By Country / Iran
U.S. Confirms Another Iranian Detention
May 31, 2007
May 31, 2007 -- The U.S. State Department has confirmed that an U.S.-Iranian citizen missing in Iran for more than two weeks has been detained by Iranian authorities.
State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said Washington is seeking consular access for Ali Shakeri -- a peace activist who was supposed to have left Iran to fly to Europe on May 13.
Shakeri is the third Iranian-American detained in Iran in recent weeks.
The other two are Haleh Esfandiari, the head of the Middle East Program at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Institute, and Kian Tajbakhsh, a consultant with the Open Society Institute. Both have been charged with endangering Iranian national security through propaganda against the system and espionage for foreigners.
Authorities have meanwhile prevented Prague-based Radio Farda journalist Parnaz Azima from leaving the country, and announced a charge of acting against Iranian national security against her.
They are also blocking the departure of French-Iranian journalism student Mehrnoush Solouki.
(AP, AFP)