Till then there is nothing to say to Iran until they do...
THE MIDDLE EAST 2009 & The IRAN-SAUDI Arabian DILEMMA
Roxana Saberi (Persian: رکسانا صابری) (born April 26, 1977) is an American-Iranian journalist of Japanese and Iranian descent, who was arrested in Iran in February 2009, initially for the purchase of a bottle of wine, which is banned under Islamic laws, and then charged with working as a reporter without press credentials, which were revoked in 2006. On 8 April 2009, the Iranian government charged Saberi with espionage, and she was subsequently sentenced to an eight-year prison term.
The Iranian government has been taking steps against Saberi since at least 2006 when it revoked her “press credentials”. In February of this year she was arrested and initially charged with working without press credentials and then the charges were increased to espionage for the United States.
Saberi was born and grew up in Fargo, North Dakota, the daughter of Reza Saberi, who was born in Iran, and Akiko Saberi, who is from Japan. Graduating with honors from Fargo North High School in 1994, Roxana played piano and soccer, and took part in Key Club and danceline. Saberi was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame in 2007.She graduated in 1997 from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, with degrees in Communication and French. Saberi also played for the Cobbers soccer team in both the 1994 and 1996 season.
Roxana Saberi above as Miss North Dakota in 1997.
Chosen as Miss North Dakota in 1997, she was among the top ten finalists in Miss America 1998, winning the Scholar Award. Saberi holds her first Master's Degree in Broadcast Journalism from Northwestern University and her second Master's Degree in International Relations from Cambridge University. She was working on another Masters Degree in Iranian Studies and International Relations at the time of her arrest.
Saberi, who works a freelance journalist, moved to Iran in 2003. She arrived in Tehran in February 2003 to open a fully accredited news bureau for the independent broadcast news agency Feature Story News (FSN). FSN distributed her reports to a wide range of broadcasters around the world, and Roxana's work soon became familiar to the viewers and listeners of Channel News Asia, South African Broadcasting, DW Radio, Vatican Radio, Radio New Zealand, Australian Independent Radio News, and others.
She also made occasional contributions to PBS, NPR, and Fox News. In June 2003, without explanation, the Iranian authorities revoked Roxana's press accreditation and closed the FSN bureau in Iran. A second press accreditation was then issued, permitting Roxana Saberi to freelance in Iran for the BBC. In late 2006, it was also peremptorily revoked. Roxana Saberi remained in Iran to research a book, and filed occasional reports from the country for NPR and ABC Radio.
It was reported on April 21 that Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi's organization, Human Rights Defenders, would defend Saberi during her appeal. On April 21 2009 Roxana's fiancé Bahman Ghobadi, a well-known Iranian film director, published a letter emphasising Roxana's innocence and urged those who knew her to step in & defend her.
Her plight is being followed by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Asian American Journalists Association, Committee to Protect Journalists,Society of Professional Journalists, and UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc.
Journalists' work -- interviewing officials and sending reports -- might resemble espionage. Those monitoring her might have built up a body of circumstantial evidence, such as visits to embassies, ministries and calls to the U.S., that might appear to be spying.
Iran's domestic political scene can be vicious. One faction might be trying to use Saberi to undermine possible rapprochement with the U.S. by another faction.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said that at the end of last year, Iran was "the sixth-leading jailer of journalists." The group's Web site says more than 30 journalists were investigated or detained there in 2008.
Free Roxana Saberi
Free American Journalist Roxana Saberi
http://freeroxana.net/
Free Roxana Saberi
A gentle friend of the Iranian people
http://roxanasaberi.com/
Father: US journalist jailed in Iran 'very weak'
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090427/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_us_journalist
http://twitter.com/freeroxana
http://www.iranian.com/main/2009/apr/roxana-saberi?page=2
Roxana Saberi:An All American Hero
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/10376
http://www.americandailyreview.com/home-features-articles-blog/2009/4/19/roxana-saberian-all-american-hero.html?SSScrollPosition=93
What the Iranians are jockeying for with Roxanna?
What Iran wants is status and what better way than to use
a beauty queen reporter and novelist... But its Roxanna's health
status that precedes all other status quo's.
Fine then...go on and release the
5 elite al-Quds in exchange for Roxana
& also what of the holding of...
15 British soldiers by Iran just to name a few.
Lets not also now talk of all the backstabbing & throat cutting
that's conveniently going on right here on the sacred steps of
OUR NATIONS CAPITAL OF CRIMINALITY...yes right here once again
~ on the good old home front blues ~
Now back on the Iranian foreign front...
The stories Roxana reported from abroad are crucial to understanding
U.S. foreign policy and what it means to be a citizen of the world.
With many newsrooms cutting their foreign coverage, the public is more
reliant than ever on the work of freelance journalists willing to risk
their personal safety so we may know more. Roxana went abroad because
of her commitment to tell stories that would otherwise go untold.
Thus We Passionsword Arena Green Gladiators ask Iran to...
FREE THE BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLY QUEEN ROXANA SABERI
Reporters Without Borders goes on hunger strike
in solidarity with Roxana Saberi
Posted by admin
Tuesday, 28 April 2009 21:46
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=30924
