WASHINGTON (AFP) – Iran has detained another US-Iranian national, described as a social scientist with links to the same pro-democracy foundation as a prominent jailed scholar, US media reported Wednesday.
Kian Tajbakhsh, a consultant for philanthropist George Soros’ Open Society Institute programs, was detained around May 11, according to work colleagues quoted by the Washington Post.
Tajbakhsh, 45, was a part-time consultant, according to the institute, which would not confirm reports of his arrest.
Colleagues said he had worked with the Open Society Institute in Iran since 2004 and had also done work for the World Bank there.
Relatives became aware of his arrest this week, as the high-profile jailing of US-Iranian academic Haleh Esfandiari for allegedly attempting to overthrow the Islamic regime has grabbed headlines and drawn outcry from US officials.
Esfandiari, 67, is the director of Middle East programs at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. She was detained in Iran on May 8 and has been accused of trying to mastermind a peaceful revolution in Iran.
The Wilson Center receives funding from Congress as well as from Soros’ Open Society Institute "to sponsor Middle East programs in Washington," the newspaper said.
Soros foundations are run in 30 countries under the umbrella of the billionaire’s Open Society Institute to "support open society activities."
A spokeswoman for the institute told the Washington Post "its activities in Iran centered only on humanitarian relief, public health and culture" and "were undertaken with the knowledge of Iran’s government and in full compliance".
Esfandiari traveled to Iran in December to visit her sick grandmother, 93, but her passport was confiscated and she was interrogated by intelligence officials before being sent to Tehran’s Evin prison.
Iranian intelligence said Tuesday in a statement carried by official media that with her "cooperation", the "representative" of the Soros Foundation in Iran has been identified and was being hunted by the police.
"In the preliminary interrogation she said that Soros was trying to create in Iran an official network and was trying to expand it to carry out an overthrow," it added.
The State Department and the Wilson Center have roundly dismissed the accusations.
