Family fears for scholar jailed in Iran

Iranian American scholar Haleh Esfandiari was interrogated for four months by Iranian officials before being thrown into this city’s notorious Evin prison, her U.S. employer said Thursday.

Esfandiari’s troubles began in December when knife-wielding masked men stopped her on her way to the airport and seized her travel documents. When she tried to get a new passport, Esfandiari was instead dragged into the dark world of Iran’s intelligence services, according to a statement released by the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars in Washington.

Her detention illustrates the increasing risk faced by Iranians with dual citizenship, especially scholars, who venture back to Iran. Her case also sheds light on the methods of Iran’s domestic security services, a sprawling constellation of secretive organizations, some under the auspices of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security and others answering to more nebulous entities.

“She was interrogated almost every day,” said Esfandiari’s husband, Shaul Bakhash, a professor at George Mason University in Virginia. “Sometimes she would be questioned seven or eight hours in a single day.”

Bakhash said he and the Wilson Center initially decided not to publicize her case, fearing it would only complicate matters.

Esfandiari, director of the Middle East program at the Wilson Center, apparently stands accused of collaborating with Israel, an enemy of Iran’s Shiite Muslim regime, although the Tehran government has announced no formal charges.

Raja News, a hard-line Iranian news outlet associated with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, alleged that Esfandiari had converted to Judaism and was a “Zionist agent” who worked with the Israeli lobby in Washington. Bakhash derided those statements as fabricated.

In recent months, Iranian authorities have arrested philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo, who holds Canadian and Iranian passports, and accused him of collaborating with U.S.-funded groups trying to overthrow the Iranian government. Jahanbegloo was allowed to leave the country after he publicly confessed to the accusations.

Parnaz Azima, an Iranian American reporter for Radio Farda, a U.S.-funded station, had her passport taken away several months ago when she arrived in Tehran to visit her ailing mother. Her lawyer, Mohammed Hussein Aghasi, was told that he and his client would be summoned to a special “revolutionary” court for further interrogation.

Aghasi said his client was told she had been detained because she worked for “the mouthpiece of the counterrevolutionary elements abroad.”

One dual national whose passport was taken said such occurrences are far more frequent than reported. “These seizures of Iranian passports of U.S. citizens are common,” said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “But people don’t make an issue out of it so that they can come back to Iran.”

Esfandiari, who was born in 1940, is described by colleagues as cautious in her dealings with Iranian officials and balanced in her views toward Iran’s 28-year Shiite regime. Her 1997 book, “Reconstructed Lives: Women and Iran’s Islamic Revolution,” chronicles the Islamic Republic’s failures and successes in providing opportunities for women.

According to the Wilson Center, Esfandiari arrived in Iran late last year to visit her 93-year-old mother. On Dec. 30, as she headed to the airport to leave the country, her car was stopped by men who took her baggage and her passports. The interrogations that began several days later were usually conducted by a man later identified as an employee of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security. The questioning dragged on for weeks.

“Although Dr. Esfandiari went home every evening, the some 50 hours of interrogation were unpleasant and not free from intimidation and threat,” the Wilson Center said in a statement posted to its website.

The questions centered on Esfandiari’s activities at the Wilson Center, where she organized conferences for prominent Middle East scholars and policymakers. During the interrogations, she was in regular contact with her husband, Bakhash, and the staff of the Wilson Center, who would help her fill in the blanks in her memory for her interrogations.

According to the center and Bakhash, she was pressured to say that her program was involved in efforts to overthrow the Iranian government. The center’s statement said that she answered that she brought together critics and supporters of the Iranian government to foster dialogue.

The interrogations ended Feb. 14, but Esfandiari was not allowed to leave the country. About a week later, former Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.), president and director of the Wilson Center, sent a letter to Ahmadinejad via Iran’s diplomatic mission at the United Nations, calling for her release. There was no response.

Earlier this month, she was asked again to confess to taking part in anti-government activities. She refused. She was summoned to the Ministry of Intelligence on Tuesday. There, she was placed in a car and driven to Evin prison, where she was allowed to make one phone call to her mother.

Back at home, Bakhash said, Esfandiari’s grandchildren are worried. “It’s difficult for us and it’s very difficult for her,” he said. “It’s all very frightening.”

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daragahi@latimes.com

Special correspondent Mostaghim reported from Tehran and Times staff writer Daragahi from Los Angeles.