The past days have seen conflicting statements as to whether the five have been released permanently.
Over the weekend, media reports circulated that the five had been released permanently after being pardoned by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khomeini.
By Monday, however, word emerged from Iranian officials that there had been no such pardon and that the prisoners had only been released on a 10-day “holiday.”
The ambiguity fits Iran’s traditional treatment of its Jewish prisoners.
But the question remains: Are the five free for good, or could they be returned to prison?
“It could go either way, depending on the whim of the Iranian government,” said Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, which had lobbied on behalf of the Iranian Jews.