• The terms of Kian’s bail appear to restrict his freedom of movement.  He remains in Tehran and we do not know if or when he will be able to travel.  
• Ali Shakeri has been released on bail from Evin Prison and is with his family in Tehran.  We are very glad he has been freed and hope he will be able to return to the United States if he wishes.
• Columbia University has announced an offer to Kian of a visiting professorship in the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation.  We do not know whether or not Kian intends to take up the offer.

Please continue to check here for further information. 

NEW YORK— The Open Society Institute is relieved that Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh has been allowed to leave Evin Prison and be reunited with his wife in Tehran.

It is our hope that the ordeal for this distinguished scholar and his family has finally come to a close.

Thank you to all the people who have signed the petition and sent messages of support.

NEW YORK—The Open Society Institute calls for the immediate release of Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh, who remains in an Iranian prison despite numerous promises that he was to have been set free by now.

Dr. Tajbakhsh, a renowned Iranian-American scholar, has been detained in the infamous Evin Prison for more than 130 days. He is held in solitary confinement even though the Iranian authorities have announced repeatedly that the investigation has concluded, and that he would be released soon.

We call for an end to this unjust ordeal and demand that Dr. Tajbakhsh be allowed to return to his family immediately, before the imminent birth of his first child.

According to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty,

A social scientist who specializes in urban planning, Tajbakhsh was detained in Tehran along with Esfandiari in May. Like Esfandiari, Tajbakhsh faces charges that include acting against Iran’s national security.

But unlike Esfandiari, Tehran has not allowed Tajbakhsh to be released from prison on bail. Shortly after Esfandiari’s release from Evin prison in August, an Iranian judicial official said Tajbakhsh also would be released on bail soon. But many days have gone by and Tehran still has not determined his bail or provided a date for his release.

As posted here earlier, there have been reports that Kian’s bail was set at roughly $110,000, but apparently the Iranian authorities have made no provisions to allow that bail to be posted.

This week the Daily Star (Lebanon) also published a revised version of Pamela Kilpadi’s op-ed piece about Kian, titled “The Dead Silence About Kian Tajbakhsh.” 

Kian is still in prison, despite the many statements in the past few weeks indicating that he would be released soon.

The interrogators….took the trouble to explain their concerns about U.S. intentions in Iran — explanations that seemed to reflect Intelligence Ministry thinking.

This is the belief that the Bush administration, entangled in Iraq and Afghanistan, no longer contemplates military action against Iran. Rather, it hopes to encourage a “velvet” revolution, like the peaceful ones that occurred in Georgia and Ukraine. To achieve this end, it uses think tanks, foundations and even universities to organize workshops for Iranian women, to invite Iranian opinion-makers and scholars to conferences and to offer them fellowships. In time, the officials believe, the administration hopes to create a network of like-minded people in Iran who are intent on regime change.

Iranian officials also seem to believe that an alert and vigilant Islamic Republic is successfully foiling — and effectively discouraging the United States from pursuing — this coordinated plan. Over many weeks of questioning and discussion, I tried to convince them that the Wilson Center is not part of any such scheme. I don’t believe I succeeded in that, but I do think that in the end they came to accept that I, at least, was not engaged in any conspiracy.

Nor was Kian–and we hope the Iranian authorities have realized that by now.

Also,  the family of Ali Shakeri, the fourth Iranian-American detainee, has broken its silence.  This article from The Los Angeles Times provides some information about Shakeri’s case.

From the moment Haleh Esfandiari was arrested and imprisoned by the government of Iran in May, her friends in high places in Washington rallied to her defense and demanded that she be released. Most notable among them was former representative Lee H. Hamilton, president of the Smithsonian Institution’s Woodrow Wilson International Center, where Ms. Esfandiari is head of the Middle East program. She is known for championing dialogue between Iran and the United States. The accusation of “crimes against national security” by the Iranian Intelligence Ministry was bogus. She endured solitary confinement, endless hours of interrogation and pressure to confess to a plot to help spark a “velvet revolution” in the theocratic nation.

Ms. Esfandiari was released last month and arrived back at her home in Potomac last week. We celebrate her return and can imagine the relief and joy her family must feel. But our concern remains with the three people who have yet to return. Ali Shakeri, a California businessman, and Kian Tajbakhsh, an Open Society Institute consultant and social scientist, are being held in Evin Prison, where Ms. Esfandiari was jailed. And missing since a March visit to the Iranian duty-free zone of Kish Island is former FBI agent Robert A. Levinson.

Their plight must not be forgotten. Their imprisonment is further evidence that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad isn’t as desirous of the world’s respect as he persistently claims to be. If respect is what he wants, he’ll release Mr. Shakeri and Mr. Tajbakhsh immediately — and he will end the mystery regarding Mr. Levinson’s whereabouts.