11 May 2009
United States Heartened by Saberi’s Release from Iranian Prison
Washington — The United States is heartened by the release of Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi from Tehran’s Evin prison after an Iranian appeals court cut her eight-year prison term to a two-year suspended sentence, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said.
“I just spoke to the Swiss ambassador to the United States, who confirms, as the protecting power, that Roxana Saberi has been released from prison,” Clinton said May 11 at the opening of the daily State Department press briefing.
Saberi, a freelance journalist who often worked for U.S. National Public Radio and the British Broadcasting Corporation and other news agencies, had been arrested in late January for buying a bottle of wine, which is a crime in Iran. But the charges against her were increased to working without a press card — hers had expired in 2006 — and then to spying for the United States. She was tried and convicted during a closed-door, one-hour trial April 13 and sentenced to an eight-year prison term.
Her lawyers argued for her release May 10 before an Iranian appeals court. Iranian judiciary spokesman Alireza Jamshidi told the official IRNA news agency May 11 that “in consideration of this ruling, naturally she will be freed.” Under the terms of her revised sentence, Saberi is banned from reporting from Iran for five years, according to her attorney, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi.
Saberi was reunited with her parents outside the prison and immediately left for a home in which they were staying in Tehran until they leave the country, according to news reports. Saberi, who grew up in Fargo, North Dakota, had been living in Iran for six years at the time of her arrest.
Her father, Reza Saberi, told the Associated Press that “in the next few days, we will make travel plans to return home.”
The White House said President Obama was relieved to learn that Saberi had been released, and that the president looks forward to welcoming her back to the United States. “We want to stress that she was wrongly accused. But we welcome this humanitarian gesture,” presidential press secretary Robert Gibbs said at the May 11 daily press briefing.
Clinton said the United States continues “to take issue with the charges against her and the verdicts rendered. But we are very heartened that she has been released and wish her and her family all of the very best we can send their way.”
State Department acting spokesman Ian Kelly said the United States views the decision as exactly what it is: “We see it as a humanitarian gesture. We were very focused on her safety and her security and trying to get her released.”
“We will continue to press for the safe return of all American citizens detained in Iran, including Esha Momeni.”
Esha Momeni is a graduate student at California State University-Northridge. She was arrested by Iranian officials October 15, 2008, in Tehran for allegedly unlawfully passing another vehicle while driving. Momeni was in Tehran conducting graduate research on the Iranian women’s movement at the time of her detention in the same Evin prison where Saberi was detained.
Previously, the United States expressed concern for the arrest and conviction of Silva Harotonian, who was arrested June 26, 2008, and charged with unspecified activities related to promoting a “velvet revolution” in Iran. “We once again urge Iran’s leadership to grant the release of Ms. Harotonian. The charges against her are without foundation,” the State Department said in a prepared statement May 6.
Kelly said the United States continues to have many concerns about Iran, including the human rights situation. “It was something that we had very deep concerns over, and we ... right up [to] today were working through our Swiss colleagues in Tehran who represent our interests.”
The United States communicates with the Iranian government through the Swiss Embassy, as the protecting power, in Tehran. The United States broke diplomatic relations with Iran on April 7, 1980, after Iranian students seized the U.S. Embassy on November 4, 1979, and held the embassy staff hostage. On April 24, 1981, the Swiss government assumed representation of U.S. interests in Tehran.
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