WASHINGTON - Politicians are renewing calls for the release of Haleh Esfandiari, the director of Middle East programs at the D.C.-based Woodrow Wilson International Center, who has now been held in an Iranian prison for 100 days.
Former U.S. Rep. Lee Hamilton, now the director of the nonpartisan world affairs institution, told The Examiner on Thursday that campaigns to free Esfandiari are “going strong,” with thousands of citizens and hundreds of experts engaged in the effort.
Esfandiari, a renowned scholar and advocate for dialogue between Iran and the United States, has been incarcerated in Tehran since May 8 on allegations of endangering that country’s national security.
Center staff have said she was in Iran to visit her mother but that her passport was stolen on the way to the airport to head home to Potomac, which is when Iranian authorities began questioning her.
During the spring and summer, individuals and nongovernmental organizations have pushed to get Esfandiari released.
“We have made a very large number of contacts, some public, some private. We’ve been in touch with multinational groups. But the most difficult part is that we have no direct information,” Hamilton said Thursday. “We know, of course, of her innocence and we are confident that she will eventually be cleared. Our plea is very simple — it’s to let her go.”
Besides Wilson Center staff, political figures including U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., have pledged to help return the 67-year-old Esfandiari home.
“We know the government of Iran is watching what we do, and we want them to know we will not relent,” Mikulski said in a written statement.
Earlier this week, the Iranian government announced it had wrapped up its investigation of Esfandiari and another Iranian-American accused of conspiring against Iran. But it’s unclear when a judge will hear the case.
More information
To join the campaign, go to www.freehaleh.org
