Iran on Sunday said it had concluded the investigation into two US-Iranian academics detained for the past three months on charges of harming national security.
Tehran’s deputy prosecutor Hassan Hadad added that Middle East expert Haleh Esfandiari and urban planner Kian Tajbakhsh now had to do “written work” before a decision could be taken about their fate.
Esfandiari and Tajbakhsh have been held in Tehran in Evin prison since their arrest in May, in a case that has further strained ties with between Iran and its arch-foe the United States.
“The investigation into Haleh Esfandiari and Kian Tajbakhsh has ended,” Hadad, Tehran’s deputy prosecutor responsible for security crimes, told the state-run IRNA news agency in an interview.
“The two must now do a series of written work. After this, a decision on them will be taken,” he added.
Hadad gave no further information on what this “written work” involved.
The Iranian judiciary said two weeks ago that the probe was still incomplete and it was up to the investigating judge to take any decisions on whether the pair should face trial or be released.
Hadad also revealed for the first time that the case of Ali Shakeri, a third US-Iranian arrested at around the same time, had no link to the dossiers of Tajbakhsh and Esfandiari.
Previously, it had been assumed that Shakeri, a California-based businessman who is also a board member of a private conflict-resolution group, was being held on the same charges of harming national security.
“It (Shakeri’s case) has no relation with the situation of these two. The time has not arrived for us to give full information about this person,” said Hadad.
Shakeri did not feature in a controversial documentary broadcast on Iranian television last month showing footage of Esfandiari and Tajbakhsh apparently implicating themselves in alleged US efforts to topple Iran’s clerical rulers.
The documentary was condemned by Washington, which expressed concern that the pair had been coerced into appearing. Iran denied the charges, pointing to the comfortable surroundings in which they were filmed.
Individuals suspected of security-related crimes are often in held section 209 of Evin prison, which is run by the intelligence ministry.
Vehemently rejecting Western charges of abuses in section 209, Hadad said it was “one of the best prisons in the world” and was “fully-equipped”.
Asked whether solitary confinement was used, he replied: “In some instances, based on an order of a judge, some security accused are kept for a limited amount of time in equipped suites.”
Hadad made no mention of a fourth US-Iranian, Parnaz Azima, a broadcaster with Radio Free Europe’s Prague-based Persian language arm Radio Farda, who faces similar security-related charges.
Azima is not being detained but her passport has been confiscated and she is unable to leave Iran.
Iran, which does not recognise dual nationality, has repeatedly rejected US calls for their release, bluntly telling Washington that their detention is none of its business.
