Iran frees Iranian-American from prison

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has released an Iranian-American academic from prison but judiciary officials said he was not free to leave the country, the official IRNA news agency reported on Thursday.

Kian Tajbakhsh, a consultant with George Soros's New York-based Open Society Institute, was detained in May on spying charges while visiting Iran.

"Tajbakhsh was released on Wednesday night on around $100,000 bail, but he cannot leave the country," a judiciary spokesman said. "The judge of his case should issue special permission to lift the ban on his departure."

Tajbakhsh's wife on Thursday said he was at home and told photographers who had gathered at his house in northern Tehran: "Please allow him rest. He is sleeping."

Tajbakhsh, who works in the United States, earlier told reporters visiting Tehran's Evin prison that he had been held in solitary confinement for about 120 days.

The Open Society Institute welcomed his release. "It is our hope that the ordeal for this distinguished scholar and his family has finally come to a close," it said in a statement.

"We do hope that he would be allowed to leave the country and be able to be reunited with his family," U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey told reporters in Washington.

Another Iranian-American academic also detained in May on the same charges, Haleh Esfandiari, a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center, was released on bail in August. She returned to the United States earlier this month.

Despite her being freed on bail, the case against Esfandiari remains open although it is not clear if she will face trial. It is also not clear whether Tajbakhsh could still be tried.