Haleh Esfandiari: Legal Questions Remain for Freed Scholar in Iran
[Editor's Note: Haleh Esfandiari is the wife of George Mason University historian Shaul Bakhash.]
The lawyer for the American-Iranian scholar released Tuesday after over three months in jail said the Iranian authorities still held the scholar’s passport, but that by Iranian law, she should be permitted to leave the country.
The scholar, Haleh Esfandiari, 67, said in a brief telephone interview in Tehran that said she was “fine and happy,” but declined to be interviewed.
Her lawyer, the Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, said that Ms. Esfandiari, who had been held on security-related charges, should be allowed to return to her home in Washington but would be legally required to return to Iran for trial.
“She is released on bail now, and legally she can leave the country and return for her trial when the date is set,” Ms. Ebadi said in an interview....
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The lawyer for the American-Iranian scholar released Tuesday after over three months in jail said the Iranian authorities still held the scholar’s passport, but that by Iranian law, she should be permitted to leave the country.
The scholar, Haleh Esfandiari, 67, said in a brief telephone interview in Tehran that said she was “fine and happy,” but declined to be interviewed.
Her lawyer, the Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, said that Ms. Esfandiari, who had been held on security-related charges, should be allowed to return to her home in Washington but would be legally required to return to Iran for trial.
“She is released on bail now, and legally she can leave the country and return for her trial when the date is set,” Ms. Ebadi said in an interview....