U.S.-Iranian reporter said free to leave Iran

TEHRAN (Reuters) - A U.S.-Iranian reporter who was prevented from leaving Iran for months has been given her passport back and is free to depart, her employer and Iranian Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi said on Tuesday.

The news about journalist Parnaz Azima came one day after another Iranian-American citizen, Haleh Esfandiari, flew out of Tehran some two weeks after being freed on bail following more than three months in detention on spying charges.

Their cases and those of two other Iranian-Americans detained this year have stoked tension with Iran's old foe, the United States, at a time of a deepening international standoff over the Islamic Republic's nuclear ambitions.

An Iranian judge was quoted earlier as saying a third dual citizen, Kian Tajbakhsh, would be released on bail when the investigation into his case is complete.

Iran has accused Esfandiari and Tajbakhsh in what it says is a U.S.-led plot to topple its clerical establishment in a "soft revolution." The United States has dismissed the allegation.

Azima, who went on a visit to Iran in January, is based in Prague for a U.S.-funded radio station. An Iranian judicial source said in June she was detained for cooperating with "anti-revolutionary" media but later freed on bail.

Rights groups had said she was still unable to leave Iran because the authorities kept her passport, but Ebadi told Reuters she had now received it back.

"She is free to leave the country if she wants," said Ebadi, who leads the Centre for the Defenders of Human Rights.

U.S.-FUNDED RADIO

Analysts have seen the detention of U.S.-Iranians as part of a broader crackdown on dissent when Tehran is under Western pressure over its nuclear program, which Washington views as a bid to build atomic bombs despite Iran's denials.

Some have also linked Tehran's actions to the detention by U.S. forces in January of five Iranians, accused of backing Iraqi militants. Iran denies the charges and says they are diplomats. Tehran denies any link to the dual nationals' cases.

Azima works for the Persian-language Radio Farda, run by Prague-based, U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and Voice of America and beaming programs about Iran.

RFE/RL said on its Web site she had collected her passport from the authorities and planned to leave Iran soon.

Tajbakhsh is a consultant with the Open Society Institute, founded by billionaire investor George Soros. Esfandiari works at the U.S. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

The Open Society Institute said Iranian authorities had told Tajbakhsh's family he would be released by last week.

"They have assured people close to the case -- including family -- that he would be freed to be with his wife during the last month of her pregnancy. We are mystified at his continued imprisonment," the group said in a statement.

Both Tajbakhsh and Esfandiari were visiting Tehran when they were separately detained in May.

Esfandiari walked free on August 21 after her family paid bail of 3 billion rials ($320,000). Ali Shakeri, from a centre that seeks to promote peace, is still being held in Iran.

"We are very glad to see her (Esfandiari) depart Iran and to see her individual case resolved," U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said in Washington before the news about Azima. "In terms of the other Americans, we hope that we will see similar movement on their cases."

(Additional reporting by Zahra Hosseinian in Tehran, Jan Lopatka in Prague and by Arshad Mohammed in Washington)