An American journalist jailed in Iran and charged with espionage stood trial behind closed doors and a verdict is expected within weeks, the country's judiciary spokesman said Tuesday.
Roxana Saberi, a 31-year-old dual American-Iranian citizen, was arrested in late January and initially accused of working without press credentials. But an Iranian judge leveled a far more serious allegation against her last week, charging her with spying for the United States.
"Yesterday, the first trial session was held. She presented her final defense," judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi told reporters. "The court will issue its verdict within the next two to three weeks."
The U.S. government has been pressing for Saberi's release and the charges against her and news of her swift trial were a setback especially at a time when President Barack Obama has expressed a willingness to talk with Iran after many years of rocky relations under the former Bush administration.
It was unclear why the trial was moving at such a fast pace especially because the charges leveled against Saberi were so serious.
Saberi's lawyer and her parents, who traveled to Iran in a bid to help win their daughter's release, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Saberi, who grew up in Fargo, North Dakota, has been living in Iran for the last six years, working as a freelance reporter for organizations including National Public Radio and the British Broadcasting Corp.
An Iranian investigative judge involved in the case has alleged Saberi passed classified information to U.S. intelligence services but did not provide further details.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said last week the United States was "deeply concerned" about the espionage charges, which the department described as "baseless."
Jamshidi criticized the U.S. on Tuesday for saying Saberi was innocent and calling for her release.
"That a government expresses an opinion without seeing the indictment is laughable," he told a news conference.
Saberi's parents, who live in Fargo, visited their daughter last week in Evin prison, a facility north of Tehran that is well-known for holding political prisoners. The couple met Saberi for 30 minutes the first time they had spoken to her since she called them on Feb. 10 to say she had been arrested.
Her father, Iranian-born Reza Saberi, said he would stay in Iran until his daughter was freed. He has said his daughter was finishing a book on Iran and had planned to return to the United States this year.
Human rights groups have repeatedly criticized Iran for arresting journalists and suppressing freedom of speech. The government has arrested several Iranian-Americans in the past few years, citing alleged attempts to overthrow its Islamic government through what it calls a "soft revolution."
In a separate case, an Iranian appeals court upheld a three-year prison sentence for an Iranian woman of Armenian descent who worked in Iran for the Washington-based International Research & Exchanges Board, Jamshidi said Tuesday.
Silva Harotonian was arrested in June and sentenced in January. The United States had called on Iran to release Harotonian and says her conviction on charges of trying to overthrow the Iranian government are also "baseless." Her employer and family say she is an administrative assistant, not a political activist. I believe Ms Saberi is of Persian and Japanese descent.
Posted by: ed ||
04/14/2009 08:01 ||
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The Obama administration and its European allies are considering dropping a long-standing U.S. demand that Iran immediately shut down its nuclear facilities if it enters talks over its atomic program, The New York Times reported on Monday on its website.
The proposal would also allow Tehran to continue enriching uranium for some period during the talks and would be a sharp break from the Bush administration, which had demanded that Iran halt its enrichment activities, the report said. The proposals, still under discussion, were aimed at drawing Iran into nuclear talks that it has so far shunned, the newspaper said, citing officials involved in the strategy sessions.
A senior Obama administration official cautioned that "we are still at the brainstorming level" and said the terms of an opening proposal to Iran were still being debated, the newspaper said.
"Yass, yass, it's still in debate. No decisions have been taken as yet, certainement. As you can see by three obvious facts: 1. My off-the-record *cough* interview with 2. the New York Times, and 3. my lips are currently floundering over there on the floor by the coffee dispenser!"
The six major powers dealing with Iran, including the United States, met in London last week and invited Tehran to a new round of talks about its nuclear program.
The New York Times cited European officials as saying that in talks during Obama's visit to Europe there was agreement that Iran would not accept the immediate shutdown of its facilities that the Bush administration had demanded.
Obama administration officials declined to discuss details of their deliberations, but said any new American policy would ultimately require Iran to cease enrichment, the newspaper said. "Our goal remains exactly what it has been in the U.N. resolutions: suspension," one senior administration official told the newspaper.
And Iran's goal also remains exactly what it has been, M. le Senior Administration Official.
[Jerusalem Post Front Page] State news agency IRNA confirms Iranian president will be present at ŽDurban IIŽ conference, which US, Israel, Canada, Italy all plan to boycott.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency says the Bush administration's "ignorance and arrogance" has led to today's "nuclear Iran". Somehow I always knew it waas our fault.
In an interview with the New York Times, Mohamed ElBaradei said the previous US administration failed to seize countless diplomatic opportunities to engage Iran over its controversial nuclear program.
ElBaradei blamed the Bush administration for the fact that "Iran now has close to 5,500 centrifuges, and they have 1,000 kilos of low enriched uranium, and they have the know-how."
The IAEA chief criticized US policies the Bush era for only consisting of two mantras -- "Iran should not have the knowledge and should not spin one single centrifuge. They kept saying, wait, Iran is not North Korea, it will buckle. That was absolutely a mistake."
Elbaradei described former US vice president Dick Cheney as Star Wars character Darth Vader and said "We got Darth Vader and company saying Iran was in the axis of evil and we have to change this regime."
The director-general of the Vienna-based UN body went on to rule out the contention that Iran's nuclear activities pose an immediate threat to the world and said the notion that the country "could go to a weapon tomorrow" is "hype."
Referring to President Barack Obama's pledge to soften the Bush administration's line against talking to Iran, ElBaradei said at least two years of US-Iranian talks is needed, given the degree of mistrust, with "every grievance on the table."
ElBaradei also embraced the proposal put forward by President Obama for a nuclear-free world.
"You can't have nine countries telling the likes of Iran, nuclear weapons are dangerous for you, but we need to go on refining our arsenals," he argued.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Yeah, yet no one says a word when Pakistan and India get them.
The concern was about more than military or structure.
I inderstand a bafflement from Iran about them not being in the elite club that all their idiot brothers are in seeing how easy the US was to accept their "nuclear prowess".
Blantant on the mullah table daily.
Everyone wants an arms race or not, it does not matter here.
#9
Mohamed ElBaradei said the previous US administration failed to seize countless diplomatic opportunities to engage Iran over its controversial nuclear program.
The first rule of thumb for Trans-nationalist diplomats has always been lack of success doesnt equate to failure. Which explains why they seem content with the mere appearance of the status quo. The second is that any public criticism of others for their diplomatic deficiencies is vulgar and therefore should be avoided. (The glass house rule) For ElBaradei to repeatedly break these fundamental protocols and vociferously denounce the Bush administration proves he was never an impartial arbiter. With the specter of the worlds foremost state sponsor of terror obtaining nuclear weapons one must wonder what agenda drives ElBaradei and his ilk.
#14
Exactly. Iran buys nuclear knowledge and equipment from several countries, none of which are the US, and it's Americas fault. I clearly see the logic here.
/wtf?
Posted by: Mike N. ||
04/14/2009 16:38 Comments ||
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Egypt's security service is conspiring against Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah, a prominent Egyptian political analyst says.
In an article published by the Qatar-based daily Ash-Sharq, Fahmi Huwaidi said the reports circulated against Hezbollah in recent days were so 'contradictory' that one could easily rule them out as 'unfounded'.
He accused Egypt's security service of launching a scheme to demonize the Lebanese resistance movement.
In February 12, the daily ad-Dastur wrote that Egyptian security forces had arrested a group of youths including Sami Shahab, a Lebanese, on November 19, 2008 over supporting Hamas.
However, later Egyptian press reported that the group was also plotting to stage terrorist attacks across Egypt to stir insecurity in the country.
According to Huwaidi the Egyptian state-run daily al-Ahram reported that those arrested were planning to launch their "terrorist attacks" after Hezbollah Leader, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah's speech on December 28, 2008.
The Egyptian analyst added that the group was arrested 40 days before Nasrallah's speech, an indication that Egypt's accusation against Hezbollah was baseless.
Egypt has recently stepped up its rhetoric against the Lebanese movement and accused the group of seeking to destabilize the country.
The allegations came after Hezbollah criticized Cairo for its performance during the 22-day Israeli war against the Gaza Strip.
Egypt kept Rafah border-crossing -- Gaza's only border that bypasses Israel -- closed during the war which claimed at least 1,350 Palestinian lives.
Cairo alleged that under an agreement with Tel Aviv it was bound to keep the crossing closed, although Palestinians in Gaza were in dire need of medical and humanitarian supplies.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2009 00:00 ||
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Four Lebanese soldiers were killed Monday when they came under attack in the Bekaa region, security sources and local media said. They said the forces were patrolling between the towns of Zahle and Baalbek in the Bekaa region to the east of the capital, Beirut, when they came under attack which killed four of them. The Lebanese army has in the past few days launching a campaign to capture wanted people in the Bekaa.
I guess they'll need to add a few more names to the list...
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Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
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Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Jerusalem Post Front Page] State news agency IRNA confirms Iranian president will be present at ŽDurban IIŽ conference, which US, Israel, Canada, Italy all plan to boycott.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency says the Bush administration's "ignorance and arrogance" has led to today's "nuclear Iran". 
Four Lebanese soldiers were killed Monday when they came under attack in the Bekaa region, security sources and local media said. They said the forces were patrolling between the towns of Zahle and Baalbek in the Bekaa region to the east of the capital, Beirut, when they came under attack which killed four of them. The Lebanese army has in the past few days launching a campaign to capture wanted people in the Bekaa.
