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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Iran frees detained US academic | Iran frees detained US academic |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| An Iranian-American academic jailed during a visit to Tehran in May has been freed, the official state news agency Isna has reported. | An Iranian-American academic jailed during a visit to Tehran in May has been freed, the official state news agency Isna has reported. |
| Detained on security-related charges, Haleh Esfandiari, 67, was released for a bail of 3 billion rial ($320,000; £160,000), according to Isna. | |
| Ms Esfandiari, who works for a research institute in Washington, was jailed while visiting her 93-year-old mother. | Ms Esfandiari, who works for a research institute in Washington, was jailed while visiting her 93-year-old mother. |
| Her release comes amid ongoing tensions between the US and Iran. | Her release comes amid ongoing tensions between the US and Iran. |
| US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe told AFP news agency: "This is encouraging news and the United States welcomes this." | |
| 'Spying' | |
| In December, while on her way to the airport to return to the US, Ms Esfandiari's taxi was stopped by three men who stole her belongings, including her Iranian and US passports. | |
| When she went to replace her passport, she was sent to the intelligence ministry, where she was repeatedly questioned about her work as the director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington. | |
| In May, after being repeatedly prevented from leaving Iran, she was taken to the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran by three masked men armed with knives, the Woodrow Wilson Centre said. | |
| Iran's Kayhan newspaper accused Ms Esfandiari of spying for the US and Israel and of trying to incite a democratic revolution. | |
| But her husband, Shaul Bakhash, denied the newspaper's allegations. |