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Video shows 2 Iranian-American detainees

The two were arrested on charges of endangering national security.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published July 17, 2007

TEHRAN, Iran - Two Iranian-Americans detained in Tehran on national security charges appeared Monday for the first time on state television, with one saying in a video clip that his foundation may have targeted Islam.

The TV images followed Iran's announcement this month that fresh evidence had pushed its judiciary to launch new investigations into the cases of Haleh Esfandiari and Kian Tajbakhsh.

State TV said the clips were a preview for a program, "Under the Name of Democracy," that will air this week. Relatives and employers of Esfandiari and Tajbakhsh denounced the videos, saying they were illegitimate.

Esfandiari and Tajbakhsh appeared separately. They both spoke in Farsi and appeared to be in homes or offices.

Tajbakhsh, an urban planning consultant with the New York-based Open Society Institute, and Esfandiari, director of the Middle East program at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, have been held in Tehran's Evin prison since being arrested separately in May on charges of endangering national security.

Two other Iranian-Americans face similar charges: Parnaz Azima, a journalist for the U.S.-funded Radio Farda, and Ali Shakeri, a founding board member of the University of California at Irvine Center for Citizen Peacebuilding.

The U.S. government has demanded that they be released.

In one clip, Tajbakhsh, 45, is shown reading from a piece of paper, saying, "The role of the Soros foundation might have been targeting the world of Islam."

In another clip, Esfandiari was answering questions. "I was an element in the velvet revolution in Georgia," she said. The clip didn't explain the context in which she said this.

The Iranian Intelligence Ministry has accused her of trying to set up networks of Iranians with the ultimate goal of creating a "soft revolution" in Iran, to topple the Islamic regime.

[Last modified July 17, 2007, 00:51:45]