[Editor's Note: Haleh Esfandiari is the wife of George Mason University historian Shaul Bakhash.]

Iran is to release US-Iranian academic
Haleh Esfandiari, detained in Tehran since May on
security charges, as soon as a bail payment has been
made, a judiciary source told AFP on Tuesday.

"Her arrest has been changed to bail. Probably she
will be released tonight. We are waiting for the
deposit of the bail," said the source in the Iranian
judiciary, who declined to be named.

The official declined to comment on the case of Kian
Tajbakhsh, a US-Iranian urban planning expert who has
been held in jail on the same charges as Esfandiari
since May.

The semi-official Fars news agency also quoted
judiciary sources as saying that Esfandiari's status
had been changed to bail and her release was imminent.