Washington Post: Md. Bank Freezes Funds of Scholar Jailed in Tehran
It was a hard enough day for Shaul Bakhash, as he dealt with the ongoing drama surrounding the imprisonment in Iran of his wife, noted American scholar Haleh Esfandiari. Then he found an express letter on the doorstep of his Potomac home yesterday morning announcing that Citibank had frozen his wife’s bank accounts on grounds that she is now a “resident” of Iran.
In the letter, Citibank said the accounts had been frozen “in accordance with U.S. Sanctions regulations,” which stipulate that U.S. banks are prohibited from servicing accounts for residents of Iran.
Forgot who Haleh Esfandiari was? Here’s a little background
The Jewish Week: Iran Scholar Accused Of Pro-Israel Ties
An Iranian-American scholar detained in Tehran after visiting her elderly mother has been accused — inaccurately — of being an Israeli agent and an official of the pro-Israel lobby.
Haleh Esfandiari, director of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, is the wife of Shaul Bakhash, a leading Iran scholar and an Iranian Jewish émigré. Bakhash teaches at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.
In December, Esfandiari was robbed and her travel documents were stolen; Iranian authorities did no allow her to leave the country. Instead, she was then put under house arrest, interrogated extensively by Iranian intelligence officials and pressed to confess to engaging in anti-government activities.
On May 8 Esfandiari was charged with “endangering national security through propaganda against the system and espionage for foreigners,†according to Iranian prosecutors, and thrown in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison.