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Iran detains US academic after claims she is a spy Nasser Karimi Iran's foreign ministry has confirmed that its government has detained a prominent American-Iranian academic who travelled to the country in December to visit her 93-year-old mother. A ministry spokesman, Mohammad Ali Hosseini, said Haleh Esfandiari's arrest was lawful and that she would be treated the same as an Iranian national. However, Mr Hosseini did not provide any further details on why the academic was being held. Ms Esfandiari, the director of the Middle East Programme at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Centre for Scholars, was was detained on 30 December by three masked men with knives as she was on her way to the airport. The hard-line Iranian newspaper Kayhan had earlier accused her of being a spy for the US and Israel. "She has been one of the main elements of Mossad in driving a velvet revolution strategy in Iran," the newspaper wrote. "She formed two networks, including Iranian activists, in the US and Dubai for toppling down (the Islamic government)."
Ms Esfandiari's husband, Shaul Bakhash, denied the newspaper's allegations. The arrest came amid increasing restrictions on domestic non-governmental organisations - particularly women's rights groups. Authorities have been tightening the reins as tensions have increased with the West over Iran's nuclear programme and over the conflict in neighbouring Iraq. Security officials have warned that Iran's enemies are using domestic critics to put pressure on the government. Ms Esfandiari, 67, has been living in the United States since 1980 and has, for years brought several prominent Iranians to Washington to talk about social change, some of whom have been subsequently detained and questioned on their return to Iran. ---------------------------------------------------
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