Saberi's father: Iran's 'positive gestures'
I have just managed to get through to journalist Roxana Saberi‘s father, Reza, on the phone in Tehran.
He and her mother, Akiko, have run the gamut of emotions these last three days – from despair on Saturday when their daughter was sentenced to eight years imprisonment for espionage, to hope today, after the chief of the judiciary ordered a full investigation into her case.
His intervention comes a day after Iran’s President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said Roxana should be given the right to defend herself on appeal.
“I think these things are positive gestures on the side of the Iranian government and I hope they will bear fruit,” said Reza Saberi.
Roxana’s parents visited her in Evin prison today. “She’s still frail and we hope she won’t go on hunger strike,” he said. “We encouraged her not to do it. It’s not the right way because she’s too frail.”
He was optimistic that her appeal could be entered as soon as next week.
This really is an extraordinary case. First it seemed that Roxana had been picked up for buying a bottle of wine, then the Iranian authorities suggested that her “crime” was to work as a journalist after her accreditation had been withdrawn, and then they suddenly accused her of espionage, tried her in secret and issued a verdict within a few days.
Latest Channel 4 News video report:
The fact that President Ahmadinejad has intervened seemingly on her behalf suggests that his faction of government does not approve of this irregular process. Or maybe he’s trying to keep his options open for renewed relations with America, and he suddenly realised how damaging this case could be.
President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton have both talked about it, and the story is now big news in America.
Not that President Ahmadinejad cares much if he gets bad headlines in the USA. Today his comments equating Zionism with racism caused a walkout by European delegates at the UN Anti-racism conference in Geneva.
The Americans, having predicted that he’d hijack the conference, had boycotted it – getting their retaliation in first. One step forwards for Roxana, one step back for rapprochement between the US and Iran.
– Lindsey’s previous blog posts on Roxana Saberi are here and here.