Detained Scholar Allowed to Leave Iran

Source: Washington Post

Detained Scholar Allowed to Leave Iran

By Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 3, 2007; 3:20 AM

Washington scholar Haleh Esfandiari was allowed to leave Tehran early this morning, ending an eight-month saga of imprisonment and virtual house arrest that heightened tense relations between the United States and Iran.

Esfandiari flew to Austria, where she was to be met by her husband, Shaul Bakhash, a George Mason University historian. "I'm elated that Haleh has been freed to come back home," Bakhash said in a telephone interview from Vienna before she arrived.

But the legal status of Esfandiari, who directs Middle East programs at the Smithsonian's Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, remains unclear. "As far as I know, she was not told whether there are any conditions attached to her release," said Bakhash.

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Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/03/AR2007090300061.html?hpid=moreheadlines

I firmly believe she has been the pawn and caught up in the aftermath of Bush* arrogant policies towards Iran.