Iran detains fourth Iranian American

[AnOhioan]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran has imprisoned an Iranian American affiliated with George Soros' Open Society Institute, the foundation said on Wednesday, marking the fourth dual citizen to be detained in Iran in recent months.

Diplomats fear the detentions, which follow the U.S. military's arrest of five Iranians in Iraq in January, could herald further deterioration in relations between the two countries, which have not had diplomatic ties since 1980.

snip

The other dual citizens arrested, detained or otherwise kept from leaving Iran include Haleh Esfandiari, a 67-year-old scholar at the U.S. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars think tank; Parnaz Azima, a reporter for U.S.-funded Radio Farda; and a third person whom the U.S. government has not identified.

snip

U.S. officials also believe Tehran may be holding former FBI official Robert Levinson, who disappeared in March. Iran has denied it is holding him.





Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070523/us_nm/iran_usa_soros_dc

[ShortnFiery]

1. Bullshit! Propagating Propaganda ... disinformation ... n/t

[AnOhioan]

2. Are you accusing me, or Reuters?

[Odin2005]

3. The Iran apologists are probably bashing both.

[Lurking Dem]

4. The Haleh Esfandiari story has been out for awhile.

Cited in multiple sources. Her husband is Jewish and they have accused her of being a Zionist.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2085865,00.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/14/AR2007051400231.html

[Virginian]

5. Why do people hold dual citizenship? n/t

[Igel]

16. For a lot of reasons.

The RA in a dorm I lived in as an undergrad had a Nicaraguan-American resident assistent. This was in the early '80s, when the Sandinistas were still fighting. Whenever he went home he was Nicaraguan, and when he came to the US he was American. A strong Sandinista supporter (when Somoza was overthrown he threw a party), it made for far fewer problems for him. Oh ... and he was eligible for financial support that non-US-citizens couldn't apply for.

In the case of this woman, if she's 100% Iranian when she goes to Iran she doesn't need a visa and there are, in theory, few to no hassles. When she comes back to the US, she uses her American passport and it's never stamped 'Iran'.

It was to prevent this--as well as for other reasons--that the Soviets, when expelling refuseniks, revoked their citizenship. Once out of the country, they had no grounds for demanding to be let back in.

[democratic]

6. Iran's Latest Hostages

Source: WSJ

Haleh Esfandiari is no firebrand opponent of the regime in Tehran. As director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., the Iranian-born scholar is known as an advocate of U.S. engagement with the mullahs and supporter of the "reformists" associated with former President Mohammad Khatami. But those distinctions don't count for much with the people who now hold her hostage in Tehran's infamous Evin prison.

Ms. Esfandiari has been a prisoner of the Ayatollahs for the past five months, since her U.S. and Iranian passports were stolen by knife-wielding assailants during one of her routine visits to Tehran to see her 93-year-old mother. Rather than issue her new travel documents, agents from the ministry of intelligence subjected her to four months of intensive questioning, culminating with demands that she "cooperate." She refused. She was remanded to Evin prison earlier this month. On Monday, she was charged with attempting to overthrow the Islamic Republic, according to Iranian state news agencies.

Her peril should not be underestimated: In 2003, Canadian-Iranian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi was murdered in Evin. The Iranian newspaper Kayhan claims Ms. Esfandiari is a former head of the "Iran section of AIPAC" (the U.S. Israel lobby), which is untrue, and that she has lived in Israel, which is also untrue, and that she is an agent of the Mossad, which is absurd.

Meanwhile, Iran has also detained Iranian-American consultant Kian Tajbakhsh, who was working for George Soros's Open Society Institute. "We are concerned for his safety and call for his immediate release," the institute said in a statement.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117997229416612959.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

[LynnTheDem]

7. Any news in the WSJ about the Iranians the US is holding hostage?

Just wondering.

[democratic]

9. Lynn

Thanks so much for your concern for fellow citizens. Jerk is an understatement.

[LynnTheDem]

10. So you only care about Americans then?

I care about all.

[bahrbearian]

11. Its OK if we do it, because we aren't part of the Axis of Evil

Hey look over there

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

14. What's the problem with Lynn's observation? It seems one could correlate the two

scenarios. :shrug:

[UpInArms]

17. nice set of blinders you're wearing

where can I get some?

[ShortnFiery]

8. Sure. And one of the four provides us with NO = Zero information.

Can we say catapulting the propaganda? :thumbsdown:

[kickysnana]

12. There heeeeere. n/t

[pschoeb]

13. I think the AIPAC charge

Comes from her and her husband speaking at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=1716

It was founded by Martin Indyk, who previously was research director for AIPAC

her husband also was a fellow for the Saban Center for Middle East Policy in the Foreign Policy Studies program at The Brookings Institution, which was at that time and currently headed by Martin Indyk.

Also the Chairman of the Woodrow Wilson Center, which was created by Congress and it's board selected by the President, is Joseph B. Gildenhorn, who is also on the board of directors of AIPAC.

[anotherdrew]

15. this is the predictable outcome of the US conducting destabilization operations against Iran

of course they're going to freak out and go overboard looking for spies. Thank bush for these peoples problems.

bush needs to come out and say, "the leak is misleading, I only authorized the investigation of covert possibilities, not actual execution of plans" or some such thing.