Iran Opens Doors of Feared Evin Prison

Haleh Esfandiari, 67, director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars’ Middle East Program, speaks to the news media in Washington on Monday, Sept. 10, 2007, about her incarceration in Tehran's Evin prison on allegations of endangering Iranian national security. She spent more than 100 days in prison before she was released on bail, and was finally allowed to leave the country on Sept. 2. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) (Jacquelyn Martin - AP)

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran opened the doors of its most feared prison to journalists Tuesday, allowing them to interview a jailed Iranian-American academic in a move seen as an effort to blunt criticism of the country's human rights record.

The rare look inside Evin Prison _ where inmates were seen swimming in an open-air pool, cooking meals and studying for university exams _ contrasted sharply with tales of harsh treatment from some recently released prisoners.

Amnesty International said the tour was not representative of a facility where people have been tortured and political prisoners have been held without charges.

Forty journalists were taken on a 4-hour tour of five cellblocks at the sprawling facility in northern Tehran on the slopes of the Alborz Mountains. The reporters were allowed to talk freely with prisoners in their cells and in the halls. Guards were nearby during the interviews, but did not intervene.

"We have nothing to hide from the world. And we invited you here to see for yourself that how inmates are treated," a top prison official, Sohrab Soleimani, told reporters.

Kian Tajbakhsh, one of two Americans being held in Evin on charges of endangering Iran's security, ran into the journalists as he emerged from a meeting with a judge in his case. He said he believed his release was imminent.

It was not clear whether the encounter with Tajbakhsh was orchestrated by the tour organizers or accidental.

"Conditions inside the prison are fine," Tajbakhsh told reporters under a tree in the prison yard. "I expect to be released soon."

Judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi said Tajbakhsh would likely be "released soon, probably within the next few days."

Tajbakhsh, 45, a scholar with the financier George Soros' pro-democracy Open Society Institute, appeared relaxed, wearing a gray T-shirt, dark pants, a beard and glasses. He said he was being held in solitary confinement, but that he has access to television and a private bathroom.

"I have weekly visits with my wife, and have telephone conversations with her every night," he said.

Tajbakhsh is one of four Iranian-Americans accused by Iranian authorities of being part of a plot to foment a "velvet conspiracy" against the Islamic government.