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BACKGROUND INFORMATION: The Iranian born academic has lived in the USA since 1979 and has frequently visited Iran to see her 93 year old mother. During last years visit at the end of December 2006 she was on her way to the airport when masked gunmen waylaid her taxi and stole her luggage, including her American and Iranian passports. When she went to replace the documents, she was sent to the Intelligence Ministry for the first of several interrogations. On 8 May 2007 she was taken to the Evin Prison. Dr. Esfandiari had several interrogations during these months and although she went home every evening, the some 50 hours of questioning were unpleasant and not free from intimidation and threat, according to the Wilson Center. Her husband, Shaul Bakhash, a professor at George Mason University in Virginia, declared: "She was interrogated almost every day. Sometimes she would be questioned seven or eight hours in a single day."
The questioning focused almost entirely on the activities and programs of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center. Dr. Esfandiari answered all questions fully; when she understandably could not remember details of programs stretching back five and even eight years, the staff at the Wilson Center provided her all the information requested. According to a statement released by the Wilson Center, on 20 February 2007, Lee Hamilton, president and director of the Center, wrote to the Iranian President about Dr. Esfandiari’s case, in order to call to his attention the dire situation in which Dr. Esfandiari had been placed by elements of the government of which the president may not have been aware. He pointed out the obvious: that the Wilson Center’s mission is to provide a forum for the exchange of views; that the Wilson Center does not take positions on issues; and that it does not try to influence or to determine specific policies or directions of the Iranian Government or any government in the Middle East. He pointed out that there is no “agenda” behind Wilson Center programs on the Middle East, including Iran; that he would not allow it; nor would Dr. Esfandiari. He asked President Ahmadinejad to use his good offices to help send Dr. Esfandiari home.
This letter was transmitted to Tehran by the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations. President Ahmadinejad has yet to acknowledge or reply to it. Attempts to resolve this issue through various channels and without publicity were also not successful. URGENT
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