Iranian-American scholar leaves Iran
Updated: 2007-09-03 22:34
Iranian judiciary officials have not provided answers on Esfandiari's legal status since the release. She may still have to stand trial or return to Iran to appear in court.
The Iranian Intelligence Ministry had accused her and her organization of trying to set up networks of Iranians with the ultimate goal of creating a "soft revolution" in Iran. Her family and the Wilson Center have denied the allegations.
Esfandiari was one of a handful of Iranian-Americans detained or facing security-related charges here. The detentions have sharply added to tensions between the United States and Iran.
Washington accuses Iran of arming Shiite Muslim militants in Iraq and seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran denies those claims, and blames the US for Iraq's instability.
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 US from a visit to her mother, the Wilson Center has said.
For weeks, she was interrogated by authorities for up to eight hours a day about the activities of the Center's Middle East Program, the Washington-based foundation said.
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