Iranian-American academics Haleh Esfandiari and Kian Tajbakhsh are also being held in the prison and have been charged with spying.

Another Iranian-American Parnaz Azima is also charged with spying and has been banned from leaving Iran.

It is not clear if Shakeri has been formally charged. But the United States says it is preposterous for Iran to accuse any of them of spying. U.S. officials have repeatedly said they should be allowed to return to the U.S.

Meanwhile, international human rights groups and Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi are urging Iran to free the jailed Iranian-Americans and lift travel bans against Azima and French-Iranian journalist Mehrnoush Solouki.

Ebadi says Iran's actions violate international norms. She says Iran's judiciary is denying dual nationals their basic rights.

The rights groups Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Federation for Human Rights and Reporters Without Borders.

Esfandiari is the director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a Washington-based foundation.

Tajbakhsh is an urban planning consultant linked to the New York City-based Open Society Institute. Billionaire businessman George Soros established the institute to promote democracy and human rights.

Azima works for U.S.-funded Radio Farda and Iran has barred her from leaving the country.

Shakeri is an advisory board member at the non-governmental organization the Center for Citizen Peace-Building at the University of California at Irvine. - VOA News