Roxana Saberi in Vienna!

Roxana Saberi is in Austria with her parents.

From the NYDaily News:

Saberi, smiling and looking well, was accompanied by her parents. She said she planned to spend several days in the Austrian capital so she could begin to come to terms with her ordeal.

"I came to Vienna because I heard it was a calm and relaxing place," said Saberi, 32. "I know you have many questions but I need some more time to think about what happened to me over the past couple of days."

The Lede also has a report.

Roxana Saberi to be Freed

Good news on a Monday! From Reuters:

TEHRAN (Reuters) - An Iranian appeals court has reduced the eight-year jail sentence for Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi to a suspended two-year term and she will soon be freed, her defense lawyer told Reuters on Monday.

Lawyer Abdolsamad Khorramshahi was speaking a day after the court heard the case of Saberi, who was jailed by a lower court on April 18 on charges of spying for the United States.

"The appeals court ... has reduced her jail sentence from eight years to two years of suspended sentence ... and she will soon be free," Khorramshahi told Reuters.

He said Saberi will be banned from doing any reporting work in Iran for five years.

Saberi's father Reza said he and his wife Akiko were on their way to Tehran's Evin jail, where their daughter has been held since late January, "to bring our daughter back home."

Reza Saberi told Reuters his daughter would be allowed to leave Iran.

Roxana Saberi Convicted in Iran

Update: In a statement, Hillary Clinton said "that she's 'deeply disappointed' by an Iranian court's conviction on Saturday of Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi on espionage charges, and promised to "vigorously raise our concerns to the Iranian government."

Roxana Saberi has been tried, behind closed doors, and sentenced to eight years in prison in Iran.

Her lawyer Abdolsamad Khoramshahi vows to appeal.

No comment yet from our State Department or president who was last seen shaking hands with terrorist-sponsor Hugh Chavez.

Iran does not appear to be interested in the good will and mutual trust that Obama spoke of in his New Year video message; a face-saving option for them would be to immediately deport Saberi after her conviction, but instead she will spend eight years in notorious Evin prison which does not have a favorable record.

According to CPJ (Committee to Protect Journalists), "at least two journalists have died ‎there in the last six years amid circumstances that have not been fully explained. Omidreza Mirsayafi, a blogger serving ‎a 30-month sentence on a charge of insulting ‎religious figures, died at the prison in March under mysterious circumstances.‎ In July 2003, Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi died from a brain hemorrhage that resulted from a beating at Evin Prison. An intelligence agent charged in the killing was acquitted after a flawed trial. Kazemi had been jailed because she took photographs outside the prison."

Iran's press freedom record is one of the poorest in the region. In addition to Saberi, at least five editors ‎and writers are currently imprisoned in Iran, CPJ research shows.

It has been suggested that Iran is using this case as a tool for a prisoner exchange for Iranian political prisoners. Whatever the case, Saberi is an American citizen and the State Department should use whatever means necessary to help her.

It is unconscionable that she should be left to rot in an Iranian prison for eight years, especially given the horrific track record of Iran with female prisoners.

Related posts:
Roxana Saberi Formally Charged

Update on Roxana Saberi

The Case of Roxana Saberi

Roxana Saberi Video Update

If you've been following the Roxana Saberi case, as I have, you might be interested in this video. There's nothing new or news breaking in it, but it's interesting to watch.

At last report, Saberi is still awaiting trial on espionage charges; her parents are in Iran and vow now to leave without her. You can read the backstory here, here, here and here.



h/t: Huffington Post

Dasy, Roxana and the Masters

Thank goodness I am finally out for Spring Break! It was a long time coming this year. The kids have been alternately wild and exhausted and the teachers haven't been much better. Time for a break.

My plans for Spring Break include nothing more exciting than some spring cleaning, some blogging, a Tea Party, yard work, and reading. Down time!

As far as the news goes, I'm sort of behind on things this week. The story that has caught my attention this week has actually NOT been about D'Ohbama and his Apology Tour of Europe, but about Marcus Luttrell's dog. That story just breaks my heart. I've been upset about Dasy all week, and then I read this:

"Luttrell said he’s left town for now and wants to stay as far away as he can. Talking from a place he described as 'the middle of nowhere,' Luttrell said he knows the attack on Dasy pushed him to a place where he doesn’t want to be.

“'I was trying to talk myself out of being who I am,' he said. 'Talking to myself about not doing the one thing I am good at.'”

So say a prayer for Marcus Luttrell and be thankful there are guys like him. Here is Brandon Friedman's post about the incident and an embed of Luttrell's Glenn Beck interview.

The other news story that I'm just fixated on is the Roxana Saberi story as you can tell by my frequent updates on this blog about it. Part of what bothers me about that story is the willingness of people to blame her rather than have compassion for her. "Well she shouldn't have been over there in the first place!" Bah. Her situation looks grim, so hold a kind thought for her and her family. And don't forget that American Robert Levinson is over there somewhere also. What exactly is our State Dept. doing about these folks? Enough?

The Masters is calling from my television. Nothing in the world prettier than Augusta in April.

Happy Spring Break to me!

(Photo: Dasy, courtesy of Marcus Luttrell via Houston Chronicle)

Roxana Saberi Formally Charged

Roxana Saberi has been formally charged in Iran as a spy.

The maximum penalty for espionage in Iran is the death penalty, but in 2000 ten Iranian Jews received prison sentences for similar charges, ranging from four to thirteen years; it is believed that the Revolutionary Court possible caved in to international pressure in that case.

With that as background knowledge, our diplomats in Washington need to be applying pressure to save Roxana Saberi. She holds both American and Iranian citizenship although Iran does not recognize dual citizenship. So far the Happy New Year video hasn't helped her much.

Her parents have been able to visit her and her father is vowing to stay in Iran until she is released.

To get the background on her case read here and here.

Update: WSJ has more here.

Update2: There is now a FreeRoxana Twitter you can follow.

Roxana's Parents in Iran

Roxana Saberi's parents are scheduled to arrive in Tehran this weekend as they continue efforts to have their daughter released from an Iranian prison.

From the LATimes:

An Iranian judiciary official told reporters a month ago that Saberi would be released in days.

U.S. officials said they handed Iranians a letter on the sidelines of a conference Tuesday in the Netherlands requesting the release of Saberi, Iranian American student Esha Momeni and former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who disappeared during a trip to Iran two years ago. Iran's Foreign Ministry has denied the receipt of such a letter.

Iranian officials said Saberi was arrested after continuing to work as a journalist even though her official credentials had been revoked. She told her father she was detained after buying a bottle of wine, illegal but generally tolerated in the Islamic Republic.

But the length and nature of her detention suggests she may be facing more serious security charges. A judiciary official said last month that she was arrested because of unspecified "illegal activities" on a warrant issued by Iran's Revolutionary Court, which frequently tries cases of espionage and national security.

Let's hope that progress is made here and that Roxana Saberi, Levinson, and Momeni are soon freed as well as the two journalists currently being held in North Korea.

Related posts here and here.

Upate on Roxana Saberi

International Herald Tribune reports today that Swiss diplomats are pressing Iranian officials to let them visit American journalist Roxana Saberi who has been imprisoned in Iran without charge since January. Initially reports were that she was picked up for buying a bottle of wine, then it was reported that she was working as a reporter while her credentials had expired, then it was said that she was arrested at the order of the revolutionary court.

Roxana's father said Tuesday that she had been told by a prosecutor she may be imprisoned for months or even years despite previous reports that she would be released in a few days. When the Iranian New Year holiday commenced and Roxana was still imprisoned, her family realized it would be at least a couple more weeks until she was released as government offices all but shut down during the holiday. This new report is even more grim. Her father is terribly concerned about her mental state.

In early March, Hassan Haddad, Tehran's deputy prosecutor for security matters, said she would be freed "within a few days." But when the family's lawyer attempted to make a bail payment, he was told that officials"cannot free her now," her father said.

There is a pattern here that concerns her parents. What of Robert Levinson? The former FBI agent, and father of 7, disappeared in March 2007 while on a business trip to Iran. He was investigating a cigarette smuggling case for private clients. Because of poor diplomatic relations between the United States and Iran his case was not aggressively addressed.

The St. Petersburg Times reported in February of this year:

"Florida's Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Robert Wexler have also filed a joint resolution in Congress calling for Iran to cooperate and provide information about the former agent. The resolution would require that the Obama administration raise Levinson's case "at every opportunity" in talks about Iran.

Nelson says he believes Levinson is being held by the Iranian government in a secret prison, and urged Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at her confirmation hearing last month to take up the case."

Unless I missed it, Obama missed a chance to bring it up in his Happy New Year message he sent to Iran.

The St. Petersburg Times continues:

"I feel it's very important that nobody forget about Bob," [Mrs. Levinson] said in a phone interview. "Politics is not my game. But I believe that the Iranians have the ability to find Bob and bring him home to me."

Another factor that is surely on the minds of the Saberis would certainly be the fate of Iranian blogger Omid-Reza Mirsayafi who died last week in the same prison that holds Roxana Saberi. He was arrested when he found out that he had been summoned to court; when he realized "that he may end up with a prison sentnece, he wrote an email to friends. He said he felt powerless to withstand what torture he would face in prison."

Bret Stephens of WSJ writes that "Mirsayafi's forebodings proved well-justified. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports that he was taken to the prison hospital shortly before his death with an irregular pulse. "The doctor told [the prison authorities] how to treat him, asked him to send him to a city hospital," Mirsayafi's lawyer told RFE/RL's Radio Farda. "But they ignored the doctor and said [Mirsayafi] was faking his illness. The doctor said, 'his heartbeat is 40 per minute, you can't fake that.' But they sent the doctor out of the room." Prison authorities ruled the death a suicide; Mirsayafi was only 25."

Both Saberi and Levinson are Americans. Mirsayafi was Iranian. It doesn't seem to matter to the Iranians what nationality you are; in fact, Saberi holds dual citizenship.

After my last post on Saberi, I received stunning comments via email and on Free Republic that "she got what she deserved" by going to Iran; that she "knew what she was getting into and was only there to sympathize in the first place" and that she willingly violated the laws of the country by buying alcohol. The fact is, she likely was not arrested because she bought alcohol. And what did Levinson do? And why are we so into blaming the victim?

Both Saberi and Levinson are American citizens and before Obama extends the olive branch and praises Iran for their sweetness and light, for their contributions in making the "world a more beautiful place" he might do well to address gaining the release of these American citizens.

Again, here is the place to keep up with breaking developments on Roxana. Here is the Facebook page. And here is the Twitter feed.

Here is a help page for Bob Levinson.

As Americans we need to be concerned about these cases; we need to do whatever we can to secure their release and support their families. Report these on your blogs, write letters, contact Congress, the White House, and don't forget them.

The Case of Roxana Saberi

Roxana Saberi, an American citizen and a native of Fargo, N.D., has been held in a Tehran prison since the end of January. Her parents said she has dual citizenship in Iran and America. She is a freelance journalist who has done work for NPR and British Broadcasting Corp.

The Iranian government says she was doing reporting work after her credentials expired and they picked her up two months ago after she bought a bottle of wine. While alcohol is illegal, her action was not uncommon and her parents feel as if this was simply an excuse to arrest her.

According to the National Press Photographers Association, Hasan Quahqavi, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, said that Saberi was "engaged in illegal activities" because she had continued to work as a journalist in Iran after the country revoked her press credentials in 2006.

Saberi's parents have contacted the Iranian ambassador to the U.N., the U.N. high commissioner on human rights and the North Dakota House and Senate have passed a resolution backing her. Saberei's mother is from Japan and her family is hoping that the good relations between Japan and Iran will help secure her release. Human Rights Watch has called the Iranian government pressing for her release.

Ms. Saberi moved to Iran six years ago to work as a journalist and to complete her master's degree in Iranian studies. A New York Times report says that she "has frequently tackled subjects that skirt the edges of taboo" and that in 2007 she posted a report about women being arrested in Iran "as part of 'a new wave of Iran’s nationwide morality crackdown against fashions deemed un-Islamic.'"

The Washington Post has an article today about the Iranian government's pattern of harassment and detention of women. They say "Saberi's arrest and delayed release are the latest twists in a frightening pattern of harassment and detainment of women and dual nationals by Iran's Intelligence Ministry, whose clout and reach have expanded under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The ministry is behind a stepped-up campaign to silence female writers, journalists and peaceful activists."

Iranian press reports that she will be released soon, but her parents are concerned about her welfare. Her father said, "We don’t want anything to happen to our daughter. She’s young and she hasn’t had this kind of experience in life. It’s hard on her. I’m worried she may have a nervous breakdown.” Her family had hoped for her release before the Iranian New Year holiday which is sure to slow things down. Schools are closed during the two week holiday and government offices are either closed or half-staffed.

There is a great site to keep up with developments on the case here. There is also a Facebook page. Here is the Twitter Real Time search on her.

Update:
Thanks to Legal Insurrection for the link!
Bill Kristol puts it into perspective here.