Washington resident Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, director of the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Middle East Program, has been released from prison, the Associated Press and the Washington Post are both reporting.

Even after family members turned over 3 billion rials (nearly $325,000) in bail money, it remains unclear if the espionage charge still stand or if Esfandiari, 67, is allowed to leave Iran.

Since May 8, Esfandiari has been held at Evin prison north of Tehran, a notorious dumping ground for political prisoners. No none is sure what prompted the release, but a Wilson Center spokesperson said for the last seven months many official and unofficial channels have been working to help get Esfandiari back to the U.S. , though the U.S. and Iran have not had official diplomatic relations since 1979.

“I do not know what goes on inside the Iranian government. I think an important factor was my letter to the supreme leader a few weeks ago,” Lee Hamilton told reporters in a Tuesday teleconference. Hamilton, head of the Wilson Center and a former congressman, said he had sent letters to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Photo of Esfandiari released to the AP by her family