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IRAN HOLDS 4TH YANK

Post Wire Services

June 1, 2007 -- WASHINGTON - U.S. officials said yesterday a fourth Iranian-American has been detained in Iran, and alleged that the country's Islamic authorities are engaged in a "disturbing pattern" of harassment against dual citizens wrongly accused of spying.

The State Department has confirmed that Ali Shakeri, a peace activist missing in Iran for two weeks, is being held at a notorious prison in Tehran, along with three other captives.

"Unfortunately, I can confirm for you that we now do know that he has also been taken into custody by Iranian officials," said deputy spokesman Tom Casey.

He said there had been no response to requests for access to Shakeri or the others by Swiss diplomats who represent U.S. interests in Iran and repeated flat denials that any of the four are spies or are employed by the U.S. government.

"As with the other cases, this is simply ridiculous," said Casey.

"He has no standing with the U.S. government, he is not a U.S. government official, he is not operating or acting on behalf of the U.S. government."

Shakeri joins three other Iranian-Americans, academic Haleh Esfandiari, Kian Tajbakhsh, an urban planning consultant with George Soros' Open Society Institute, and journalist Parnaz Azima now in custody in Iran.

Esfandiari, Tajbakhsh and Azima have been charged with endangering Iran's national security and espionage.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday called the treatment of Esfandiari a "perversion of the rule of law."

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