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[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 430 Engrossed in House (EH)]

                In the House of Representatives, U. S.,

                                                          June 5, 2007.
Whereas Haleh Esfandiari, Ph.D., holds dual citizenship in the United States and 
        Iran;
Whereas Dr. Esfandiari 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;
Whereas Dr. Esfandiari is a resident of the State of Maryland and the Director 
        of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center 
        for Scholars in Washington, D.C. (referred to in this preamble as the 
        ``Wilson Center'');
Whereas, for the past decade, Dr. Esfandiari has traveled to Iran twice a year 
        to visit her ailing now-93-year-old mother;
Whereas, in December 2006, on her return to the airport during her last visit to 
        Iran, Dr. Esfandiari was robbed by three masked, knife-wielding men, who 
        stole her travel documents, luggage, and other effects;
Whereas, when Dr. Esfandiari attempted to obtain replacement travel documents in 
        Iran, she was summoned to an interview by Iran's Ministry of 
        Intelligence;
Whereas Dr. Esfandiari was interrogated by the Ministry of Intelligence for 
        seven to eight hours per day;
Whereas the questioning by the Ministry of Intelligence focused on the Middle 
        East Program at the Wilson Center;
Whereas Dr. Esfandiari answered all questions to the best of her ability, and 
        the Wilson Center also provided extensive information to the Ministry in 
        a good faith effort to aid Dr. Esfandiari;
Whereas Lee Hamilton, former United States Representative and president of the 
        Wilson Center, has written to Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to call 
        his attention to Dr. Esfandiari's dire situation;
Whereas Mr. Hamilton repeated that the Wilson Center's mission is to provide 
        forums to exchange views and opinions and not to take positions on 
        issues, nor try to influence specific outcomes;
Whereas the lengthy interrogations of Dr. Esfandiari by the Ministry of 
        Intelligence of Iran stopped on February 14, 2007, but she heard nothing 
        for ten weeks and was denied her passport;
Whereas, on May 7, 2007, Dr. Esfandiari was summoned to the Ministry of 
        Intelligence and taken immediately to Evin prison, where she was 
        arrested and is currently being held;
Whereas Iran's Intelligence Ministry has implicated Dr. Esfandiari and the 
        Wilson Center in advancing what it alleges is the United States 
        Government's aim of a ``soft revolution'' in Iran;
Whereas Parnaz Azima holds dual citizenship in the United States and Iran;
Whereas Ms. Azima is a journalist for Radio Farda;
Whereas the Iranian Government confiscated the passport of Ms. Azima when she 
        arrived in Iran to visit her ill mother in January of 2007;
Whereas the Iranian authorities have interrogated Ms. Azima on multiple 
        occasions;
Whereas Ms. Azima's attorney was told in April 2007 that she would be detained 
        in Iran for at least two years or more;
Whereas social scientist Kian Tajbakhsh was arrested in mid-May by Iranian 
        security officials while consulting for the Open Society Institute, 
        which runs humanitarian programs in Iran;
Whereas Mr. Tajbakhsh holds dual citizenship in the United States and Iran;
Whereas Mr. Tajbakhsh was retained by the Open Society Institute as a consultant 
        to facilitate public health, humanitarian assistance, and urban planning 
        projects that were undertaken openly and with the knowledge of the 
        Iranian Government;
Whereas on May 31, 2007, a State Department spokesman announced that California 
        businessman Ali Shakeri, who holds dual citizenship in the United States 
        and Iran, had been arrested approximately ten days earlier;
Whereas Mr. Shakeri serves on the board of University of California at Irvine's 
        Center for Citizen Peacebuilding, a research institution that seeks to 
        promote reconciliation and sustainable peace in areas of international 
        conflict;
Whereas Mr. Shakeri's arrest occurred as he sought to leave the country after 
        having visited his ill mother, who passed away during his stay;
Whereas reports indicate that a fifth dual American-Iranian citizen, who has 
        thus far remained anonymous, has also been imprisoned unjustly by 
        Iranian authorities;
Whereas the Iranian Government has yet to produce evidence of wrongdoing by any 
        of these individuals to justify its actions toward them; and
Whereas Dr. Esfandiari, Ms. Azima, and Mr. Tajbakhsh have been charged with 
        espionage and, if convicted, face execution: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved,  That Iran should immediately and unconditionally release dual 
Iranian-American citizens Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, Ms. Parnaz Azima, Mr. Kian 
Tajbakhsh, Mr. Ali Shakeri, and a fifth unnamed individual also being detained 
against his will, replace their lost travel documents, cease its tactics of 
harassment, and permit them to leave Iran.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.
```