Calling for the Immediate Release of Dr. Haleh Esfandiari

Floor Speech

CALLING FOR THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF DR. HALEH ESFANDIARI -- (Extensions of Remarks - May 22, 2007)

* Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Madam Speaker, in December 2006, while visiting her ailing 93-year-old mother in Iran, Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, a respected American scholar, and director of the Middle East Program at the Smithsonian's Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC, was imprisoned by the Government of Iran.

* Dr. Esfandiari is a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen who has lived in the United States for more than 25 years. She taught Persian language and literature for many years at Princeton University where she inspired untold numbers of students to study the rich Persian language and culture.

* While preparing to board her flight back to the United States, Dr. Esfandiari was stopped by Iranian officials, and forced at knife point to turn over her passport. Afterwards, she was repeatedly interrogated by Iranian intelligence officials and, though the Ministry of Intelligence has yet to produce any evidence of wrong-doing, she has been held in Iran's notorious Evin Prison since May 7, 2007.

* Iran's imprisonment of Haleh Esfandiari shows a gross disregard for the rule of law and belies statements by Iranian government officials that Iran would like to improve relations with the United States.

* I ask my congressional colleagues to join me in passing this resolution to demand that the government of Iran immediately release Dr. Haleh Esfandiari and to encourage the U.S. Government to employ all appropriate means to expedite the process.

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