Parents Hope to Visit Daughter Held in Iran

By Thomas Erdbrink
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, April 5, 2009; 2:06 PM

TEHRAN, Iran, April 5 -- The parents of an imprisoned Iranian-American journalist arrived in Tehran on Sunday from the United States to seek a meeting with their daughter, the family's lawyer said.

Reza Saberi and his wife Akiko are hoping to visit with their U.S.-born daughter, Roxana, who holds an Iranian passport and has been in custody in Tehran since January for allegedly buying alcohol, which is prohibited in the Islamic republic. Iranian officials have also said that she was working as a journalist without the necessary press credentials.

"The parents have come to boost their daughter's morale," their lawyer, Abdolsamad Khorramshai, said. He said the couple intended to stay until Saberi is released.

Saberi, who has reported for the BBC and the U.S.-based National Public Radio, has been living in Iran for six years, working as a journalist while also pursuing a master's degree in Iranian studies and international relations. Her journalist work-permit was revoked in 2007 by Iranian authorities, for unknown reasons. She was reportedly working on a book about Iran and planning to return to the U.S.
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Prosecutors have issued a formal indictment against Saberi, but her lawyer has not yet seen the charges, he said. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said last week the United States had given a letter to Iranian officials during a meeting in The Netherlands, seeking Iran's help in resolving Saberi's case, as well as those of Robert Levinson and Esha Momeni, two other Americans missing or detained in Iran.

Levinson, a private detective investigating cigarette smuggling, went missing in 2007 during a visit to the Iranian island of Kish. Momeni, an Iranian-American student at California State University at Northridge, was detained in Iran in October for supporting a campaign for women's rights. Momeni was later released, but is not allowed to leave the country.

Iranian leaders have repeatedly asked for the release of three Iranian diplomats who have been held without trial by U.S. forces in Iraq since 2007. The Iranians, who are accused of spying, were arrested during a raid at what Iran says was its official consulate in Irbil. U.S. forces, however, said the office was used by members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard.

Iran's foreign ministry called in a statement for the "speedy and unconditional freedom of its consulate officials."

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Iran jails American-Iranian reporter for 8 years

TEHRAN, April 18, (RTRS): An Iranian-American journalist accused in Iran of spying for the United States has been jailed for eight years, her lawyer said on Saturday, five days after she was put on trial. An Iranian judiciary official, quoted by the ISNA news agency, confirmed the sentencing of Roxana Saberi, a US-born freelance reporter who has worked for the BBC and National Public Radio (NPR). US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was very disappointed by the sentencing and would raise the case with Tehran. Saberi’s jailing could become a source of US-Iranian tension at a time when Washington is trying to reach out to the Islamic Republic following three decades of mutual mistrust. The judiciary earlier this week said Saberi went on trial on Monday at a Revolutionary Court, which handles security cases.


“She has been sentenced to eight years ... I will appeal,” lawyer Abdolsamad Khorramshahi told Reuters.
ISNA quoted the unnamed judiciary official as saying: “Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court sentenced Roxana Saberi to eight years for espionage. She can appeal the sentence.”
Her father, Reza Saberi, told the NPR that his daughter had been coerced into statements that she later retracted.
“She was deceived,” he said. “She is quite depressed about this matter and she wants to go on a hunger strike. And if she does, she is so frail it can be very dangerous to her health.”
The United States has called the charges against Saberi “baseless” and demanded her immediate release.
“I am deeply disappointed by the reported sentencing of Roxana Saberi by the Iranian judiciary,” said Clinton in a statement released by the State Department in Washington.
“We will continue to vigorously raise our concerns to the Iranian government,” added Clinton. She said she was working closely with Swiss interlocutors who handle US interests in Iran to get details about Saberi’s court decision and to ensure her “well being”.
NPR chief executive Vivian Schiller said in a statement: “We are deeply distressed by this harsh and unwarranted sentence.”


Saberi, 31, who is a citizen of both the United States and Iran, was arrested in January for working in Iran after her press credentials had expired.
Her parents visited her in Tehran’s Evin jail on April 6, after arriving from the United States. Evin is a jail where rights groups say political prisoners are usually taken.
According to a website set up to campaign for her release, freeroxana.net, Saberi moved to Iran six years ago.
She grew up in Fargo, North Dakota, and holds Masters Degrees in Journalism and International Relations. She was chosen Miss North Dakota in 1997, the website says.
Washington cut ties with Iran shortly after the Islamic revolution in 1979 but US President Barack Obama has offered a new beginning of diplomatic engagement on a range of issues if Tehran “unclenches its fist.”


Iran says it wants to see a real switch in Washington’s policies away from those of former President George W. Bush, who led a drive to isolate the country because of nuclear work the West suspects has military aims, a charge Iran denies.
One Iranian analyst said Saberi’s sentencing should not be seen as a sign of Iran rebuffing Washington’s overture, but that she had been in the “wrong place at the wrong time.”
The sentence was likely to be commuted or reduced in a higher court, said the analyst, who declined to be named.
Paris-based media rights group Reporters Without Borders this week said Iran used the espionage charge to “arrest journalists and tighten the muzzle on free expression.”
Iran denies such accusations and says it respects freedom of speech based on Islamic rules.


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By LUKAS I. ALPERT
Roxana Saberi
Roxana Saberi




Last updated: 6:54 pm
April 18, 2009
Posted: 11:58 am
April 18, 2009

So much for trying to deal with the Islamo-loons in Iran.

An American beauty queen-turned-journalist was convicted today of spying on the Iranian government and sentenced to eight years in a medieval prison days after a secretive, closed- door trial, her lawyer said.

Roxana Saberi, a 31-year-old dual US-Iranian citizen was duped into making incriminating statements by sinister Iranian officials, her father said.

"It was a trick," Reza Saberi told National Public Radio, for which his daughter did freelance reporting work. "They told her if she made statements, they would free her."

Saberi, a native of Fargo, ND, who won the 1997 Miss North Dakota pageant, had been living in Iran for the past six years and also did work for the BBC.

She was arrested in late January and initially charged with working without press credentials.

But earlier this month, an Iranian judge leveled the far more serious charge against her of spying for the United States.

Saberi was dragged before an Iranian court on Monday for a swift one-day trial held behind closed doors.

Her lawyer, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, was permitted to attend but declined to discuss details.

"Saberi has been sentenced to eight years in jail. I'll definitely appeal the verdict," he said.

Her father said she intended to go on a hunger strike, but said she was very weak and "if she does do it, it can be very dangerous to her health."

Back in North Dakota, pals were shocked.

"I'll bet my bottom dollar she has not been spying," said Marilyn McGinley, president of the Miss North Dakota pageant. "She is not a spy. She loved the people over there, and her intention of going over there was to learn about her culture."

It was the first time Iran found an American journalist guilty of espionage, a crime that can carry the death penalty.

The ruling comes at a time when the Obama administration has tried to make overtures for better relations with the fanatical ayatollahs who run the country.

The White House said President Obama was "deeply disappointed" by the conviction.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the United States was working with Swiss diplomats, who represent US interests in Iran, to find out more about the court's decision and to ensure Saberi's well-being.

"We will continue to vigorously raise our concerns to the Iranian government," she said. With Post Wire Services