Roxana Saberi Freed

UPDATE, May 12, 2009: Video: Journalist Roxana Saberi Speaks for First Time Since Release From Iranian Jail
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This Iranian hostage crisis ended much sooner than the one during Jimmy Carter's presidency.

Roxana Saberi didn't have to endure 444 days of captivity.

From Bloomberg:

U.S.-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi was freed from prison in Tehran after a court cut her sentence for espionage from eight years in jail to a two-year term, suspended for five years.

The court in Tehran heard an appeal yesterday by 32-year- old Saberi, who was convicted last month after a one-day trial behind closed doors on a charge of spying for the U.S.

“The sentence has been changed to two years suspended,” Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, her lawyer, said today in a phone interview in Tehran. “She is free and can stay or leave the country. It is up to her.”

The original verdict on the journalist, a dual American- Iranian citizen who was raised in the U.S. and lived in Iran for the last six years, was announced April 18. Her conviction and imprisonment drew protests from the U.S. government and human rights groups, with President Barack Obama dismissing the spying allegations against her.

Saberi’s suspended sentence will lapse provided she doesn’t commit an offense in five years, Khorramshahi said, adding that she has been banned from working as a journalist in Iran during that period. “When the verdict was given she wept out of joy. She was very happy, she thanked the court,” said the lawyer, who said he was satisfied with the “fair” ruling.

“I am glad this injustice has been reversed and Roxana Saberi is now free to return home,” Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar said today in a statement. “The government of Iran should never have used this young American journalist as a pawn in their international game.”

...Mohammad Ali Abtahi, who served as a vice president under former President Mohammad Khatami between 2001 and 2004, also welcomed the outcome.

Saberi’s case was an example of “using human life and freedoms for political gain,” said Abtahi, who is now an adviser to ex-parliament speaker Mehdi Karrubi, a candidate in the June 12 presidential election. “This behavior is neither good for Iran’s judiciary nor its government.

“The government may be trying to calm the internal situation before the elections,” Abtahi said in a phone interview from Tehran. “It may, as well, be a message of cooperation to the West in anticipation of Mr. Ahmadinejad’s victory.”

Thank God the Iranian government determined that holding Saberi hostage was not in its best interests, both internally and internationally.

As both Klobuchar and Abtahi said, Saberi was used as pawn.

This time "using human life and freedoms for political gain" was not deemed beneficial to Iran, unlike the hostage crisis in 1979-1980.

So Iran did a 180 on Saberi.

I hope this episode isn't lost on Obama, Hillary Clinton, and the State Department. I hope they've learned how justice is meted out in Iran.

In any event, Saberi's release is cause for great relief.

Roxana Saberi Hospitalized Briefly

From the Associated Press:

The American journalist on a hunger strike for two weeks to protest her imprisonment in Iran was briefly hospitalized after she intensified her fast by refusing to drink water, Reporters Without Borders said Monday.

The press freedom group said 32-year-old Roxana Saberi was taken Friday to a clinic at Tehran's Evin prison, where she has been held since her arrest in January. She was released from the clinic within a day after again drinking water, the group said.

...Reporters Without Borders said her father Reza Saberi told the group over the weekend that she stopped drinking water after Iranian authorities denied she was on a hunger strike.

"So following that, she decided to do a complete hunger strike," Soazig Dollet of the Paris-based group told The Associated Press. "So she was really weak and went to the clinic inside the prison for the day, but not more than a day."

Iranian authorites lied and denied that Saberi was on a hunger strike, so Saberi responded by refusing water. And her ordeal drags on.

Considering Obama is so eager to talk to Iran, without preconditions, I don't know why he doesn't get Ahmadinejad on the phone and discuss the consequences of Iran holding an American hostage. What's Hillary doing?

Perhaps it's because the Obama administration has no plan for Iran to suffer any significant consequences due to Saberi's imprisonment.

Shadows of the impotent, incompetent Jimmy Carter hang over this.

Obama's willing to let Saberi sit in an Iranian prison. There's no sense of urgency. Crisis? What crisis? Besides, he has so much else on his plate right now. Give him a break.

Obama can't let the plight of a political prisoner get in the way of his date night.

Roxana Saberi and Japan's Hirofumi Nakasone

Japan's Hirofumi Nakasone is advocating on behalf of American journalist Roxana Saberi, imprisoned in Iran for spying.

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran's foreign minister assured his visiting Japanese counterpart that the case of an American journalist imprisoned in Tehran for allegedly spying for the United States will get a fair review on appeal.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said 32-year-old Roxana Saberi's appeal will be "reviewed justly and humanely." He spoke at a joint news conference Saturday with Japan's Hirofumi Nakasone, who expressed concern over the case during his visit to Iran.

Saberi is a dual Iranian-American citizen who was born in Fargo, North Dakota. Her father is Iranian and her mother is Japanese.

I'm glad to hear Japan is applying some pressure on Iran.

I think the U.S. should be doing more.

What's Hillary and the State Department doing?

I suppose I should cut Hillary some slack.

Did she and Bill have date night on Saturday?

Roxana Saberi: In "Bad Condition"

Roxana Saberi, the American journalist imprisoned in Iran, is in bad physical condition according to her father.

From FOX News:

An American journalist jailed by Iran on charges of spying for the United States "is in bad condition," her father said Monday, almost a week after she went on hunger strike.

Reza Saberi said he and his wife Akiko visited their daughter Roxana in Tehran's Evin jail on Sunday, taking flowers for her 32nd birthday.

"She is very, very weak and frail ... she is in a bad condition. She can hardly stand up," he told Reuters. "I'm worried about her health. I'm worried about her life."

The 68-year-old said he pleaded with her to stop the hunger strike, but she resisted during the 20-minute visit.

...Saberi's parents have traveled to Iran from their home in Fargo in a bid to help win their daughter's release. Her father has said his daughter, who was Miss North Dakota in 1997, had been working on a book about the culture and people of Iran, and hoped to finish it and return to the United States this year.

Reza Saberi said he hoped to see his daughter in prison on Monday and was concerned about her health.

"After five days, I am pretty certain that she must be very weak now, because we know she is already frail," he said.

...The Obama administration has said it is working with Swiss intermediaries who represent U.S. interests in Iran to secure her release.

I thought the world loved Obama.

In a gesture of goodwill, you'd think Iran would free this young woman.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration is minimizing this story.

That's probably because it shows Obama's impotence in dealing with hostile governments. He's being tested and he's failing.

So, the lib media are covering for Obama. Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative.

And Roxana Saberi grows weaker and weaker.

Roxana Saberi: Hunger Strike

Roxana Saberi, the American journalist imprisoned in Iran for spying, begins her hunger strike today.

George Stephanopoulos is in Iran to interview Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

They discussed Saberi.

Video.

Transcript

AHMADINEJAD: I do not pass judgment over judicial cases. I think Mr. Obama, as a sign of change and also to encourage friendship, should allow laws to be processed fairly and allow the judiciary to carry out its duty. I am sure that she will not be mistreated.

STEPHANOPOULOS: May I go see her for myself to assure that she is safe?

AHMADINEJAD: Let's see. If our judicial regulations allow for that, sure.

Stephanopoulos said they went to the judiciary offices for permission to see Saberi, but they weren't allowed to take photos or get beyond the gates.

However, Stephanopoulos was able to speak with Saberi's parents, Reza and Akiko Saberi.

REZA SABERI: She has lost some weight and she looks frail. But she was in good spirits.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You surprised her.

AKIKO SABERI: Yes. She had no idea we were coming or we were there. She was shocked.

STEPHANOPOULOS: She told you that she was prepared to go on a hunger strike?

REZA SABERI: Yes.

STEPHANOPOULOS: When will that begin?

REZA SABERI: She said that she will go on a hunger strike as of Thursday.

STEPHANOPOULOS: What did she tell you about the confession?

REZA SABERI: She said they, first they coerced her. They scared her. They said that they... They even threatened her, that if she doesn't say... they will do, they will kill her.

Roxana Saberi's hunger strike and her parents being in Iran talking to media certainly keeps her story alive.

It's important to keep the public focused on Saberi. The more attention this all receives the more pressure the Obama administration and the Iranians are under to resolve the matter and arrange her speedy release.

This is a hostage situation.

Roxana Saberi can't be allowed to linger in a prison in Iran.

Jesse Jackson and Roxana Saberi

I bet this ticks Obama off.

Certainly, Obama, the great uniter and healer and talker, doesn't need someone like Jesse Jackson to intervene in the case of Roxana Saberi.

From CNN:

The Rev. Jesse Jackson has offered to travel to Iran to help release a jailed Iranian-American journalist who was recently convicted of spying.

"If our voices are heard in Iran today, I would be anxious to travel with a delegation to Iran, if we are permitted, and make an appeal for her freedom," said the longtime civil rights activist, according to his Rainbow PUSH Coalition. Jackson, 67, was speaking Tuesday at a peace conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

"Whenever we've brought people out of captivity, whether in Syria, Cuba, Iraq, or Yugoslavia, or Liberia, it's always opened a diplomatic door to reduce tensions," he added.

Roxana Saberi, 31, was sentenced Saturday to eight years in prison after a one-day trial that was closed to the public. The decision prompted sharp denunciations from President Barack Obama, as well as other U.S. and international officials.

Saberi's lawyer has said he will appeal the verdict.

I wonder if Obama feels like he's being undercut by Jackson.

Apparently, Jackson thinks he can accomplish what Obama, Hillary Clinton, and the State Department can't get done.

Kind of a slap in the face to the Obama administration.

Frankly, I don't care how Saberi gets her freedom or who is responsible, as long as she is freed. And soon.

Roxana Saberi: Iran Says, "Shut up, Obama"

Iran doesn't want to hear Obama making statements on the case of Roxana Saberi at this point.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran urged President Barack Obama on Monday not to comment on the case of a U.S. journalist convicted for spying and sentenced to eight years in prison before learning the details.

Iran has released very few facts about Roxana Saberi's case and initially said she was arrested for working without press credentials. The government later charged the 31-year-old dual American-Iranian citizen with spying for the United States and convicted her in a one-day trial behind closed doors. The court announced the verdict Saturday.

Obama said Sunday he was "gravely concerned" about the safety and well-being of Saberi and was confident she wasn't involved in espionage, sparking a response from Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hasan Qashqavi.

"I advise those who studied law not to comment on a case without seeing its context," Qashqavi told reporters during his weekly press briefing Monday.

Obama did comment on Sunday. Obviously, Iran didn't like what he had to say.



Now what?

Obama has an Iranian hostage crisis on his hands.

I hope he doesn't seek Jimmy Carter's advice.

Roxana Saberi

UPDATE, May 12, 2009: Video: Journalist Roxana Saberi Speaks for First Time Since Release From Iranian Jail
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UPDATE, May 11, 2009: Roxana Saberi Freed
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UPDATE, April 27, 2009: Roxana Saberi: In "Bad Condition"
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Iran keeps testing the Obama administration, and it keeps failing.

When Obama learned that Roxana Saberi, an American journalist, was sentenced to eight years in prison on spying charges, he said he was "deeply disappointed."

That's inadequate.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran convicted an American journalist of spying for the United States and sentenced her to eight years in prison, her lawyer said Saturday, complicating the Obama administration's efforts to break a 30-year-old diplomatic deadlock with Tehran.

The White House said President Barack Obama was "deeply disappointed" by the conviction, while the journalist's father told a radio station his daughter was tricked into making incriminating statements by officials who told her they would free her if she did.

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

Roxana Saberi, a 31-year-old dual American-Iranian citizen, was arrested in late January and initially accused of working without press credentials. But earlier this month, an Iranian judge leveled a far more serious allegation, charging her with spying for the United States.

The Fargo, North Dakota native had been living in Iran for six years and had worked as a freelance reporter for several news organizations including National Public Radio and the British Broadcasting Corp.

The journalist's Iranian-born father, Reza Saberi, told NPR that his daughter was convicted Wednesday, two days after she appeared before an Iranian court in an unusually swift one-day closed-door trial. The court waited until Saturday to announce its decision to the lawyers, he said.

Saberi's father is in Iran but was not allowed into the courtroom to see his daughter, who he described as "quite depressed." He said she denied the incriminating statements she made when she realized she had been tricked but "apparently in the case they didn't consider her denial."

Saberi's lawyer, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, told The Associated Press he would "definitely appeal the verdict."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the United States was working with Swiss diplomats in Iran to get details about the court's decision and to ensure Saberi's well-being. She said in a statement the United States will "vigorously raise our concerns" with the Iranian government.

The United States has called the charges against Saberi baseless, and the State Department said Thursday that Iran would gain U.S. good will if it "responded in a positive way" to the case.

In effect, Saberi is being held hostage. Obama is being tested.

...Some conservative Iranian lawmakers played down Saberi's conviction, saying the verdict would not affect any ongoing efforts to build trust between the United States and Iran.

"Although there is a wall of mistrust between Iran and the United States, the judicial verdict won't affect possible future talks between the two countries. The verdict is based on evidence," said lawmaker Hosseini Sobhaninia.

Saberi's father disagreed, telling NPR, "I don't think they have any evidence and I haven't heard any evidence that they have made public."

It would be crazy if the U.S. responds positively to Iran given Saberi's conviction.

The Obama administration needs to grow a spine.

This young woman must be released.