US Urges Return of 2 American Women Held by Iran

[TRUTH]

The State Department Wednesday called on Iran to allow two detained American women, both with dual U.S. and Iranian citizenship, to return to the United States. The women, an academic and a journalist, went to Iran on visits several months ago and have not been allowed to leave. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

The State Department says the women pose no threat to the Iranian government and should be allowed to return home to their families in the United States as soon as possible.

The comments followed an announcement in Washington Tuesday that a prominent Iranian-American academic, Haleh Esfandiari, has been jailed in Iran after having been barred from leaving the country since arriving there on a visit in December to see her ailing mother.

Esfandiari, who has lived in the United States for more than 25 years, is the director of the Middle East program at Washington's Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

The other woman is Parnaz Azima, a correspondent for the U.S.-funded Persian language broadcaster Radio Farda. She has been barred from leaving Iran since arriving here on a visit in January, also to pay a visit to her elderly and ill mother.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-05-09-voa35.cfm

[karlos]

looks like they are ramping it up
blair said he is leaving in 7 weeks so war must start within 7 weeks so he has an excuse not to leave

[Disco_Destroyer]

[Disco_Destroyer]

and if you think I'm being OTT then think of this:- Why if the Mafia are such evil bastids are they not in charge? Simple the people in charge are far more ruthless

[Ravenmoon]

Iraq wants its 650,000 + back that wouldn't have died without an invasion back no doubt

[TRUTH]

Lawmakers Call for Release of U.S. Scholar Held in Iran

Democratic presidential candidate Barak Obama and three senior lawmakers today called for the immediate release of Haleh Esfandiari, the American scholar imprisoned in Iran this week after being under virtual house arrest for more than four months .

Rep. Chris Van Hollen, (D-Md.), said he plans to call on his congressional colleagues to pass a resolution demanding Esfandiari's "immediate and unconditional release."

The Esfandiari case quickly ignited widespread reaction across the United States, with editorials and reports in major media and Foreign Policy magazine. "This is the most prominent detention of a U.S. citizen in Iran since the 1979 hostage crisis," the magazine said.

Former Congressman Lee Hamilton, co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group and president of the Wilson Center, is scheduled to appear on the PBS Newshour tonight to discuss Esfandiari's arrest.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/11/AR2007 051101085.html

[Disco_Destroyer]

Given her name I bet she wouldn't get so much attention if war wasn't on the cards