In Iran, Roxana Saberi sentenced to eight years in prison

          
          In Iran, Roxam Saberi senterced to eight years in prison. Contttee to P... lttp://cpj .org/2009/04/in-iran-roxana-saberi-senterced-to-eight-years-in.php
          a:
          cPJ
          Committee to Protect Journalists
          Defending Journal is: s Worldwide
          In Iran, Roxana Saberi sentenced to eight years in
          prison
          New York, April 18, 2009--An Iranian court convicted journalist Roxana Saberi of espionage and sentenced her to eight
          years in prison today following a closed, one-day trial earlier this week, according to international news reports. Her
          lawyer said he will appeal. “Roxana Saberi's trial lacked transparency and we are concerned that she may not have
          been treated fairly,” said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ's Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. “We call on
          the Iranian authorities to release her on bail pending her appeal.”
          Her father, Reza Saberi, told NPR from Tehran that he was not allowed into the courtroom to hear the verdict.
          Saberi, 31, an Iranian-American freelancer, was first detained (http:Ilcpj.org/2009/03
          / us-iournalist-held-in-iran-without-charqe.php) in January, although no formal charges
          were disclosed. She told her family that she was initially held for buying a bottle of wine.
          A spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry said later that Saberi, left, was being detained
          at Tehran's Evin Prison for reporting without proper accreditation.
          Living in Iran since 2003, Saberi has filed reports for NPR, Fox News, the BBC, and
          other international news organizations before her press credentials were revoked in
          2006 by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, which accredits reporters working
          for foreign news organizations. According to NPR, Saberi continued to file short news
          items with government permission.
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          AFP
          Hassan Haddad, deputy public prosecutor, told the Iranian Students News Agency
          ( ISNA ( http:iisna.ir/lSNNNewsView.aspx?lD=News-1314013) ) on April 8 that Saberi
          had been charged with espionage. “Without press credentials and under the name of
          being a reporter, she was carrying out espionage activities,” Haddad said. On Monday, Saberi appeared before a
          Revolutionary Court for a one-day trial that was closed to the public, Iranian judiciary spokesman Alireza Jamshidi told
          ( http:llcpi.org/2009/04/in-iran-saberi-appears-in-a-closed-revolutionary-c.php) a news conference in Tehran.
          More than 10,000 people worldwide have signed a CPJ petition (http://cpi.org/2009/03/cpi-calls-for-iranian-presidents-
          intervention-in-s.php) urging that Saberi receive due process and be released as quickly as possible. CPJ presented the
          petition to the Islamic Republic of Iran's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York in March. The U.S. State
          Department has also sought (http://cpi.org/blog/2009/03/saberis-parents-go-to-iran-state-department-calls.php ) Saberi's
          release.
          Political prisoners are often jailed at Evin Prison. At least two journalists have died there in the last six years amid
          circumstances that have not been fully explained, CPJ research shows. Omidreza Mirsayafi (http:Ilcpi.org 12009 103
          / blogger-iailed-for-insulting-leaders-dies-in-irans.php)' , 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
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          In Iran, Roxam Saberi senterced to eight years in prison. Comn'dttee to P. ,. lttp://cpj .org/2009/04/in-iran-roxana-saberi-sentemed-to-eight-years-in.php
          photojournalist Zahra Kazemi (http:llcpj.orq/2004/07/qovernment-aqent-acguitted-in-photoqraphers-death.php) 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 (http://cpj.orq/imprisoned/2008.php#iran ) in Iran, CPJ research shows. Adnan Hassanpour
          ( http:Ilcpj.orq/2007/O8liranian-journalist-sentenced-to-death-in-closed-tr.php) , editor of the now-defunct Kurdish-Persian
          weekly Aso in Iran's northwestern province of Kurdistan, is jailed on charges of espionage and “working for outlawed
          parties.” Arrested in January 2007, Hassanpour was initially sentenced to death. A court of appeal overturned
          ( http://cpj.orq/2008/09/court-overturns-death-sentence-but-journalist-face.php) the death sentence in September 2008.
          April 18, 2009 7:21 AM El I Permalink (hftp://cpj.org/2009/04/in-iran-roxana-saberi-sentenced-to-eiqht-years-in.php )
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