American Journalist Stands Trial in Iran

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

This does not make me feel very good when I am going to AUC to learn about reporting in the MENA region. I wonder what Christian Amanpour has to say?

American Journalist Stands Trial in Iran

Behrouz Mehri/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Roxana Saberi shooting video footage in Tehran in 2003.

By NAZILA FATHI Published: April 14, 2009

TEHRAN — An Iranian judiciary official said Tuesday that the trial of an American journalist accused of spying for the United States had begun on Monday in secret, and that a verdict was expected within two weeks.

Roxana Saberi in Bam, Iran in 2004.

The journalist, Roxana Saberi, a 31-year-old with dual American-Iranian citizenship, was arrested in January and was initially accused of working without press credentials. But last week an Iranian judge brought the far more serious charge of spying for Washington.

"She is charged with spying for foreigners," the judiciary official, Alireza Jamshidi, told ISNA, a news agency. "The first session of the trial was held yesterday, and she defended herself for the last time."

Mr. Jamshidi said the trial was being held behind closed doors because the charges against her were related to national security. "She was spying for America," he said.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has said that the United States is "deeply concerned" about the espionage charges and has asked Iranian diplomats for help in obtaining Ms. Saberi's immediate release.

"This charge is baseless and it's without foundation," Robert Wood, a State Department spokesman, said last week.

Mr. Jamshidi said Tuesday that Washington's intervention in the case was "ridiculous and against international laws," according to ISNA. "It is ridiculous for a person or a government to make comments about a case without examining the evidence first and to make this kind of judgment to say if a person is guilty or not."

Ms. Saberi is being held in Evin prison in northern Tehran. Her lawyer, Abdolsamad Khoramshahi, refused to speak to reporters, saying he was not authorized to talk about the case until after the trial. The trial comes at a delicate moment in relations between Iran and the United States. President Obama has expressed a willingness to talk with Tehran after years of strained relations under the Bush administration.

Roxana Saberi, shown in 2004, grew up in Fargo, N.D.

Ms. Saberi grew up in Fargo, N.D., and went to Iran six years ago. She has worked for the BBC and National Public Radio, but her press credentials were revoked three years ago, according to an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hassan Qashqavi.

Ms. Saberi's parents traveled to Iran from the United States to support her. They appealed for her release in a letter last month to Iran's supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

In another national security case, an Iranian court of appeals upheld a three-year prison sentence for Silva Harotonian, an Iranian woman of Armenian descent who had worked for a United States organization, Mr. Jamshidi said.

"She is charged with crimes against national security," he said. "The appeals court upheld the sentence."

Ms. Harotonian, 34, had worked in Iran for the Washington-based International Research & Exchanges Board, a nonprofit education organization. She was arrested in June and sentenced in January.

Washington has also called on Iran to release Ms. Harotonian, whose health is reportedly poor and deteriorating.

Iran has in the past arrested others with dual nationalities on spying charges. Two Iranian-American scholars, Haleh Esfandiari and Kian Tajbakhsh, were arrested in 2007 on charges of trying to overthrow the government. Both were released later that year.

Source

Edited April 15, 2009 by Far2Long

[Der Bücherwurm 1]

This does not make me feel very good when I am going to AUC to learn about reporting in the MENA region.

Be careful. At least being American will save this particular woman from the fate that an Iranian would suffer. Iran has been criticized for increasingly executing bloggers that are critical of the regime. Not so long ago there was a blogger that my husband would often read that was arrested and executed. All the guy blogged about was poverty in southern Iran. He wasn't even necessarily criticizing the regime. And a few years ago there was a Canadian journalist with dual Iranian citizenship that was arrested on trumped up charges that died while in prison from apparently being beaten.

Canadian Photojournalist dies in Iranian prison.

[Sandrila 1]

Dispicable!

[childress_london 3]

She is a dual citizen of the US and Iran. I don't think there is much hope for her. And they are keeping the details of her case secret, so that doesn't sound good. There is more to this case than meets the eye.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

YEAH SHE IS RELEASED!!!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/world/mi...;ref=middleeast

[MrsAmera 41]

I just wanted to add - that her press credentials were revoked. If she was still working as a journalist with revoked credentials then IMO she did violate the law. I think there's too many unknowns in this case!

[Nagishkaw 510]

YEAH SHE IS RELEASED!!!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/world/mi...;ref=middleeast

Thank God.

[prince+angel 3]

Yes, I had heard the same thing & was pleased to hear the news.

YEAH SHE IS RELEASED!!!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/world/mi...;ref=middleeast

Thank God.