H. Res. 430 
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 lit-
erature 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 Mary-
land 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 replace-
ment travel documents in Iran, she was summoned to an 
interview by Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence;
•HRES 430 EH 
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 fo-
cused 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 Ira-
nian 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 opin-
ions and not to take positions on issues, nor try to influ-
ence 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 de-
nied 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;
•HRES 430 EH 
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 moth-
er 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 pro-
grams in Iran; 
Whereas Mr. Tajbakhsh holds dual citizenship in the United 
States and Iran; 
Whereas Mr. Tajbakhsh was retained by the Open Society In-
stitute as a consultant to facilitate public health, humani-
tarian 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;
•HRES 430 EH 
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 execu-
tion: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That Iran should immediately and uncondition-
ally 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.