While the hardliner Kayhan daily is continuing its attacks on those who have protested the arrest of Haleh Esfandiari, the founder of the Organization for the Defense of Prisoners’ Rights, Emadeddin Baghi, responded to Kayhan’s charges in an interview with ILNA. He asked Kayhan, “How can you claim that someone is a spy and has been cooperating with Israel, before she has even faced trial or conviction? We have announced many times that a lawyer must be present during interrogations. Otherwise, no statement made by a detained person has any credibility. Mrs. Esfandiari is an Iranian citizen and has the right to legal counsel.”

Prior to any statements by a government official, Hardliner Kayhan had published a list of charges against Esfandiari, the Director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, who was arrested while visiting her 93-year-old mother in Tehran.

Baghi charged Kayhan with aiding to suppress civil and human rights organizations, and told ILNA, “In light of the fact that she has not yet faced trial, and has not yet been convicted of any charges, on what basis does the newspaper announce that she is a spy and has cooperated with Israel?”

In regards to the connection of his own non-governmental organization and the Woodrow Wilson Center, Baghi says, “That newspaper [Kayhan] has mentioned that the Wilson Center’s website has some information about my organization’s connection to the Center. But I found no such information when I visited the Center’s website. I had not even heard of this institution before this incident. The only thing that was mentioned about me on the Wilson Center’s website was a news report indicating the names of those who had been invited to a conference at Stanford University. I was one of the “invitees.” That does not indicate whether I accepted the invitation or not. I actually never attended that conference. Therefore, this accusation is incorrect and one can also analyze the rest of the claims and discover that they are also baseless.”

Baghi adds, “The government must confront people who receive money from the United States to destabilize the country and instigate a color revolution. But, unfortunately, it seems that the confrontations are mostly political. For example, some of the events that took place in the lead-up to Mrs. Esfandiari’s arrest were unethical and suspicious. A while before her arrest some masked men robbed her purse, which contained her passport. Similar incidents took place against me and a number of other people as well.”

Baghi believes that Esfandiari’s arrest is a precursor to further suppressions against human rights organization: “These kinds of arrests and relating them to human rights organization, such as the Organization for the Defense of Prisoners’ Rights, and laying charges of espionage for Israel, happen for certain reasons, even though they are essentially baseless. When it comes to Mrs. Esfandiari, the question is why she was arrested now. She has come to Iran many times in the past and she has been working at the Wilson Center for many years. Why does the confrontation take place now?” Baghi continues, “I had not seen Mrs. Esfandiari until now but she is a moderate person who works outside Iran but within the boundaries of national interests.”