله اش به ايران رفت اما هنگاميکه قصد بازگشت به آمريکا را داشت گذرنامه اش توسط مردان مسلح ربوده شد و چند ماه بعد پس از بازجويی های مکرر توسط وزارت اطلاعات دستگير و به زندان اوين منتقل شد.


آقای همليتون که زمانی از روسای گروه مطالعه عراق بود، اکنون مدير مرکز ويلسون است

پس از صدور قطعنامه مجلس نمايندگان آمريکا، لی هميلتون رئيس مرکز ويلسون گفت: "سر سوزنی حقيقت در اتهام های هاله اسفندياری وجود ندارد. او محقق است نه جاسوس. خانم اسفندياری متعهد به گفتگوست نه فعاليت برای تضعيف حکومت ايران."

لی هميلتون افزود: "از زمان دستگيری هاله اسفندياری تاکنون مادر و بستگانش، سفارت سوئيس، صليب سرخ بين المللی و وکلايش نتوانسته اند به او دسترسی داشته باشند."

خبرگزاری های ايران اخيرا به نقل از مقام های قضايی اين کشور گزارش دادند که خانم اسفندياری به اقداماتی در راستای اتهامات آنها اذعان کرده است.

اما لی هميلتون با تاکيد بر بيگناهی خانم اسفندياری افزود: "با توجه به سابقه بد زندان اوين و اينکه هيچ کس جز بازداشت کنندگانش تاکنون به او دسترسی نداشته، من به هر بيانيه ای که به هاله نسبت داده می شود مشکوک هستم."

[Rasputin]

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran confirmed Friday for the first time that it is holding an Iranian-American peace activist, the fourth dual citizen it has detained in recent months, according to a semiofficial news agency.



Ali Shakeri of Lake Forest, Calif., was being held on security-related charges and investigated by the security department of the Tehran prosecutor's office, the Iranian Student News Agency reported. It provided no source for the information and calls to Iranian judicial officials were not immediately returned Friday, a weekend day in the Islamic country.

ISNA said in a four-sentence report on its Web site that Shakeri had been detained "some time ago."

It was not immediately clear if he was being represented by a lawyer.

ISNA was the only Iranian news agency to report that Shakeri was being held. The news agency, which is informally affiliated with Iran's Higher Education Ministry, is often used by Iranian officials for leaking information and testing public opinion reaction to sensitive cases.

The State Department had said Shakeri, a founding board member of the University of California, Irvine, Center for Citizen Peace building — who was supposed to have left Iran for Europe on May 13 but never arrived at his destination — was being held at a notorious prison in Tehran.

Iranian Foreign Ministry and judicial officials have confirmed the detention on accusations of espionage of three other Iranian-Americans held in Iran: scholar Haleh Esfandiari, who is the director of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; Kian Tajbakhsh, an urban planning consultant with George Soros' Open Society Institute; and journalist Parnaz Azima, who works for U.S. funded-Radio Farda.

The three have been charged with endangering Iran's national security and espionage, according to a judiciary spokesman. It was not immediately known if Shakeri also was charged.

All were in Iran visiting family members or engaged in professional work, according to the State Department and their relatives and employers.

President Bush had demanded that Iran "immediately and unconditionally" release the four and has denied that they were spying for the United States. Family, colleagues and employers also have denied the allegations.

Bush's remarks drew sharp criticism from Iranian officials. Earlier this week, Iran accused Bush of interfering in the country's internal affairs.

Iran in recent weeks has escalated accusations against the U.S., saying it had uncovered spy rings organized by the U.S. and its Western allies.

The State Department has warned U.S. citizens against traveling to Iran, accusing Iranian authorities of a "disturbing pattern" of harassment of Iranian-Americans.

The U.S. has also expressed concern about former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who disappeared in Iran while on private business there in March.

Five Iranian officials were detained in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil by U.S. troops in January. The U.S. military has said the Iranians are suspected of links to a network supplying arms to Iraqi insurgents — an accusation that Iran has denied.

[Rasputin]

Iran’s judiciary said on Wednesday that two Iranian-American dual citizens who were detained last month and charged with espionage have “accepted” that they were acting against the Islamic regime.

Haleh Esfandiari, a 63-year-old academic at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center, and Kian Tajbakhsh, a 45-year-old associate of the New York-based Open Society Institute, were arrested last month for “acting against national security” and carrying out “espionage”.

Iran claims US funding for civil society organisations is aimed at engineering a “soft revolution”. The intelligence ministry has linked the detainees with US billionaire George Soros, who it said was funding non-governmental organisations and pro- democracy activists in Iran.

“They have accepted [confessed] that they have done some acts but they say they meant to help,” Judge Hassan Haddad, deputy to the head of the Revolutionary Justice Department, which deals with national security and espionage charges, told the student news agency ISNA. He referred to the “very good results” of the investigations and said more people had been “identified” in this regard. This could imply more arrests.

Both detainees have been denied access to lawyers. But Abdol-Fattah Soltani, a lawyer for Ms Esfandiari, rejected the remarks by the judge, saying his client was made to “confess” under abnormal conditions and without legal representation.

Iran is also believed to have arrested Ali Shakeri, a leading member of the Centre for Citizen Peacebuilding, a US NGO. Judge Haddad implied Mr Shakeri had been arrested but that it had not been by his department. No Iranian official has made any specific comments about Mr Shakeri, although the US State Department said last week he had been detained.

Parnaz Azima, an Iranian-American journalist with US-funded Radio Farda and the fourth dual citizen facing charges, remains in legal limbo, having been banned from leaving Iran since January. The broadcaster is charged with “propaganda” against the regime and earning “illegitimate” money, but not espionage. She is hopeful her Iranian passport will be returned next week after she met a bail demand of $545,000 (€403,630, £273,470).

President George W. Bush called for the immediate release of the four last week, but Iran rejected that as interference.

“Haleh Esfandiari is an Iranian, even though she has dual nationality,” Mr Haddad said. “If any individual with any nationality commits a crime inside Iran, that crime will be investigated inside the country.”

The detentions come at a time of increased tension between Tehran and Washington over Iran’s disputed nuclear programme, although the two countries met to discuss security in Iraq at a trilateral meeting in Baghdad last week.

[Rasputin]

Iran has officially confirmed that it is detaining a fourth Iranian American on suspicion of spying.
Ali Shakeri, an American Iranian peace activist and academic disappeared while on a visit to Iran last month but officials initially denied his arrest.

These arrests of dual nationals have sent shock waves through the huge Iranian diaspora.

They have also prompted many academics to think twice about attending conferences in Iran.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini confirmed that the government is holding Ali Shakeri and investigating him for charges of spying.

He is the third American academic of Iranian origin to be jailed in Iran in the last month.

Call for release

Like many of the others he came to see relatives here but when he was due to fly out Mr Shakeri disappeared.

His luggage was later collected from the airline.

For weeks the authorities denied any knowledge of Mr Shakeri's whereabouts but now they have finally confirmed he is in detention.

Iran has also jailed and charged with spying two well-known American Iranian academics - Haleh Esfandiari and Kian Tajbaksh.

And an American Iranian journalist working for Radio Free Europe has been prevented from leaving the country and is to be charged with cooperating with what the authorities call counter-revolutionary radio stations.

But Iran has denied holding another American - a former FBI agent who disappeared after visiting an Iranian duty free island in the Gulf in March.

The US president George Bush has called for the immediate and unconditional release of those being held - denying charges that they were spying for the United States.

[Rasputin]

U.S.-Iranian denied access to lawyer: Nobel laureate

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian Nobel Peace prize winner and lawyer, Shirin Ebadi, has been told by officials that a detained U.S.-Iranian academic charged with spying does not need her counsel, an Iranian news agency reported on Monday.



Ebadi, who had been chosen by the family of Haleh Esfandiara to defend the academic, said her client was being deprived of her civil rights, the ILNA news agency quoted her saying.

"My client is being detained without having access to a lawyer," she said in a statement.

Esfandiari is one of two dual citizens charged with spying in cases that have further increased tension between Iran and the United States, which is leading international efforts to isolate the Islamic Republic over its sensitive nuclear work.

The United States, which broke diplomatic ties with Iran after their embassy was occupied shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution, has called for their release and denied that they are spies.

Iran, which does not recognize dual nationalities, has told Washington the arrests are none of its concern.

Tehran says Washington is using intellectuals and others to carry out a "soft revolution" to topple the Islamic state. A charge of spying could carry the death sentence.

Another Iranian-American, journalist Parnaz Azima, is being investigated for "anti-revolutionary activities." Iran confirmed on Sunday it held a fourth dual citizen, who an Iranian news agency had said was being probed over security-related issues.

Esfandiari, the director of the U.S. Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars' Middle East program, was detained on May 8 while visiting the Iranian capital.

Ebadi, saying Esfandiari's family had chosen her as defence lawyer, said she had gone to Tehran's Revolutionary Court on Monday but that she had only been able to speak with the interrogator in the case on the phone.

"He told me Mrs Esfandiari does not need a lawyer and they didn't even let me enter the building to see him," Ebadi said in the statement carried by ILNA.

"The responsibility for protecting her life, health and security is on the judiciary officials who, by ignoring the law, have deprived her of her civil rights," the statement said.

Speaking about another security-related case, Iran's justice minister last year said the suspect could not have access to a lawyer during the interrogations.

Some analysts link the arrests of U.S.-Iranians to the detention of five Iranians by U.S. forces in Iraq in January.

Iran says the five are diplomats but U.S. officials say they were involved in supporting militants inside Iraq. Iran has dismissed any linkage between the detentions in Iraq and any other issues

[Rasputin]

عليرضا جمشيدى امروز سه شنبه در نشست خبرى با خبرنگاران رسانه*هاى داخلى و خارجى در خصوص آخرين وضعيت پرونده هاله اسفنديارى تبعه ايرانى مقيم آمريكا و متهم به جاسوسي، كيان تاجبخش نماينده مخفى بنياد آمريكايى سوروس، نازى عظيما خبرنگار راديو فردا وابسته به سازمان سيا در ايران و على شاكرى گفت: اتهامات همه متهمان اقدام عليه امنيت كشور است كه تحقيقات مقدماتى از هر 4 نفر نهايى شده و در سه روز آينده نتيجه تحقيقات اعلام خواهد شد.
وى افزود: قاضى پرونده در مرحله رسيدگى در دادسرا اين اختيار را دارد كه براى متهمان قرار مجرميت يا موقوفى تعقيب(آزادى) صادر كند.
سخنگوى قوه قضائيه درخصوص وضعيت جسمى و روحى هاله اسفنديارى گفت: وى در سلامت كامل به سر مي*برد و اميدواريم تا اوايل هفته آينده كه نتيجه تحقيقات مشخص مى شود خانواده اسفنديارى بتوانند با او ملاقات كنند.
جمشيدى متذكر شد كه اين متهمان در مرحله دادسرا، رسماً تفهيم اتهام شده*اند، اما اين*كه چقدر اتهامات را بپذيرند يا خبر،به زودى مشخص خواهد شد.
سخنگوى قوه قضاييه در ادامه و در پاسخ به اصرار نمايندگان خبرى آسوشيتدپرس و رويترز كه آيا هاله اسفنديارى و ديگر متهمان در بازجويي*ها به اتهامات خود اعتراف كرده*اند يا خير؟ خاطرنشان كرد: من مجاز به پاسخگويى به اين سؤال نيستم و همه چيز تا چند روز آينده روشن مي*شود.
جمشيدى با تكذيب اخبارى مبنى بر ممانعت از ملاقات شيرين عبادى وكيل هاله اسفنديارى با موكلش بيان داشت: خانم شيرين عبادى مشكلى ندارند كه وكالت خانم هاله اسفنديارى را بر عهده گرفته و با وى ديدار كند.
به گفته جمشيدى در صورتى كه براى اين متهمان كيفرخواست صادر شود محاكمه به صورت علنى برگزار خواهد شد.
وى در خصوص اينكه چرا كشورهاى غربى در خصوص اين 4 متهم عليه كشورمان سياه نمايى مى كنند، گفت: اتهام اين 4 تن، اقدام عليه كشور است كه از اتهامات جدى مى باشد و طبعاً آنان بايد برابر قوانين ايران دادگاهى شوند.
سخنگوى قوه قضاييه در ادامه و در خصوص پرونده حسين موسويان، عضو سابق تيم مذاكره كننده هسته*اى نيز يادآور شد: با قرارى كه براى موسويان صادر شده وى آزاد است و تحقيقات در مورد متهمان اين پرونده ادامه دارد.
سخنگوى قوه قضائيه همچنين با اشاره به حوادث ماه گذشته دانشگاه اميركبير و دستگيرى 8نفر از دانشجويان به اتهام اين حوادث در اين دانشگاه گفت: تحقيقات پرونده در دادسرا نهايى شده و تا هفته آينده اعلام خواهد شد.
جمشيدى همچنين از صدور حكم محكوميت براى متهمان پرونده دانشگاه هاوايى در دادگاه خبر داد.
جمشيدى در آغاز اين نشست خبري، شهادت شهيد بهشتى و 72 تن از ياران در هفتم تير دهه 60 را تبريك گفت.
وى با اشاره به اينكه در هفته قوه قضاييه برنامه هاى مختلفى از سوى قوه قضاييه در سراسر كشور برگزار خواهد شد از جمله اين برنامه ها را افتتاح نظام قضايى الكترونيكى در سازمان قضايى نيروهاى مسلح، مراسم تجديد پيمان با آرمان هاى امام(ره)،ديدار با مقام معظم رهبرى و خانواده*هاى شهداى هفتم تير و ارتباط ويدئو كنفرانس رئيس قوه قضاييه با كشورهاى سوئد و نروژ براى رفع مشكلات قضايى هموطنان ايرانى در اين كشورها برشمرد.
جمشيدى همچنين از تصويب و صدور دستورالعمل تشكيل شوراى نظارت و بازرسى از سوى رئيس قوه قضاييه در هفته اخير خبر داد و افزود: اين شورا متشكل از روساى ديوان عالى كشور، ديوان عدالت اداري، سازمان بازرسى كل كشور، معاون اول قوه قضاييه و معاون حقوقى و توسعه قضايى است.
وى از جمله وظايف اين شورا را سياستگذاري، تقويت كارآمدى نظارت و بازرسي، ايجاد يكپارچگى و هماهنگى ميان دستگاه هاى نظارتى و افزايش كارايى اقدامات و ارتقاى بهره ورى و ساماندهى نظارت برشمرد.
سخنگوى قوه قضاييه محل دبيرخانه شوراى نظارت و بازرسى را سازمان بازرسى كل كشور اعلام كرد و افزود:رئيس سازمان بازرسى كل كشور دبير اين شورا است و شورا موظف است هر 3 ماه يك بار جلسات خود را بر اساس دستورالعمل و وظايف تعيين شده از جمله تصويب چشم اندازها و برنامه هاى جامع نظارت برگزار كند.
جمشيدى با اشاره به اين كه با تصويب لايحه قضازدايى و جرم زدايى عناوين مجرمانه كاهش خواهد يافت، گفت: با اصلاح آيين دادرسى كيفرى با تنوع قرارها مواجه خواهيم بود به گونه*اى كه بنا شده 5 قرار به 10 الى 15 قرار افزايش يابد تا از بازداشت تا حد امكان خوددارى گردد
وى به لايحه قضازدايى و جرم زايى كه در حال حاضر در مجلس در حال بررسى است اشاره كرد و گفت: در سالهاى گذشته نه تنها مجازات زندان رشد نداشته بلكه با روند كاهش آن نيز مواجه بوده*ايم و اين در حالى است كه با تصويب لايحه قضازدايى و جرم زدايى با كاهش عناوين مجرمانه مواجه خواهيم بود.
جمشيدى تصريح كرد: 44 عنوان غير از زندان در لايحه قضازدايى و جرم زدايى پيش بينى شده كه از موارد آن مي*توان به محروميت*هاى اجتماعي، خدمات عمومى و جزاى نقدى اشاره كنيم.
وى گفت: با اصلاح آيين دادرسى كيفرى با تنوع قرارها مواجه خواهيم بود به گونه*اى كه بنا شده 5 قرار به 10 الى 15 قرار افزايش يابد، تا از بازداشت تا حد امكان خوددارى شود.
جمشيدي، به بررسى طرح تشكيل پليس قضايى در مجلس شوراى اسلامى اشاره كرد و گفت: طرح دو فوريتى تشكيل پليس قضايى امروز در مجلس مطرح مى شود كه اميدواريم اين طرح به تصويب برسد و شاهد تشكيل پليس تخصصى در كشور باشيم.
سخنگوى قوه قضائيه در ادامه خاطرنشان كرد:در طى دو هفته گذشته متاسفانه شاهد دو سياه نمايى و برخورد غير منصفانه نسبت به قوه قضاييه بوديم به گونه*اى كه در مورد اول خبرى نقل شد كه قوه قضاييه با 80 درصد مسائل مربوط به كپى رايت برخورد نمي*كند كه بايد گفت اين خبر كذب محض است كه دادستان تهران نيز مامور برخورد با عامل اعلام اين خبر شده است.
جمشيدى افزود:قانون حمايت از پديد آورندگان آثار صوتى و تصويرى را در اختيار داريم اما بايد آيين نامه*اى براى كپى رايت وجود داشته باشد كه هنوز نهايى نشده است.
وى بيان داشت: خبرى هم در مورد يكى از مفسدان اقتصادى به نام حميد باقرى برمنى منتشر شد كه به نوعى سياه نمايى از عملكرد قوه قضاييه بود و جاى تاسف است كه چنين خبرهايى اعلام مى شود.
جمشيدى تصريح كرد: بر اساس اعلام اداره مبارزه با قاچاق كالا و ارز يكسرى از كالاهاى فرد مذكور با مدارك استنادى منطبق نبوده و كالاى قاچاق محسوب مى شده است و ارزش كالاى مكشوفه در حدود 697 ميليون تومان بوده كه بر اساس قانون نعزيرات حكومتى دو برابر شده است .
وى از رسانه ها خواست عليه قوه قضائيه سياه نمايى نكنند و به جاى اين كار تحقيق كنند كه چرا بانك ها خارج از قوانين وام هايى را مى پردازند كه به عنوان مفسده اقتصادى مطرح مى شود.
سخنگوى قوه قضائيه همچنين به تشكيل 26 مورد پرونده در ارتباط با انتشار غير قانونى فيلم هاى سينمايى اشاره كرد و گفت: با شكايت صاحبان حق 26 مورد پرونده در ارتباط با انتشار غير قانونى فيلم هاى سينمايى تشكيل شده كه در حال رسيدگى است.
جمشيدى همچنين از انفصال به خدمت تعداد قابل توجهى از قضات در سال جارى خبر داد و گفت : تعداد قابل توجهى از قضات از خدمت منفصل شده*اند و بايد گفت دستگاه قضائى با قضات متخلف به شدت برخورد مي*كند