Haleh Esfandiari, an Iranian-American scholar, returned to her home in Potomac, Md., this past week after spending 105 days in an Iranian prison, according to The Associated Press.
Esfandiari, head of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, was released after Lee Hamilton, director of the Wilson Center, made a direct appeal to Iran's Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the AP reported.
The Iranian government had accused Esfandiari and three other Iranian-Americans of attempting to start a "soft revolution" by opening Iran to the West, according to the AP. Two of the accused, both academics, remain in jail while the third, a journalist, was granted her passport this past week.
Esfandiari had been in Iran since last December when she visited her mother for Christmas. After being robbed of her passport, she was barred from leaving the country until May when she was taken to Evin Prison.
-PATRICIO CHILE
