Zendanian-e Syasi dar Iran

[Rasputin]

Iran: Jailed Iranian-American Scholar Faces Coercion

Iran should immediately release Iranian-American academic Haleh Esfandiari and allow her to return to the United States, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch expressed concern that Iranian authorities have subjected Esfandiari to arbitrary detention and coercive interrogation.

On May 8, officials at the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence summoned Esfandiari for questioning, arrested her without warrant or explanation, and transferred her to Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, where Human Rights Watch has documented cases of torture and detainee abuse. Prior to Esfandiari’s arrest, ministry officials had repeatedly interrogated her in their offices on Africa Street in Tehran, and subsequently in their main building on Khaje Abdollah Ansari Street.

Esfandiari, who is head of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, had traveled to Iran in December to visit her ailing mother. On December 30, prior to her planned departure from Iran, armed and masked men stopped her taxi and seized both her Iranian and US passports. Since December, Iranian authorities have failed to replace her passport and instead have subjected her to repeated and protracted interrogation sessions.

In a statement on May 10, the Wilson Center said that during interrogations, Esfandiari “was pressured to make a false confession or to falsely implicate the Wilson Center in activities in which it had no part.”

“President Ahmadinejad is desperately trying to discredit his government’s many critics as American pawns,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Haleh Esfandiari is a well-known advocate of dialogue between Iranian and American scholars, and the Iranian authorities are trying to coerce her into making a false confession to incriminate Iranian writers and activists.”

Human Rights Watch said the Iranian government’s mistreatment of Esfandiari recalls that of Ramin Jahanbegloo, a Canadian-Iranian philosopher whom Iranian authorities arbitrarily arrested in April 2006. After nearly four months of detention and interrogation, Jahanbegloo “confessed” that his scholarly works had contributed to the planning of a “velvet revolution.”

Iran’s decision to increase its pressure on Esfandiari by detaining her comes at a time when the authorities have also escalated repressive campaigns against Iranian women’s right activists and student leaders.

On May 9, three students from Tehran Polytechnic University – Pouya Mahmoudian, Majid Sheikhpour and Majid Tavakoli – responded to a summons to appear before a Revolutionary Court in Tehran. Authorities then arrested and transferred them to Evin prison. At least four other students from Tehran Polytechnic University are also arbitrarily detained in Evin. All are active in student organizations. None has been charged with any offense.

Student and women’s rights activist, Zeynab Peyghambarzadeh, is also being held in Evin prison. She was among the 33 women arrested by security forces on March 4 when they gathered before a branch of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court where other women’s rights activists were being prosecuted. On May 7, authorities detained Peyghambarzadeh for failing to provide the bail the court recently set in relation to her pending case. She is currently being held in Unit 3 (youth section) of Evin prison. When Peyghambarzadeh’s father and lawyer arrived at the Revolutionary Court on May 8 to put up her bail, court authorities prevented them from entering the court.

[Rasputin]

وزارت امور خارجه ايران گزارش های مربوط به بازداشت هاله اسفندياری، محقق ايرانی-آمريکايی مؤسسه تحقيقاتی وودرو ويلسون را تاييد کرده است.
محمد علی حسينی، سخنگوی وزارت امور خارجه ايران در کنفرانس مطبوعاتی هفتگی خود در تهران با تاييد اين خبر، بازداشت خانم اسفندياری را مطابق با ضوابط قانونی جمهوری اسلامی دانست و تاکيد کرد با او همانند ساير شهروندان ايرانی برخورد خواهد شد.

خانم اسفندياری يکی از شناخته شده ترين کارشناسان مسائل ايران در واشنگتن است و برای ديدار از مادر ۹۳ ساله خود به تهران سفر کرده است.

بازداشت هاله اسفندياری در حالی رخ می دهد که تنش در روابط تهران و واشنگتن به سطح بالايی رسيده است.

دولت ايران تابعيت دوگانه را به رسميت نمی شناسد و به گفته آقای حسينی مسؤولان ايرانی در صورت بروز مشکلاتی در پرونده خانم اسفندياری به آن رسيدگی خواهند کرد.

مشکلات هاله اسفندياری پس از سفر به ايران زمانی شروع شد که سه فرد مسلح دسامبر گذشته با متوقف کردن خودروی حامل او، گذرنامه های ايرانی و آمريکايی او را به سرقت بردند.

پس از آن، خانم اسفندياری که برای تهيه گذرنامه جديد ايرانی خود به اداره گذرنامه مراجعه کرده بود، به مدت چهار ماه به وسيله وزارت اطلاعات مورد بازجويی قرار گرفت و در نهايت هفته گذشته بازداشت و روانه زندان اوين شد.

روزنامه کيهان، خانم اسفندياری را که مدير بخش خاورميانه مؤسسه تحقيقاتی وودرو ويلسون در واشنگتن است به جاسوسی برای آمريکا و اسرائيل و برنامه ريزی برای تغييرات دموکراتيک در ايران متهم کرده است.

شائول بخاش، محقق ايرانی تبار و همسر خانم اسفندياری در نامه ای به خبرگزاری آسوشيتد پرس به شدت اتهام های روزنامه کيهان را رد کرده است.

مقام های ايرانی پيش از اين نيز مانع خروج پرناز عظيما خبرنگار راديو فردا، از این کشور شده اند.

خانم عظیما دارای تابعيت دوگانه ايرانی-آمريکايی است.

رابرت لوينسون، مامور بازنشسته پليس فدرال آمريکا هم که به جزيره کيش سفر کرده بود، از ماه مارس ناپديد شده است.

[Rasputin]

Iran's foreign ministry has confirmed that the government has detained a leading Iranian-American academic.
Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said the arrest of Haleh Esfandiari was lawful and she would be treated like other Iranian nationals.

Ms Esfandiari, one of Washington's best known Iran experts, was visiting Tehran to see her 93-year-old mother.

The incident comes at a time of continuing tension between the United States and Iran.

"It is natural if there is any problem, it will be handled by authorities," said the spokesman.

Iran does not recognise dual nationalities.

'Armed captors'

In December, as she was on her way to the airport to return to the US, Ms Esfandiari's taxi was stopped by three men who stole her belongings, including her Iranian and US passports.

When she went to replace her passport, she was sent to the intelligence ministry, where she was repeatedly questioned about her work as the director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington.

Last week, after being prevented from leaving the country for more than four months, she was taken to the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran by three masked men armed with knives, the Woodrow Wilson Centre said.

Iran's Kayhan newspaper has accused Ms Esfandiari of spying for the US and Israel and of trying to incite a democratic revolution in the country.

Her husband, Shaul Bakhash, denied the newspaper's allegations.

"It is a false and hollow accusation that Haleh Esfandiari is one of the 'principle instruments' of Israel, or a Mossad spy service, in advancing the strategy of a 'velvet revolution' in Iran," he said in a statement sent to Associated Press news agency.

"It is a lie that Haleh Esfandiari had 'undercover assignments' or that she was one of the 'media spies' in Iran."

Iranian authorities appear to be particularly suspicious of attempts by the Bush administration to promote democratic change in Iran, says the BBC's Middle East analyst, Roger Hardy.

Other Iranian-Americans have also been banned from leaving the country recently, including journalist Parnaz Azima, who works for the US-funded Radio Farda.

Former FBI agent Robert Levinson disappeared in March on Iran's resort island of Kish.

[Rasputin]

Bush doesn't want detente. He wants to attack Iran

In the next few days an unprecedented meeting between US and Iranian officials is expected to take place in Baghdad; both sides have insisted that discussions are limited to Iraq. Could this first official encounter since the Islamic revolution herald detente between Washington and Tehran?
At the moment nothing suggests that is likely, as each country continues to try to mobilise the states of the region. The US vice-president, Dick Cheney, has been touring the Arab world, reiterating Washington's determination to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, meanwhile, is visiting the UAE, the first by an Iranian leader since independence in 1971 and all the more important because of a serious territorial dispute. Responding to the threatening noises from Cheney, President Ahmadinejad declared: "The US cannot strike Iran. The Iranian people can protect themselves and retaliate."

Although the US administration's current priority is Iraq, it has not given up on Iran. Silently, stealthily, unseen by cameras, the war on Iran has begun. Many sources confirm that the US has increased its aid to armed movements among the ethnic minorities that make up about 40% of Iran's population. ABC News reported in April that the US had secretly assisted the Baluchi group Jund al-Islam (Soldiers of Islam), responsible for a recent attack that killed 20 Revolutionary Guards. According to an American Foundation report, US commandos have operated inside Iran since 2004.
President Bush categorised Iran as part of the "axis of evil" in 2002; the following year he said the US "would not tolerate" an Iranian nuclear weapon. It is worth recalling the context in which these statements were made. Tehran had actively helped the US to overthrow the Taliban. At a meeting in Geneva on May 2 2003 between Javad Zaraf, the Iranian ambassador, and Zalmay Khalilzad, Bush's special envoy to Afghanistan, the Tehran government submitted a proposal for general negotiations on weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and security, and economic cooperation. The Islamic Republic said it was ready to support the Arab peace initiative tabled in 2002 and help to transform Hizbullah into a political party. And in December 2003, Iran became one of the few countries to sign the additional protocol to the non-proliferation treaty, which strengthens the International Atomic Energy Agency's supervisory powers.

However, the US swept all these overtures aside since its only objective is to overthrow the mullahs. To create the conditions for military intervention, it constantly brandishes "the nuclear threat". In 1995 the director of the US arms control and disarmament agency said Iran could have the bomb by 2003; Clinton's defence secretary William Perry predicted 2000, a forecast repeated by Israel's Shimon Peres. Yet last month the IAEA considered that it would be four to six years before Tehran had the capability to produce the bomb.

What is the truth? Since the 1960s, Iran has sought to develop nuclear power in preparation for the post-oil era. Technological developments have made it easier to pass from civil to military applications. Have Tehran's leaders decided to do so? There is no evidence that they have. Is there a risk that they may? Yes, for obvious reasons.

During the Iran-Iraq war, Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons against Iran, but there was no outcry in the US, whose troops are now deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Two neighbouring countries, Pakistan and Israel, have nuclear weapons. No Iranian leader could fail to be aware of this situation.

So how is Tehran to be prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons, a move that would start a new arms race in an unstable region and deal a fatal blow to the non-proliferation treaty? Contrary to common assumptions, the main obstacle is not Tehran's determination to enrich uranium. Iran has a right to do so under the non-proliferation treaty but has always said it was prepared to impose voluntary restrictions on that right and to agree to increased IAEA inspections.

The Islamic Republic's fundamental concern lies elsewhere. Witness the agreement signed in 2004 with France, Britain and Germany, in which Iran agreed to suspend enrichment on the understanding that a long-term agreement would "provide firm commitments on security issues". Washington refused to give any such commitments and Iran resumed its programme.

The EU chose to follow Washington's lead. The proposals of the five members of the UN security council and Germany in June 2006 contained no guarantee of non-intervention in Iranian affairs. In response, Tehran suggested "that the western parties who want to participate in the negotiation team announce on behalf of their own and other European countries, to set aside the policy of intimidation, pressure and sanctions".

Without such a commitment escalation is inevitable. Ahmadinejad's election as president in 2005 has not made dialogue any easier, given his taste for provocative statements about the Holocaust and Israel. But Iran is a big country rich in history, and there is more to it than its president. There is much tension within the government, and Ahmadinejad had severe setbacks both in the local elections and in elections to the Assembly of Experts last December. There are substantial challenges, economic and social, and forceful demands for more freedom, especially among women and young people. The only strong card the regime has to win their loyalty is nationalism, a refusal to accept the kind of foreign interference Iran suffered throughout the past century.

Despite the disaster in Iraq, there is no indication that Bush has given up the idea of attacking Iran. The insistence at the weekend by Gordon Brown that there would be no attack on Iran seems unwarranted optimism rather than objective assessment. The idea of an assault against Iran is after all part of the Bushite vision of a "third world war" against "Islamic fascism", an ideological war that can end only in complete victory.

The demonisation of Iran, aggravated by the attitude of its president, is part of this strategy and may well culminate in yet another military venture. That would be a disaster, not only for Iran and the Arab world, but for western, and especially European, relations with the Middle East. Europe's newest leaders - Nicolas Sarkozy and Brown - would do well to remember that.

· Alain Gresh is a specialist on the Middle East for Le Monde Diplomatique, where a longer version of this article appeared

[Rasputin]

Over 550 Activists and Social and Cultural Figures Protest the Arrest of Zeinab Peyqambarzadeh


Change for Equality: In a statement of protest issued today, May 14, 2007, over 550 activists and social and cultural figures have objected to the arrest of Zeinab Peyqambarzadeh, a women’s rights activist, journalist and student leader, who was sent to Evin on May 7th.

Those signing the protest statement have specifically objected to threats against Zeinab’s father and retaliatory measures employed by judiciary officials, who placed Zeinab in prison because she refused to respond to an illegal verbal telephone summons to appear in court. The signatories have also objected to the lack of adherence to laws by the judiciary officials, who have thwarted the process of her release on bail. The statement also expresses grave concern for the health of Zeinab who is dependent on heart medication, to which she has had no access since her imprisonment. The statement in Farsi was published on the Site of the One Million Signature Campaign, of which Zeinab is an active member.

[Rasputin]

On page one of the issue of Kayhan of 22 Ordibehesht,/5 May, 2007 a long article appeared under the title of “Documented Report by Kayhan: Who is Haleh Esfandiari”.

Although it is described as “documented,” this article is full of errors, lies and deliberate distortions. The writer does not even seem able to get the simplest facts right. A partial account of these inaccuracies follows: (Persian text)

It is untrue that Haleh Esfandiari and Shaul Bakhash worked for Israeli spy agencies; It is a lie that either Haleh Esfandiari or Shaul Bakhash is a Mossad spy It remains a lie no matter how many times Kayhan repeats it in its article.
Shaul Bakhash was not the editor of Kayhan International in the 1340s and 1350s.
Volume 17 of the Documents of the Nest of Spies does not say Shaul Bakhash is a good journalist “for America.” It just says he is a good journalist.
Haleh Esfandiari and Shaul Bakhash are not Zionists.
It is untrue that Shaul Bakhash went to America “on a series of secret missions and training.” He went to Harvard University in America to study for his MA and then to Oxford University in England to continue his studies. He received his doctorate from Oxford University in 1972.
Haleh Esfandiari and her husband were not “introduced by the Mossad spy service” to Daryush Homayoun of Ayandehgan. Neither of them was involved with establishing the newspaper, ever worked for it or ever published anything in it. When Ayandegan was founded, they were not even in Iran.
It is untrue that Haleh Esfandiari “fled to Israel in August 1979.” She had left from Iran for England many months before that. Haleh Esfandiari has never lived or even set foot in Israel
Shaul Bakhash’s book on the Iranian revolution was published in 1984, not in 1982. The publication, Rah-e Zendegi, could therefore not have published pages from the book in its issue of Jan-Feb. 1983.
Nowhere in this book does Shaul Bakhash say or even suggest the Islamic Republic will collapse in the near future
It is untrue that Haleh Esfandiari “returned from Israel to America” in the years of the imposed war because she was never in Israel.
It is untrue that Haleh Esfandiari established the “Iran section” of the “official Israeli lobby” in the U, S. because she has never worked for the Israeli lobby.
It is untrue that Haleh Esfandiari was head of the “Iran chamber” of AIPAC.
Haleh Esfandiari never organized even one, let alone “various seminars” for AIPAC
Haleh Esfandiari was not responsible for organizing a 2004 AIPAC conference on Iran’s nuclear programs. She never invited George Bush, Ehud Olmert, Hillary Clinton, John Bolton, Condolezza Rice and others to speak at an AIPAC gathering or to any other gathering.
This meeting, to which Kayhan refers, could not constitute high point of Haleh Esfandiari’s activities for the Israelis” because she never organized it, took part in it, or knows anything about it.
Haleh Esfandiari therefore had nothing to do with any workshop organized as part of this conference.
Contrary to the claim of the Kayhan writer, the programs of the Woodrow Wilson Center, including those organized by Haleh Esfandiari, were not drawn up at the recommendation of AIPAC. The ultimate aim of the programs Haleh Esfandiari organized were not aimed at “revolution from within.” The Woodrow Wilson Center’s programs are not determined by AIPAC.
The five Iraqi women who participated in a 2005 conference with Haleh Esfandiari were not “supporters of the occupier”. They were Iraqi women looking for ways to reconstruct of their country. Reconstructing Iraq was the subject of the conference. It is shameful for the author of the Kayhan articdle to talk in this way of patriotic Iraqi women whom the writer of the Kayhan article does not know and has never even met. .
It is a false and hollow accudation that Haleh Esfandiari is one of the “principle instruments” of Israel, or a Mossad spy service, in advancing the strategy of a “velvet revolution” in Iran. It is a lie that Haleh Esfandiari had “undercover assignments” or that she was one of the “media spies” in Iran. She had no part in setting up a “communications network” between Dubai and America. Haleh Esfandiari had nothing to do with Radio Farda or Ruz-on-Line [an Iranian website], or with recruiting journalists to work in Prague. These accusations are fantasies and are untrue. They are all the Kayhan writer’s shameful fabrications. The list of Kayhan’s dishonest representations are endless, but I will stop here.
It is regretful that Kayhan, one of Iran’s two oldest newspapers still being published and with a long and distinguised history, should allow so much untruth to appear on its pages.

[Rasputin]

'هاله اسفندياري در اختيار وزارت اطلاعات است'

مقامات قضايي ايران اعلام كرده اند كه يك پژوهشگر ايراني - آمريكايي كه در تهران بازداشت شده بود در اختيار وزارت اطلاعات قرار گرفته است.

هاله اسفندياري با اتهام امنيتي مواجه است
به گزارش خبرگزاري دولتي ايران - ايرنا - روز سه شنبه، 25 مه، عليرضا جمشيدي، سخنگوي قوه قضاييه جمهوري اسلامي، گفت كه هاله اسفندياري، پژوهشگر و مدير بخش خاورميانه موسسه تحقيقاتي وودرو ويلسون در واشنگتن، به اتهام امنيتي بازداشت شده و در اختيار وزارت اطلاعات قرار گرفته است.

آقاي جمشيدي افزوده است كه "تحقيقات در خصوص جرايم اسفندياري عليه امنيت در حال انجام است و اين متهم در زندان اوين به سر مي برد."

پيشتر، سخنگوي وزارت خارجه ايران گزارش هاي مربوط به بازداشت هاله اسفندياري را تاييد كرده و گفته بود كه با وي مطابق قوانين جمهوري اسلامي و مانند ساير شهروندان ايراني رفتار خواهد شد.

خانم اسفندياري داراي تابعيت دوگانه آمريكايي و ايراني است اما دولت ايران تابعيت دوگانه را به رسميت نمي شناسد.

خانم اسفندياري براي ديدار با مادر ۹۳ ساله خود به تهران سفر كرده بود.

در ماه دسامبر سال گذشته، سه فرد مسلح اتومبيل اين پژوهشگر ايراني را در تهران متوقف كردند و گذرنامه هاي ايراني و آمريكايي او را به سرقت بردند.

پس از آنكه خانم اسفندياري براي تهيه گذرنامه جديد ايراني به اداره گذرنامه مراجعه كرد، به مدت چهار ماه توسط ماموران وزارت اطلاعات تحت بازجويي قرار گرفت و هفته گذشته بازداشت شد.

اتهامات كيهان

پيش از انتشار خبر وارد كردن اتهام امنيتي به خانم اسفندياري، روزنامه كيهان او را به جاسوسي براي آمريكا و اسرائيل و برنامه ريزي براي ايجاد تغييرات دموكراتيك در ايران متهم كرده بود.

شائول بخاش، محقق ايراني تبار مقيم آمريكا و همسر خانم اسفندياري در نامه اي به خبرگزاري آسوشيتد پرس به شدت اتهام هاي روزنامه كيهان را رد كرده است.



گذرنامه نازي عظيما نيز توقيف شده و وي هنوز نتوانسته از ايران خارج شود


به گزارش خبرنگار بي بي سي در تهران، تلويزيون دولتي ايران نيز تلويحا هاله اسفندياري را به جاسوسي براي اسرائيل متهم كرده و گفته است كه همسر وي يهودي است.

تلويزيون ايران همچنين خانم اسفندياري را مرتد خوانده است، در حاليكه ارتداد مي تواند مجازات مرگ را در پي داشته باشد.

ماه گذشته، راديو فردا خبر داد كه گذرنامه پرناز (نازي) عظيما، خبرنگار ايراني اين راديو كه در ماه ژانويه براي عيادت از يكي از خويشان خود به ايران سفر كرده بود، هنگام ورود به تهران توقيف شد.

خانم عظيما هنوز موفق به خروج از ايران نشده است.

سال گذشته هم مقامات ايراني رامين جهانبگلو، محقق ايراني را به اتهام تلاش براي به راه انداختن انقلاب مخملين در جمهوري اسلامي بازداشت كردند اما وي بعد از مدتي آزاد شد.

به گفته برخي ناظران، ممكن است هدف دولت ايران از اينگونه اقدامات هشدار به فعالان سياسي ايراني مقيم خارج از كشور در اين مورد باشد كه ديگر نمي توانند با اطمينان خاطر به كشور خود سفر كنند.

[Rasputin]

نوانديش:عليرضا جمشيدى" سخنگوى قوه قضاييه روز سه*شنبه اعلام كرد "على فرحبخش" يك روزنامه*نگار ايراني، به سه سال حبس محكوم شده است.

"على فرحبخش" اواخر آذر ماه سال گذشته پس از بازگشت از يك كنفرانس در هند و هنگام ورود به ايران دستگير شد.

سخنگوى قوه قضاييه در گفت*وگو با خبرنگاران در محل كانون اصلاح و تربيت تهران گفت: راى پرونده رسيدگى به موارد اتهامى فرحبخش نهايى شده است و وى به سه سال حبس محكوم شد.

وى افزود: فرحبخش هم اكنون ممنوع الملاقات نيست و مي*تواند با خانواده خود ديدار كند.

"جمشيدى" در خصوص موارد اتهامى فرحبخش گفت "اكنون حضور ذهن ندارم كه جرم وى چه بوده است".

" مرتضى عليزاده طباطبايى " وكيل فرحبخش اواسط بهمن سال*گذشته گفته بود كه "موكلش به اتهام جاسوسى دستگير شده است".

[Rasputin]

A US-Iranian academic detained in Iran last week is being investigated for suspected "security" crimes, officials in Tehran have said.
Haleh Esfandiari, 67, was being held in Tehran's Evin prison, Iranian judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi said.

Mr Jamshidi said the investigation was still going on, without giving any further details.

The US has condemned the arrest of Ms Esfandiari, who works at the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington.

The incident comes at a time of continuing tension between the United States and Iran over Tehran's controversial nuclear programme.

'Trapped'

"[Ms Esfandiari] is right now under the authority of the intelligence ministry," Mr Jamshidi told reporters in Tehran.

"Her crime is security issues," the spokesman added.

Ms Esfandiari - one of Washington's best known experts on Iran - was visiting the Iranian capital to see her 93-year-old mother.

She was detained on 8 May, after being prevented from leaving Iran for several months.

In December, as she was on her way to the airport to return to the US, her taxi was stopped by three men who stole her belongings, including her Iranian and US passports.

When she went to replace her passport, she was sent to the intelligence ministry where she was repeatedly questioned about her work at the Woodrow Wilson Centre.

The Iranian authorities appear to be particularly suspicious currently of attempts by the Bush administration to promote democratic change in Iran, says the BBC's Middle East analyst, Roger Hardy.

In making public the plight of Ms Esfandiari, the director of the Wilson Centre, Lee Hamilton, said last week that the centre promoted debate about Iran - reflecting a wide range of views - and received no government money to influence Iranian policies.

[Rasputin]

پاسخ متكي به اعتراض آمريكاييها به بازداشت هاله اسفندياري

در پي واكنش مقامات آمريكايي به بازداشت هاله اسفندياري، پژوهشگر ايراني مقيم آمريكا در تهران، وزير امورخارجه ايران خطاب به مقامات آمريكايي گفت كه از دخالت در امور داخلي كشورش بپرهيزند.

وزيرخارجه آمريكا و هيلاري كلينتون و براك اوباما، سناتورهاي دموكرات خواستار آزادي فوري هاله اسفندياري شده اند
هاله اسفندياري، مسئول بخش خاورميانه مركز پژوهشهاي بين المللي وودرو ويلسون در آمريكا، از هشتم مه (هيجدهم ارديبهشت) در تهران در بازداشت به سر مي برد و اتهام او اقدام عليه امنيت ملي اعلام شده است.

خانم اسفندياري تابعيت آمريكايي نيز دارد و بازداشت او موجي از واكنشها در آمريكا برانگيخته و تاكنون وزيرخارجه آمريكا و هيلاري كلينتون و براك اوباما، سناتورهاي دموكرات خواستار آزادي فوري او شده اند.

در پاسخ به اظهارنظرهاي اين مقامات آمريكايي، منوچهر متكي وزيرامورخارجه ايران طي گفتگويي با خبرنگاران در تهران درباره اظهارات مقامات آمريكايي گفته است: "اين نوع رفتار، اخلاق خاص آمريكاست، اتباع ايراني اگر تخلفي مرتكب شده باشند توسط مقامات قضائي تحت پيگرد قرار مي* گيرند و بعد از طي مراحل قانوني با آنها برخورد خواهد شد، آمريكاييها بهتر است در حوزه كار خودشان اظهارنظر كنند و از دخالت در امور داخلي ساير كشورها خودداري نمايند".

پيش از اظهارات آقاي متكي، شيرين عبادي برنده ايراني جايزه صلح نوبل خبر داده بود كه درخواست او براي به عهده گرفتن وكالت هاله اسفندياري رد شده است.

خانم عبادي طي گفتگو با روزنامه آمريكايي واشنگتن پست گفته كه با هاله اسفندياري آشنايي چند ساله دارد و مطمئن است كه او بيگناه است.

وي بازداشت خانم اسفندياري و همچنين جلوگيري از دسترسي وي به وكيل مدافع را غيرقانوني دانسته و گفته كه خانم اسفندياري پيش از آنكه بازداشت شود به مدت شش هفته مرتب مورد بازجويي وزارت اطلاعات قرار مي گرفته اما همواره از اظهارنظر عمومي در مورد اين بازجوييها خود داري مي كرده است.

خانم عبادي افزوده: "دولت حسن نيت موكل مرا به اين شكل پاداش داده است."

هاله اسفندياري سال گذشته ميلادي براي ديدار با مادر خود به ايران سفر كرد اما در اواخر ماه دسامبر، افراد ناشناس گذرنامه هاي ايراني و آمريكايي او را ربودند.

طبق گزارشها، خانم اسفندياري پس از مراجعه براي دريافت گذرنامه جديد، براي مدتي از سوي ماموران وزارت اطلاعات تحت بازجويي قرار گرفت و بعدا خبر بازداشت او تأييد شد.

[Rasputin]

درخواست 16 سناتور زن آمريكايي از"بان كي مون" براي آزادي هاله اسفندياري

شانزده سناتور زن آمريكايي در نامه اي از دبير كل سازمان ملل خواستند "اقدام فوري" براي آزادي خانم ها هاله اسفندياري و پرناز عظيما به عمل آورد.

به گزارشروزنامه "واشنگتن پست"، سناتورهاي آمريكايي در نامه اي به "بان كي مون" نوشتند: بازداشت هاله اسفندياري و پرناز عظيما در ايران "توجيه ناپذير و غيرعادلانه" است.

درمتن اين نامه آمده است: بازداشت دكتر اسفندياري و خانم عظيما به دلايل نامعلوم مغاير با ماهيت اصلي فعاليت آنها، يعني ترويج و توسعه صلح، آشتي و آزادي براي همه است، ما از شما مي خواهيم كه براي پايان بخشيدن به بازداشت ناعادلانه آنها مداخله كنيد.

اتهام اسفندياري، اقدام عليه امنيت ملي ايران است .

"هاله اسفندياري"، ساكن آمريكا و مدير برنامه خاورميانه در مركز بين المللي "وودرو ويلسون" واشنگتون چندي پيش پس از ورود به ايران بازداشت شد.

عظيما نيز روزنامه نگار و خبرنگار راديو فرداست كه گذرنامه وي توقيف شده و از ماه ژانويه تاكنون اجازه خروج از ايران را پيدا نكرده است.

اصرارهاي ويژه و مكرر مقامات و سناتورهاي آمريكايي بر آزادي اين دو ، به ويژه اسفندياري ، مدتي است كه توجه ناظران سياسي را به خود جلب كرده است.

[Rasputin]

هاله اسفندیاری به 'براندازی نرم' متهم شد


بازداشت خانم اسفندیاری با واکنش های منفی در جهان روبرو شده است
وزارت اطلاعات ایران در بیانیه ای که خبرگزاری های ایران آن را منتشر کرده اند، گفته است که هاله اسفندیاری، پژوهشگر ایرانی - آمریکایی موسسه پژوهشی وودرو ویلسون به تلاش برای براندازی حکومت ایران "اعتراف" کرده است.
وزارت اطلاعات ایران در بیانیه ای که خبرگزاری های رسمی و نیمه رسمی ایران، آن را منتشر کرده اند گفته است که مرکز ویلسون و بنیاد سوروس در ایران به دنبال براندازی نرم بودند.

این وزارتخانه در بیانیه خود مدعی شده که مرکز ویلسون، که خانم اسفندیاری، مدیر و موسس برنامه های خاورمیانه ای آن است از طریق بنیاد آمریکایی سوروس، حمایت و پشتیبانی مالی شده است.

هاله اسفندیاری، که دارای تابعیت دوگانه ایرانی و آمریکایی است، روز 8 ماه مه بازداشت شد و مقامات ایرانی بازداشت او را اتهامات امنیتی ذکر کردند و گفتند که "متهم" در اختیار وزارت اطلاعات قرار دارد و در زندان اوین زندانی است.

بازداشت خانم اسفندیاری با واکنش های منفی روبرو شده و کشورهای غربی و گروه های مدافع حقوق بشر این اقدام ایران را محکوم کرده و خواهان آزادی فوری وی شده اند.

وزارت اطلاعات ایران همچنین گفته است که با "همکاری" خانم اسفندیاری، مدیر و نماینده بنیاد سوروس در ایران شناسایی و تحت تعقیب قرار گرفته است.

وزارت اطلاعات ایران در بیانیه خود گفته است که "برخی از این بنیادها، از طریق دعوت افراد به سخنرانی، شرکت در کنفرانس ها، دادن پروژه های تحقیقاتی و بورس های مطالعاتی، سعی در یارگیری و جذب عناصر موثر در کشور و مرتبط نمودن آنها با نهادها و سازمان های تصمیم ساز و تصمیم گیر در آمریکا داشته اند."

به ادعای این وزارتخانه، بنیاد سوروس در ایران، شبکه ای ایجاد کرده که هدف آن براندازی حکومت ایران بوده است.

خانم اسفندياری برای ديدار با مادر ۹۳ ساله خود به تهران سفر کرده بود. در دسامبر سال گذشته، سه فرد مسلح اتومبیل این پژوهشگر ایرانی را در تهران متوقف کردند و گذرنامه های ايرانی و آمريکايی او را به سرقت بردند.

پس از آنکه خانم اسفندياری برای تهيه گذرنامه جديد ايرانی به اداره گذرنامه مراجعه کرد، به مدت چهار ماه توسط ماموران وزارت اطلاعات تحت بازجويی قرار گرفت و سپس بازداشت شد.

توضیحات وزارت اطلاعات ایران در مورد خانم اسفندیاری مشابه آن چیزی است که به دنبال بازداشت رامین جهانبگلو، روشنفکر سرشناس ایرانی در اردیبهشت سال گذشته، از سوی وزارت اطلاعات ایران اعلام شد.

غلامحسين محسنی اژه ای، وزير اطلاعات ايران اعلام کرده بود که آقای جهانبگلو از سوی آمريکا مأموريت داشته که در ايران "انقلاب مخملی و نرم" به راه بيندازد.

بحث ارتباط با بيگانگان، از جمله اتهامات رايج در سال های اخير بوده است و بسياری از فعالان سياسی، دانشجويان، روزنامه نگاران و حتی حقوقدانان و وکلای مدافع در کنار اتهاماتی از قبيل تشويش اذهان عمومی، نشر اکاذيب، توهين به مقدسات و نظام و اقدام عليه نظام به چنين جرمی نيز متهم شده اند، بدون آنکه چنين اتهامی، به طور قانونی و شفاف تعريف شده باشد.

طی سالهايی که از عمر حکومت جمهوری اسلامی می گذرد، فعالان سياسی و مطبوعاتی بازداشت شده بارها دست به نوشتن توبه نامه ها و ابراز اعتراف هايی کرده اند که از رسانه های گروهی با تبليغات زيادی منتشر شده است اما بعدها همين افراد اعلام کرده اند که اعترافاتشان تحت فشار در داخل زندان صورت گرفته و اعتباری ندارد.

هر چند اغلب مردم ايران با ديد ترديد به چنين اعترافاتی می نگرند، استفاده از اين روش همچنان ادامه دارد.

[Rasputin]

Iran charges Iranian-American academic

TEHRAN, Iran - A jailed Iranian-American academic was charged Monday with setting up a network to overthrow the Islamic establishment, the government announced.

Haleh Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, has been held at Tehran's notorious Evin Prison since early May.

An Intelligence Ministry statement read on state TV said she and the Wilson Center were conspiring to topple the government by setting up a network "against the sovereignty of the country."

"This is an American designed model with an attractive appearance that seeks the soft-toppling of the country," the ministry said.

Esfandiari's husband, Shaul Bakhash, said an Intelligence Ministry statement that he received did not indicate that his wife had been formally charged.

In detailing the allegation against Esfandiari for the first time, however, the Intelligence Ministry was effectively charging her.

Bakhash also denied the allegations against his wife.

"Any implication that my wife was involved in a plan in a revolution — soft or otherwise — is totally without foundation," he said in a telephone interview from his home in Maryland.

Sharon McCarter, a spokeswoman for the Wilson Center, also called Iran's claims untrue.

Esfandiari came to Iran in December to visit her 93-year-old mother. Later that month, she was prevented from leaving the country when three masked men with knives stole her luggage and passport as she headed to the airport, according to the Wilson Center. In the weeks before her arrest, she was called in for questioning daily on her activities, the center said.

Iran has stepped up accusations that the United States trying to use internal critics to destabilize the government. Tensions have mounted between the two countries over Iran's nuclear program and U.S. allegations that the Iranians have been supporting armed groups in Iraq.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's hardline government has also increased restrictions on local non-governmental organizations, particularly women's rights groups and other critics.

The broadcast said Esfandiari confirmed during interrogations that her center "invited Iranians to attend conferences, offered them research projects, scholarships ... and tried to lure influential elements and link them to decision-making centers in America."

It was not immediately clear when Esfandiari will stand trial or if the trial will be public.

The Intelligence Ministry also accused the Soros Foundation, a New York-based group that promotes democracy, of being involved in the network. Iran's secret services claimed other unidentified American institutions were working with U.S. intelligence agencies to target other countries, state TV said.

A telephone message left with the Soros Foundation was not immediately returned.

Esfandiari, who has been living in the U.S. since 1980, has for years brought prominent Iranians to Washington to talk about the situation in Iran. Some have subsequently been detained and questioned back home.

Her defenders in the U.S. say some of those she brought to Washington were supporters of the Iranian government who sought to explain Iran's stance to Americans.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has demanded Esfandiari's immediate release.

Other Iranian-Americans have also been prohibited from leaving Iran in recent months, including journalist Parnaz Azima, who works for the U.S.-funded Radio Farda. Another American, former FBI agent Robert Levinson, disappeared in March after going to Iran's resort island of Kish, and his whereabouts are unknown.

The Wilson Center is a nonpartisan institution established by Congress in 1968 and funded through private and public funds, according to its Web site. It says its Middle East program focuses on several areas, including "analysis of internal domestic and social developments in Iran; the aspiration of the younger generation for reform and expansion of individual liberties."

[Rasputin]

The arbitrary detention and confinement of Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, a prominent Iranian-American scholar and the director of the Middle East program at the nonpartisan Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., is the latest distressing episode in an ongoing crackdown by the Islamic Republic against those who, directly or indirectly, strive to bolster the foundations of civil society and promote human rights in Iran.

Over the past year-and-a-half, this onslaught has targeted prominent women's rights activists, leaders of non-governmental organizations, student and teacher associations, and labor unions. In recent weeks, scores of women's rights activists have been harassed, physically attacked and detained for no greater a crime than peaceful demonstrations and circulating petitions calling for the elimination of discriminatory laws and practices. University students across the country have faced expulsion, arrest, and imprisonment for peacefully protesting the erosion of the administrative and academic independence of their universities.

It is in this context that the months-long harassment, extra judicial arrest and incarceration of Dr. Esfandiari -- which was admitted belatedly by the Iranian Government on May 13, 2007 (New York Times, May 14, 2007) -- exemplify the relentless campaign by the leaders of the Islamic Republic against the most basic principles of human rights. We find Dr. Esfandiari's case particularly disturbing because it is tinged with invidious anti-Semitic rhetoric and conspiratorial worldviews.

The egregious charges leveled against her by the semi-official daily Kayhan, make Dr. Esfandiari the latest victim in the Iranian government's repeated and escalating attempts to intimidate and silence human rights activists and promoters of civil society, as well as those who advocate the path of dialogue and moderation in Iran's foreign policy. In her capacity as the director of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center, Dr. Esfandiari has been a staunch advocate of peaceful dialogue between Tehran and Washington in resolving their disputes.

We believe that, despite certain internal disagreements among members of its ruling elite, the Islamic Republic of Iran -- as any other member of the United Nations -- should be held fully accountable for its actions. Only through a clear and united stand against the many breaches of human rights and civil liberties in Iran can one hope to encourage those elements within the Islamic Republic who recognize the importance of human rights for Iran's standing within the international community.

We call upon all international organizations, academic and professional associations, and other groups and individuals devoted to the promotion and defense of human rights to strongly protest and condemn the arbitrary detention of Dr. Esfandiari, to call for her immediate and unconditional release, and to urge the officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran to respect, guarantee and implement the provisions and principles of human rights as specified in international conventions and treaties to which Iran has long been a signatory.

Ervand Abrahamian, City University of New York
Janet Afary, Purdue University
Gholam Reza Afkhami, Foundation for Iranian Studies
Mahnaz Afkhami, Women's Learning Partnership
Reza Afshari, Pace University
Shahrough Akhavi, University of South Carolina
Kazem Alamdari, California State University
Abbas Amanat, Yale University
Hooshang Amirahmadi, Rutgers University
Jahangir Amuzegar, Independent Scholar
Ahmad Ashraf, Columbia University
Muriel Atkin, George Washington University
Bahman Baktiari, University of Maine
Kathryn Babayan, University of Michigan
Ali Banuazizi, Boston College
Sohrab Behdad, Denison University
Nasser Behnegar, Boston College
Maziar Behrooz, San Francisco State University
Sheila Blair, Boston College and Virginia Commonwealth University
Jonathan Bloom, Boston College and Virginia Commonwealth University
Mehrzad Boroujerdi, Syracuse University
Laurie A. Brand, University of Southern California
L. Carl Brown, Princeton University
Nathan Brown, George Washington University
Charles E. Butterworth, University of Maryland
Houchang-Esfandiar Chehabi, Boston University
Noam Chomsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Shahram Chubin, Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Juan R. Cole, University of Michigan
Miriam Cooke, Duke University
Natalie Z. Davis, University of Toronto
Kamran Dadkhah, Northeastern University
John L. Esposito, Georgetown University
Farideh Farhi, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Ali Ferdowsi, Nortre Dame de Namur University
Willem Floor, Independent Scholar
Amir Hossein Gandjbakhche, National Institutes of Health
Mark Gasiorowski, Louisiana State University
M. R. Ghanoonparvar, The University of Texas at Austin
Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, Harvard University
Sondra Hale, University of California, Los Angeles
Hormoz Hekmat, Editor, Iran-Nameh
Kashi Javaherian, Harvard University
Suad Joseph, University of California, Davis
Mehran Kamrava, California State University, Northridge
Mehrangiz Kar, Harvard University
Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak, University of Maryland
Farhad Kazemi, New York University
Nikki Keddie, University of California, Los Angeles
Laleh Khalili, SOAS, University of London
Mohammad Mehdi Khorrami, New York University
Dina Rizk Khoury, George Washington University
Azadeh Kian, University of Paris
Stephen N. Lambden, Ohio University
Zachary Lockman, New York University
Ali Akbar Mahdi, Ohio Wesleyan University
Lenore G. Martin, Emmanuel College and Harvard University
Rudi Matthee, University of Delaware
Ann Elizabeth Mayer, The Wharton School
Abbas Milani, Stanford University
Farzaneh Milani, University of Virginia
Ziba Mir-Hosseini, SOAS, University of London
Valentine Moghadam, Purdue University
Haideh Moghissi, York University
Azar Nafisi, Johns Hopkins University-SAIS
Rasool Nafisi, Strayer University
Vali Nasr, Naval Postgraduate School
Farhad Nomani, The American University of Paris
Augustus Richard Norton, Boston University
Saeed Paivandi, University of Paris (VI)
Misagh Parsa, Dartmouth College
Samantha Power, Harvard University
William B. Quandt, University of Virginia
Sholeh A. Quinn, Ohio University
Nasrin Rahimieh, University of California, Irvine
Ali Rahnema, The American University of Paris
Saeed Rahnema, York University
Balakrishnan Rajagopal, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Elizabeth Rubin, The New York Times Magazine
Sharon Stanton Russell, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Robert M. Russell, Tufts University
Ahmad Sadri, Lake Forest College
Mahmoud Sadri, Texas Woman's University
Tagi Sagafi-nejad, Texas A & M International University
Ali Schirazi, The Free University of Berlin
May Seikaly, Wayne State University
Sussan Siavoshi, Trinity University
Stephen Spector, Stony Brook University
Ray Takeyh, Council on Foreign Relations
Kamran Talattof, University of Arizona
Richard Tapper, SOAS, University of London
Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi, University of Toronto
Majid Tehranian, Toda Institute for Global Peace
Mark Tessler, University of Michigan
Mary Ann Tetreault, Trinity University, San Antonio
Nathan Thrall, The Jerusalem Post
Chris Toensing, Editor, Middle East Report
Nayereh Tohidi, California State University, Northridge
A. L Udovitch, Princeton University
Farzin Vahdat, Vassar College
Lucette Valensi, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris
Stephen M. Walt, Harvard University
John Waterbury, American University of Beirut
Lawrence Weschler, New York University
Jenny White, Boston University
Judith S. Yaphe, George Washington University
Said Yousef, The University of Chicago
Hossein Ziai, University of California, Los Angeles
Marvin Zonis, The University of Chicago

[Rasputin]

Iran Accuses American of Revolution Plot

The Islamic Republic of Iran yesterday accused a prominent American academic it imprisoned two weeks ago of conspiring to foment a velvet revolution there.

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Woodrow Wilson Center, via Reuters
Haleh Esfandiari was prevented from leaving Iran in December.
A statement from the Intelligence Ministry that was reported on state television said that Haleh Esfandiari and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., along with similar institutions like the Soros Foundation, had been trying to establish a network that would work “against the sovereignty of the country.”

“This is an American-designed model with an attractive appearance that seeks the soft-toppling of the country,” the statement said.

Ms. Esfandiari, 67, director of the Middle East program at the Wilson Center, went to Iran five months ago on one of her twice-annual visits to her ailing 93-year-old mother. She was prevented from leaving the country last December, then jailed in the notorious Evin prison on May 8.

While under virtual house arrest before being jailed, she had been interrogated repeatedly, and the Intelligence Ministry statement said she had confirmed that the Wilson Center “invited Iranians to attend conferences, offered them research projects, scholarships ... and tried to lure influential elements and link them to decision-making centers in America.”

The Wilson Center, which provided the quotations from the statement, called the charges both disturbing and far-fetched.

“Haleh has not engaged in any activities to undermine any government, including the Iranian government,” said Lee H. Hamilton, the Wilson Center’s director. “Nor does the Wilson Center engage in such activities. There is not one scintilla of evidence to support these outrageous claims.”

Shaul Bakhash, Ms. Esfandiari’s husband and a professor of Middle East history at George Mason University in Virginia, said, “Any implication that my wife, Haleh, was involved in a plan for a soft overthrow of the Iranian government is totally without foundation.”

Mr. Bakhash said his wife had been able to make brief, one- or two-minute phone calls to her mother almost every evening since her imprisonment, with just enough time to say she was all right and to ask about her family.

The family asked Shirin Ebadi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and an Iranian human rights lawyer, to represent her. But when representatives for Ms. Ebadi, who is currently traveling in the United States, tried to visit Ms. Esfandiari, the prosecutor denied them access and refused to recognize them as representing her. Her mother has also not been allowed to see her.

Iran analysts said the charges would be laughable were it not that Ms. Esfandiari had been imprisoned. The idea that a 67-year-old academic is being identified as a major threat to the Islamic Republic shows that the administration of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is either paranoid, the analysts said, or more likely, that some hard-line elements within it are determined to ruin high-level talks between Iran and the United States about security in Iraq that are scheduled to occur in Baghdad on May 27.

In the long history of tense relations between the countries since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, whenever there seemed to be a rapprochement in the offing, Iranian hard-liners who believed that confronting Washington was a cornerstone of the revolution have sought to derail it.

Another possible situation, noted Gary Sick, a professor of Middle East politics at Columbia University and a one-time National Security Council adviser on Iran, is that Tehran may be seeking a swap. The American military arrested five Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the Iraqi city of Erbil on Jan. 11 and has held them incommunicado ever since.

Both developments came after Ms. Esfandiari’s initial detention, however, so some analysts lend more weight to the idea that the Iranian government is worried about the $75 million that the United States government budgeted to support development of civil society in Iran. The “soft revolution” referred to is the overthrow of repressive governments in Eastern Europe by broad-based civic movements, so the mullahs are trying to intimidate interested Iranians.

Ms. Esfandiari, who holds both Iranian and American citizenship, had organized conferences in Washington on issues like Iran’s nuclear program and the political opposition, but she had also invited members of the Iranian government itself and provided them with a platform to air Tehran’s viewpoint.

“I think a very small percentage of Iran’s political elite actually believe the country’s national security is enhanced by imprisoning a 67-year-old grandmother,” said Karim Sadjadpour, an associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who follows Iranian issues. “What is undeniably clear is that the government in Tehran has only increased the ranks of those in Washington who argue that this regime in Iran is too cruel to be engaged.”

Indeed, there has been an outpouring of criticism from American academics ranging from Noam Chomsky at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to the American Association of University Professors, which issued a statement on Monday calling on Iran to respect academic freedom and release Ms. Esfandiari.

The Middle East Studies Association of North America issued a similar statement and its past president, Professor Juan Cole at the University of Michigan, announced on his widely read blog, Informed Comment, on Friday that he would not attend a Tehran conference organized by French academics in June. He also called for public protests.

“They risk returning Iran to the kind of intellectual and cultural isolation that it suffered in the Khomeini period,” Mr. Cole said in an interview.

Another dual national, Parnaz Azima, a reporter for Radio Farda, a Persian language station financed by the United States, has been refused permission to leave Iran since January.