Freed Iranian-American Cannot Leave Iran

In this image made from video provided by IRIB/IRRIN, Haleh Esfandiari, director of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, speaks to reporters after her release from the Evin prison in Tehran, Iran on Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2007l. The detained Iranian-American academic was suddenly released after spending months behind bars on charges of endangering Iranian national security - allegations her family vehemently denies. (AP Photo/IRIB/IRRIN) (AP)

TEHRAN, Iran -- An Iranian-American scholar released after months of imprisonment in Iran has no passport and cannot leave the country where she still faces charges of endangering national security, her lawyer said Wednesday.

Haleh Esfandiari, 67, was released on bail Tuesday from Iran's notorious Evin prison where she was held since May. Her 93-year-old mother used the deed to her Tehran apartment to post bail.

Her family said their greatest worry is her frail health and mental well-being after months behind bars and they hope she will be able to leave Iran soon.

Esfandiari's lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi said her client has the legal right to leave the country but authorities seized her passport in January and have not returned it or issued a new one. Iranian authorities have not indicated when, or whether, they intend to return her passport.

"The next stage is that a date will be set for the trial," Ebadi told The Associated Press, explaining that despite Esfandiari's release, charges against her remain.

Esfandiari is the head of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

The Iranian Intelligence Ministry had accused her and her organization of trying to set up networks of Iranians with the ultimate goal of creating a "soft revolution" in Iran. Her husband and the Wilson Center deny the allegations.

"I'm certain that my client is innocent and she must be acquitted of the charges," Ebadi said. She vowed to prove her client's innocence in court. But Iranian authorities have not yet said whether Esfandiari will stand trial.

Esfandiari was one of a handful of Iranian-Americans detained or facing security-related charges here, adding to tensions between the United States and Iran. Washington accuses Iran of arming Shiite Muslim militants in Iraq and seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran denies those claims, and blames the U.S. for Iraq's instability.

Esfandiari was detained Dec. 30 after three masked men holding knives threatened to kill her on her way to Tehran's airport to fly back to the U.S. from a visit to her mother, the Wilson Center has said.

For weeks, she was interrogated by authorities for up to eight hours a day about the activities of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center, the Washington-based foundation said.

She was charged in May. Since then, her only contact with her family before Tuesday were brief telephone calls to her mother in which she said she was under stress.