Last weekend, activists from around the world met for a summit on the human rights situation in Iran. Over the next few podcasts, you’ll hear interviews from some of the people speaking there, at the University of Maryland.
This week, Roxanna Saberi, on freedom of the press. The young Iranian-American journalist spent six years reporting in Iran, before she was arrested last year. She was convicted of spying, and sentenced to eight years. But an appeals court reduced the charge, and she was released in May, 2009, after 100 days in the notorious Evin Prison. I asked her if she had any plans to return to Iran… Listen to the interview:

The Campaign called upon the Judiciary to allow representatives of the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC), a group led by Nobel Peace Laureate and human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi, to observe the trial, which will take place next week.

“In the absence of independent observers, Saberi’s prosecution will continue to lack legitimacy and will further deprive her of due process,” said Campaign spokesperson Hadi Ghaemi.

“Here’s a chance for the Iranian justice system to demonstrate its impartiality and independence from the Intelligence Ministry. But the planned secret appeals trial can be manipulated by the intelligence apparatus, and will not serve justice,” he added.

On 5 May 2009, Alireza Jamshidi, the Judiciary’s spokesperson, told a press conference that Saberi’s appeals trial will take place next week at Branch 14 of Tehran’s Appeals Court. He said the trial will be closed to the public and will include representatives of the Intelligence Ministry, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Iranian Bar Association.

While the presence of an intelligence official and prosecutor is routine in cases brought against defendants by the Intelligence Ministry, the addition of a member of the Bar Association appears to be a ploy to deflect attention from the fact that authorities have denied Saberi the right to independent counsel by refusing her to employ Shirin Ebadi and her team of lawyers to represent her.

After Saberi’s conviction to eight years in prison on espionage charges on 18 April by a lower court, her family asked Shirin Ebadi and her colleagues from DHRC to represent her. However, after five attempts by Ebadi and her colleagues to meet with Saberi and prepare for her defense, the authorities refused to allow her to choose her legal representation.

The Campaign noted that the Iranian Bar Association lacks independence and is controlled by the Judiciary, which has previously prevented Bar Association members to elect independent lawyers on its board.

The continued secrecy regarding the evidence against Saberi is a violation of Iranian laws and international standards for fair trials. The authorities have failed to even disclose under what article of the law Saberi has been indicted. Her father has publicly announced that Saberi’s conviction is based on confessions extracted under duress and false promises made by her interrogators.

Although Iranian officials, including President Ahmadinejad and head of the Judiciary Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, have called for a fair appeals process, legal proceedings continue to demonstrate a lack of conformity to due process standards. Those calls for fairness and justice now seem insincere or are possibly being disregarded.

In light of the Judiciary’s failure to disclose convincing evidence against Saberi, the Campaign called on the Iranian authorities to acquit and release Saberi during the appeals process.

“Any other outcome from the appeals process, given absolute lack of evidence, would be unacceptable and should be strongly condemned by the international community,” Ghaemi said.

“To Roxana Saberi, Iranian with an American passport”

If I kept quiet until now, it was for her sake. If today I speak, it is for her sake.

She is my friend, my fiancée, and my companion. An intelligent and talented young woman, whom I have always admired.

It was the 31^st of January. The day of my birthday. That morning, she called to say she would pick me up so we would go out together. She never came. I called on her mobile, but it was off, and for two-three days I had no idea what had happened to her. I went to her apartment, and since we had each other’s keys, I went in, but she wasn’t there. Two days later, she called and said: “Forgive me my dear, I had to go to Zahedan.” I got angry: why hadn’t she said anything to me? I told her I didn’t believe her, and again she said: “Forgive me my dear, I had to go.” And the line was cut. I waited for her to call back. But she didn’t call back. She didn’t call back.

I left for Zahedan. I looked for her in every hotel, but nobody had ever heard her name. For ten days, thousands of wild thoughts came to my mind. Until I learned, through her father, she had been arrested. I thought it was a joke.

I thought it was a misunderstanding and that she would be released after two or three days. But days went by and I had no news from her. I started to worry and knocked on every door for help, until I understood what had happened.

It is with tears in my eyes that I say she is innocent and guiltless. It is me, who has known her for years, and shared every moment with her, who declares it.  She was always busy reading and doing her research. Nothing else. During all these years I’ve known her, she wouldn’t go anywhere without letting me know, nor would do anything without asking my advice. To her friends, her family, everyone that surrounded her, she had given no signs of unreasonable behavior. How come someone who would spend days without going out of her apartment, except to see me; someone who, like a Japanese lady, would carefully spend her money, and had sometimes trouble making a living; someone who was looking for a sponsor to get in contact with a local publisher so her book would be printed here (in Iran); could now be charged with a spying accusation?! We all know – no, we have all seen in movies – that spies are malicious and sneaky, that they peep around for information, and that they are very well paid. And now my heart is full of sorrow. Because it is me who incited her to stay here. And now I can’t do anything for her. Roxana wanted to leave Iran. I kept her from it.

At the beginning of our relationship, she wanted to go back to the United States. She would have liked us to go together. But I insisted for her to stay until my new film was over. She really wanted to leave Iran. And I kept her from it. And now I am devastated, for it is because of me she has been subject to these events. These past years, I have been subject to a serious depression. Why? Because my movie had been banned, and released on the black market. My next movie was not given an authorization, and I was forced to stay at home. If I’ve been able to stand it until today, it is thanks to the presence and help that she provided me with.

Since I had no authorization for my last movie, I was nervous and ill-tempered. And she was always there to calm me down.

Roxana wanted to leave Iran. I kept her from it. She is the one who took care of me while I was depressed. Then I convinced her to stay, I wanted her to write the book she had started in her head. I accompanied her, and thanks to my friends and contacts, I knocked on every door and was able to set up meetings with film makers, artists, sociologists, politics, and others. I would go with her myself.

She was absorbed by her book, to the point that she could stay and bear it all, until my film would be finished, and we would leave together.

Roxana’s book was a praise to Iran. The manuscripts exist, and it will certainly be published one day, and all will see it. But why have they said nothing?  All those who have talked, worked and sat with her, and who know how guiltless she is.

I am writing this letter for I am worried about her. I am worried about her health. I heard she was depressed and cried all the time. She is very sensitive. To the point she refuses to touch her food.

My letter is a desperate call to all statesmen and politics, and to all those who can do something to help. From the other side of the ocean, the Americans have protested against her imprisonment, because she is an American citizen. But I say no, she is Iranian, and she loves Iran. I beg you, let her go! I beg you not to throw her in the midst of you political games! She is too weak and too pure to take part in your games. Let me be present at her trial, sit next to her wise father and gentle mother, and testify she is without guilt or reproach.

However, I am optimistic about her release, and I firmly hope the verdict will be cancelled in the next stage of the trial.

My Iranian girl with Japanese eyes and an American ID, is in jail. Shame on me! Shame on us!

Bahman Ghobadi

Letter by Roxana Saberi’s Fiance, Bahman Ghobadi

UPDATE: (19 April 2009) Roxana Saberi was sentenced to 8 years in prison in Tehran on charges of espionage.

(18 April 2009) The Iranian government should immediately rescind charges against Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi and release her from prison or prosecute her in a public trail if it can produce convincing evidence against her, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today. Saberi has been in prison since 31 January 2009.

“If the authorities are so sure of the evidence against Saberi why can’t they even disclose which laws she has allegedly violated? This entire case reveals how standards of justice and due process are being debased,” said Hadi Ghaemi, the Campaign’s spokesperson.

Not only has the Iranian Judiciary failed to produce any evidence regarding the charges against Saberi, it has not even publicly announced under what article of the law she is indicted.

“To arrest Saberi for buying wine and suddenly uncover evidence a week before her trial that she was spying for the United States government lacks credibility,” Ghaemi said.

Roxana Saberi is a freelance Iranian-American journalist who has been living in Iran since 2003. Her case characterizes the arbitrary nature of arrests and indictments by the Intelligence Ministry. When first arrested in January, Saberi was charged with the crime of buying wine. The government then accused her of engaging in illegal activities by continuing to report after having her press credentials revoked in 2006. In her one-day trial, held behind closed doors on 13 April 2009, the charges were changed a third time to espionage and spying for the United States government.

Alireza Jamshidi, spokesperson for the Judiciary, has been defensive about concerns expressed by the international community regarding Saberi’s case. He was quoted as saying, “Giving an opinion on a case, by an individual or a government, without being informed about the facts in it, is utterly ridiculous.”

“Judiciary representatives have claimed Roxana Saberi is a spy, citing evidence that only they are aware of,” said Ghaemi. “That evidence should be made public and the Judiciary should be completely transparent. If such an accusation were based on credible evidence, there would be no reason to hold her trial behind closed doors.”

Saberi’s father, Reza Saberi, is now in Iran and has spoken to his daughter since her arrest. The Judiciary spokesperson has claimed that Roxana Saberi “has accepted all charges.”

Saberi is being held in Evin Prison, the location of Iranian-Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi’s 2003 torture and alleged murder by the Intelligence Ministry. Under protections within Iranian laws and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a party, every person has the right to not be forced to testify against themselves or confess guilt.

In addition to the case of Zahra Kazemi, the Iranian government has a history of targeting bloggers and journalists and producing false confessions that have been retracted upon release.

On 18 March, a young Iranian blogger, Omidreza Mirsayafi died while in custody after having been mistreated by prison officials. He was accused of insulting authorities. Another blogger, Hussein Derakhshan, has been in detention since November 2008, and no charges have been confirmed in his case. In September and October 2004, authorities arrested Omid Memarian, Roozbeh Mirebrahimi, Shahram Rafizadeh, and Javad Gholamtamimi, detained them without charge, and forced them to make false confessions, which they have retracted as being made under duress. They were allegedly tortured and denied legal and family counsel. Four years after their arrest they were sentenced to prison terms and lashes.

In addition to Saberi, there are currently at least seven journalists imprisoned in Iran: Mohammad Sadiq Kaboudvand, Mohammad Hassin Falahieh Zadeh, Masoud Kurdpour, Mojtaba Lotfi, Kaveh Javanmard, Bahman Tutunchi, and Hussein Derakhshan.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran urges the Iranian government to end its campaign of detaining and mistreating journalists. Iranian authorities should release Roxana Saberi and terminate unfair and politically-motivated judicial processes in all cases.