BulletWounD
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Iran accuses journalist of spying
An Iranian-American journalist who has been detained in Iran since January has been accused of spying, according to her lawyer.
Roxana Saberi, held in Evin prison in Tehran since late January, will appear in court next week, the lawyer said.
Originally she had been accused of the less serious offence of buying a bottle of wine.
The authorities then alleged she had been working as a journalist without a valid press card.
Now the deputy public prosecutor has accused her of the very serious crime of spying.
By not saying anything when the DPRK took two American journalists hostage one month ago, the Obama administration has sent a loud and clear message to the tyrants of the world: "We don't care."
The arrest of this journalist in Iran was in January, prior to the arrest of the American journalists in the DPRK.
TEHRAN, April 14 (UPI) -- Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi will receive a verdict in her Tehran spying trial within weeks, Iranian officials said Tuesday.
A spokesman for Iran's judiciary, Alireza Jamshidi Saberi, told the semiofficial Mehr News Agency that Saberi, who freelanced for National Public Radio and the BBC, had completed her defense against spying charges at a trial Monday, CNN reported.
"Jamshidi emphasized that since Roxana Saberi's last defense statement has been completed, therefore the verdict should be forthcoming within the next couple of weeks," Mehr reported.
Officials say Saberi, who grew up in Fargo, N.D., and held dual U.S. and Iranian citizenship, has confessed to espionage charges, allegedly admitting her work for the media organizations was a cover.
Her father, Reza Saberi, told CNN his daughter initially thought she had been detained for buying wine. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi
I know I'm probably going to get lambasted, but how do we know she wasn't a spy? I mean, we DO spy on other countries and Iran is definitely one of those countries. She's the perfect candidate to conduct clandestine operations for the intelligence community; dual citizen, background in journalism/photography, female. Sometimes spies get caught.
I'm just saying...
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.
I know I'm probably going to get lambasted, but how do we know she wasn't a spy? I mean, we DO spy on other countries and Iran is definitely one of those countries. She's the perfect candidate to conduct clandestine operations for the intelligence community; dual citizen, background in journalism/photography, female. Sometimes spies get caught.
I'm just saying...
She will most likely not live long enough to finish her 8 year sentence and be realeased. Something has got to be done about this.
We should complain to the UN.She will most likely not live long enough to finish her 8 year sentence and be realeased. Something has got to be done about this.
I know I'm probably going to get lambasted, but how do we know she wasn't a spy? I mean, we DO spy on other countries and Iran is definitely one of those countries. She's the perfect candidate to conduct clandestine operations for the intelligence community; dual citizen, background in journalism/photography, female. Sometimes spies get caught.
I'm just saying...
Hate to say it but, because she was on their soil illegaly I don't believe there is anything we can do.
If our leaders raised a really big public outcry over this then they set themselves up for a really big embarrassment over the outcome which is completely and legally in Iran's control.
Good point.
Maybe the reason the U.S. is making such a fuss is because she is a spy.
Of course, most spies are disavowed (not acknowledged) when they are discovered.
Precisely. Standard operating procedure for the government is to disavow any association and affirm the cover-story. Either way, I have no desire to see her fate decided by the Iranian "justice" system, but that is the price you pay for either:
a. Being a spy.
or
b. Going to Iran.
Americans, even dual citizens, should not go to Iran, and it would be a shame if this situation derailed President Obama's diplomatic efforts in the region. Not that I'm very supportive of the means he chooses to employ but I can empathize with the ends he seeks, and I also believe a President should fail not by mere virtue of happenstance but of their own volition.
Having said that, I feel it is appropriate for President Obama to take somewhat of a middle position in regards to this woman's imprisonment. Yes, he should voice his disapproval but only to a certain degree. Why should we sacrifice an entire political agenda for a person who, at the very least, was careless or, at the very worst, really was a spy? Diplomatic relations with Iran effect the entire world and this woman's safety is not sufficient cause disrupt the President's international agenda. Tragic, yes. Unfair, no.
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