OSI Statement on Iran's Abuse of Iranian-American Scholars

NEW YORK—The Open Society Institute today called for an immediate and peaceful end to the imprisonment of Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh and Dr. Haleh Esfandiari in the face of ongoing efforts by Iran to exploit their coerced appearance and fabricated statements on state television.

Iranian claims that the forced statements of Dr. Tajbakhsh and Dr. Efsandiari were voluntary are absurd. The statements were clumsily spliced together, and the two read their lines from notes against a staged residential backdrop that is a far cry from the cruelty of Evin prison, where they have languished for months.

It is unclear when the footage was shot, and OSI is concerned for their health and safety.

Dr. Tajbakhsh—a consultant for OSI and the World Bank, among other organizations—was working in Iran at the behest of the Iranian government, focusing on public health, earthquake relief, and urban planning projects. OSI has received an outpouring of sympathy from supporters around the world and from Iran, where citizens have expressed shame at their government’s treatment of its own people.

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The Open Society Institute, a private operating and grantmaking foundation established by George Soros, works to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens. To achieve its mission, OSI seeks to shape public policies that assure greater fairness in political, legal, and economic systems and safeguard fundamental rights. OSI works in over 60 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East, as well as in the United States.