Haleh Esfandiari Charged by Iranian Government

According to the Washington Post, 67 year old "American Haleh Esfandiari has been charged with trying to topple the Iranian regime." A scholar at the Woodrow Wilson, Esfandiari is the director of Middle Eastern studies. The hard-line newspaper Kayhan has accused the duel citizen of Iran and America of "fermenting" a "soft-revolution," one which seeks to undercut the current government and form a revolution. Neither the newspaper or the government has been forthcoming on what exactly she has done in order to receive these charges. The only information that they are sharing is that she has received funding from George Soros's "Open Society Insitute," an institue that "aims to shape public policy to promote democratic governance, human rights, and economic, legal, and social reform."

Although the Deputy Director of the Wilson Institute Mike Van Dusen admitted that Esfandiari had received a grant from Soros, he was also to quick to point out that, "the Soros Foundation has also given money to the Iran government after the Bam earthquake in 2003." Therefore, at this point in time it is unclear what the real reasons are behind the arrest of Esfandiari.

Esfandiari was in Iran visiting her 93 year-old Mother when her passport was taken in December during a robbery en-route to the airport in Tehran. From the moment she attempted to get a replacement, she was arrested, and was interrogated for six weeks. It is unclear at this point when the trial will begin or if the United States government will seek to work back channels to get her release.