The husband of a US-based academic jailed in Iran called on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday to free his wife as a compassionate act akin to the April release of 15 British sailors and marines.

Shaul Bakhash, 70, a history professor at George Mason University, also appealed to European, Middle Eastern and Asian countries to pressure Iran to free his 67-year-old wife, Haleh Esfandiari, who was arrested by Iranian authorities on May 8.

“If the president of Iran can make what he calls an act of compassion in releasing the British sailors, he can show the same compassion towards one of his own countrywomen,” Bakhash said in a telephone interview.

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