Iran sentences American Journalist to 8 years for spying
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This is one of those stories where an individual's predicament has a direct effect on international relations, and at a time which could not be worse for Iran. Perhaps sensing the ramifications, Iran's President Ahmadinejad just released a statement calling for a full defense of Saberi. Hard-line clerics in Iran would like nothing more than to stall restoring a semblance of normal relations with the U.S. And since it is they, not the token leader Ahmadinejad who runs the show there it's hard to say where this will all end. There are also elections in June to consider when their current president could easily be replaced.
(Associated Press) 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.
Hmmmm trial behind closed doors……doesn’t sound good…….
Elections are coming up…maybe someone new will be open to talks..
I would hate to be in Iran jail……(gulp)
LuLu
She could have been tried in the US under the Military Commissions Act and denied an actual defense and tortured for evidence. That's assuming they even bothered with a trial.
Wingnuts don't understand this concept, though. They could do damn near anything they wanted to her and we would have no standing to oppose or criticize them because of what Shrub did this past eight years.
woodguy
and you are so right!
Women in Iran face widespread discrimination under the law. They do not have equal rights with men in marriage, divorce, child custody and inheritance, for example.
They point out that women have not been able to run for president or serve as judges.
Iranian women have been fighting back – peacefully
The government has responded harshly: campaign members have been beaten, imprisoned, fined, lashed. Websites supporting the campaign have been blocked.
Kurdish student Hana Abdi was released from prison after spending nearly 16 months in detention. She had been charged with "enmity against God" and "gathering and colluding to harm national security". (which by the way carries a death sentence)
According to Amnesty International:
Roxana Saberi was brought before a Revolutionary Court in Tehran on 13 April 2009 and charged with espionage, in proceedings that took place behind closed doors. She appears to be a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for the peaceful exercise of her right to freedom of expression in the course of her work as a journalist. The charge of espionage appears to be politically motivated, and she appears to have been targeted because of her US nationality.
LuLu
And just because we have torture here doesn`t make it right...your argument of- we do it so none of us have a right to oppose it somewhere else is morally bankrupt and you know it. I am against it in the US and anywhere else........
I should keep quiet and just hope that governments relax their restrictions on human rights. It’s that kind of fear that leads to the continuing abuse of human rights across the world.
Since when has it become out of fashion not to fight for what you believe in????? Ohh that's right someone would scream hypocrisy...
HUMAN RIGHTS - is all inclusive, whether it suits you or not.
LuLu
recent development, from googlenews page:
Iranian President Asks Court to Reconsider Spy Case
New York Times - 1 hour ago
By NAZILA FATHI TEHRAN - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a rare effort to intervene in the justice system, urged the national security court on Sunday to fairly examine the cases of an Iranian-American journalist and an Iranian-Canadian blogger.
Iran's President Calls for Fair Treatment for Detained Journalist Voice of America
http://news.google.com/news?pz=1&ncl=13341045...
he knew about the case before the verdict
if he could or wanted to do anything, the time was during the show trial....not after
she is not a spy...if she were, she woulda gotten the death penalty
the death penalty - even if she were guilty.
i found this yesterday and posted it at TP:
For nearly three months, Ms Saberi has been held in Evin prison, Tehran.
It soon became clear the bottle of wine was only a pretext. She was accused of operating as a journalist without a valid press pass.
Then, in a space of barely 10 days, she was charged with the much more serious offence of spying, tried and sentenced to eight years in prison.
It is a tough sentence, even on such a grave allegation.
The evidence has never been published, the trial was held in secret and her father claims she was tricked into making a false confession.
Suspicions raised
It all raises deep suspicions over whether this case has been hijacked by hardliners within the Iranian government, eager to sabotage any reconciliation with the United States.
Ever since President Obama started reaching out to the government of President Ahmadinejad, it has been clear that the government here is sceptical of his intentions, and confused about how to respond.
The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, has suggested there is no difference between President Obama and his predecessor, George W Bush. Sometimes it seems as if the government here pines for the certainties of the Bush era.
[…]
Already through this case the Iranians have moved the agenda from the nuclear programme that the United States would like to focus on.
They have a bargaining chip to use in talks, perhaps to use as they press for the release of Iranians still held in Iraq.
Or perhaps the Iranians are preparing for a show of mercy, ready to dispatch Roxana Saberi back to the United States.
But for the moment this case is moving Iran and the United States back into conflict, before reconciliation even had a chance to begin.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/800641...
She will be used as a pawn.That was the first thing came to my mind. Such a horrible travesty.
Iran is doing themselves no favor with this sentence. At a time when the saber-rattling could be muffled, they are lending credibility to the wingnut claims of evil empire whereby the swords may come back out.
The only good that can come of this is to use political pressure to get this reporter out of there. I don’t want to see more warships in the Persian Gulf due to the backwards beliefs of Iranian clerics.
she isn't a spy? Wouldn't be the first nor last.
to play devil's advocate.
I wish you'd change your friggin name and stop embarrassing us. Go over to faux where your blather will sound familiar.
we live in the fishbowl you can't observe the fish in the bowl from within it.
It hasn't been mentioned ANYWHERE that she's innocent. You've never heard of spies?
even within our own Government.
Of course she could be a spy. I’d be willing to bet that if she did come back to the States (or any of our consulates) in the 7 years she lived in Iran, she was at least debriefed and asked hours worth of questions.
But what’s the point? She is either a young female journalist, or a young female journalist that worked as a spy. And now she’s sentenced to 8 years in an Iranian prison. If she wasn’t a spy, this is a travesty of justice. If she was, she is in need of the full support of our Gov to help get her out.
I would think, however, that if the Iranian courts had anything at all as evidence against this reporter, we would have heard of it ala Gary Powers.
would convict an innocent person unless they were an Afghan detainee. Who would do such a thing.
Who indeed?
and torture them. oh my, who would do such a heinous crime?
Bite my shiny metal ass.
http://www.startalkradio.net/
They sure showed her didn't they: http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/kazemi/ And, for the record, US intelligence officers are forbidden to use journalism as a cover for precisely this reason.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
The CIA has been using journalism as a cover for agents since it was created.
I mean an american journalist who works for the BBC and NPR in Iran. It's not like she can hide with that label on her neck.
From an article in Rolling Stone by Carl Bernstein:
Many journalists were used by the CIA [as agents] and they had the reputation of being among the best in the business. The peculiar nature of the job of the foreign correspondent is ideal for such work; he is accorded unusual access, by his host country, permitted to travel in areas often off-limits to other Americans, spends much of his time cultivating sources in governments, academic institutions, the military establishment and the scientific communities. He has the opportunity to form long-term personal relationships with sources and -- perhaps more than any other category of American operative -- is in a position to make correct judgments about the susceptibility and availability of foreign nationals for recruitment as spies.
Hmmm...I've been on here longer than you, and you think I'm a troll? Ya, ok. Whatever.
oh, that's a good argument....NOT!
Bite my shiny metal ass.
http://www.startalkradio.net/
and I think ConcernedCanuck makes an excellent point. The CIA has been using journalism as a cover for agents since their inception. I'm not saying she is a spy and even if she is I hope she is treated humanely and is returned home safe ASAP. However, if we are trying to think rationally rather then emotionally the chance that she is a spy is a real one.
Nothing to see here, time to move on, because there's nothing we can knowledgeably comment upon.
What does she have access to?
She should have pictures, videos, a computer, a journal.
Whether or not they'll be reasonable and acknowledge the evidence or lack thereof is another story.
Seals.
guitars.
... if the Obama Administration is going to ignore the entire fracking chain of accountability regarding torture, then we have no moral authority to say anything to Iran on how they're treating a journalist.
None.
Thanks, Rahm. Thanks, Barack.
Ignore what?! he has shut down gitmo, allowed court proceeding to continue with little to no redaction and you think this is somehow his fault? What fucking rethug koolaid are you drinking?
that is news to the detainees still locked up there.
you think we should just fucking open the doors without due process? I mean no disrespect, but there is a middle ground between letting known terrorists go run amuck and putting them in prisons to be tortured outside the boundaries of the law.
It is unfortunate that will be a process, but geez, we are moving forward thoughtfully and will positive intentions. It won't be perfect but geez....
In conclusion, the right wing nut jobs don't have the market cornered on stupid, let's avoid falling into that ideological over basic common sense trap.
Go tell Zahra Kazemi's family that.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
Roxana went to Iran in 2003 to learn the culture and write a book. Her first mistake was doing work as a freelancer for Fox News. In 2004 Dick Cheney leaked CIA Covert Agent Plame's name as she was working in Iran. 4 months later 2/3 of the CIA Covert Agents resigned in fear the White House would expose their ID. Many of the Iranians working with Plame and helping her for the US were killed.. The CIA got the young lady to pass information. Iran knows the CIA used her and she did do something wrong but she's not an experienced spy. Obama and Hillary know this lady was used too. Notice how well she's treated as a prisoner while the US is now known for kidnapping innocent people and holding them for 7 years without charges we're so sick we torture children. No room for the US to cry Human Rights violations anymore as we are no longer giving Human Rights. We will see the truth come out and a light sentance will be given. What's sad is how the US used this innocent woman and now here dream is gone. If Cheney hadn't leaked Plame's name none of this would have happen.
...the earliest reports on the Saberi case mentioned her working for FOX, but recent reports do not.
Obama has to remember Bush/Cheney committed War Crimes as the people kidnapped and tortured were innocent Foreigners not Americans. By the Obama Administration protecting the agents who followed orders it leaves the United Nations and other countries to file their charges. Spain is just the first others will follow. Eric Holder has to deal with the crimes the Bush Administration did to the American people. If Obama had a trial for Bush/Cheney in the US knowing their are corrupt Judges who would quickly dismiss the charges. Cheney was smart to line the courts with Loyal Judges who would protect them. Remember even the Supreme Court was line with Loyal Republicans. One mistake was Chief Judges Roberts. Roberts was asked to resign by his own Party because he made a human mistake in front of close to one milllion people in the freezing cold looking at him, let alone it was the first time he sworn in a President. Let's see how Robert thinks now as he contiunes his job. Nothing like knowing who your real friends are.
The US Justice System is back and we are now following the Law our country was founded on. Now Americans got use to the corrupt Justice System and think that's how it works. Eric Holder is using the same Justice that we had before Bush took office. Bush is an international War Criminal, not one American is held in Gitmo. Americans had no problem following Bush/Cheney's orders so Holder has to deal with the crimes against the American citizens done by the Bush Administration. No wonder President Obama has to educate people during his speeches most don't remember what the Law was in 1999.
For six years, an innocent journalist was imprisoned with no charges, no trial, constantly shifting allegations, brutal treatment, no visits with family and not even a phone call home... by the U.S. government.
Hopefully humanity will one day learn to be humane.
it is possible that she might have been engaging in some espionage on behalf of the United States.
Not to engage in lookism, but the fact that she is quite an attractive young lady makes her an ideal cause celebre. However, I wonder if this is a situation best handled quietly behind the scenes.
At least she had a trial! We have imprisoned, abused, tortured and killed so many people over the last eight years that one journalist shouldn't make any difference.
Oh, wait! Only we can imprison, abuse, torture and kill people without evidence! Face facts. We could hand over the Iranians that we kidnapped years ago, but that would amount to an admission of guilt on the part of the US government.
Our War of Terror is hurting everyone except the terrorists. Another failed US policy gone insane.
North Korea said this week that it would put the two American journalists (Laura Ling and Euna Lee) on trial, and suggested that they could face years in a prison camp.
North Koreans scoffed at any suggestion that the Americans were receiving harsh treatment.
"They laughed. 'We are not Guantanamo.'
Hopefully humanity will one day learn to be humane.
It's the thing the dim-witted GOP doesn't seem to get:
If WE arrest people on suspicion,
If WE hold people without charges,
If WE torture people to get information,
WE can't say a damn word when anyone else does it.
The real tragedy will be for those people on the front lines who are captured. How the GOP could be so bloody fucking stupid when they tout to be such defenders of our American military is beyond me. I hate every one of those bastards and hope to hell they swing by their necks.
Honorable men and women will suffer and die because of their fucked up egos and incompetence. This is but the tip of the iceberg.
Luckily we only employ unprovoked attacks against unarmed opponents, without the budget or military to defend themselves.
So there are very few personnel at the front lines.
Our moral high ground -- if we ever held it at all, which I doubt -- is now completely undercut.
Gone.
Because of the Bush Crime Syndicate.
Any reich-wingers on this board? The hell with you all.
No matter what country or continent we come from we are all basically the same human beings. We have the common human needs and concerns. We all seek happiness and try to avoid suffering regardless of our race, religion, or political status.
Human rights should be everyone's business ...I not going to shut up about it-EVER
LuLu
My thought is, "What the fuck is anybody doing 'acting' as a reporter in Iran, and a female at that???? Note to other foreign females working in Muslim countries: Your headscarf won't protect you. Full time consideration of another endeavor might be in order.
Enjoy.
Mom always told me I was special and I believed her.
Because it's a total waste of a hot chick.
when i was in college in the 70's i met many iranians that were here as exchange students under the shah's regime. i found them to be extremely cultured, affable, educated, funny, and easy to get along with. when the shah fell they disappeared, all going back to iran. i miss them. from having known them i hardly think that they are enjoying the hard line policies of the theocracy that strangles that great nation's progress in so many ways.
i'd like to think that some day they might find their way out from under the regressive influence of the mullahs.
this is the same kind of bullshit
you would see in this country if the
reichwingnuttia fuckers ever get in power.,
the gop has sh*t-for-brains when it comes
to anything outside their single digit IQs
The last ethnic group that Iran attacked and killed more than 1,500 men, women, children was __________________
The last country Iran invaded and killed in excess of 1,000,000 men women and children was _________________
*this is an open book test.
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=h...
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