An Insider's View on How Journalism Works in Iran

Author and reporter Azadeh Moaveni, writing for Time magazine this morning, explores the difficulties for journalists reporting from Iran:

This loss of nuance can be seen in the recent case of Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, whose story has been told by the Western media as that of a reporter shut down while in pursuit of the truth. The real story is far more complicated.

Iran's record of dealing with journalists is certainly stained – the Committee to Protect Journalists has called the country's Supreme Leader one of the world's worst enemies of the press, and several journalists and bloggers have died while in state custody.

But to work in Iran you must understand the system through which journalists gain access. This system is complicated and demands much from those it oversees, and anyone who has reported successfully there has been complicit with its entrenchment. I've reported in Iran since 1999, and written two books that openly describe what I've faced along the way. The authorities assigned me a minder, whom I called Mr. X in my books, charged with monitoring my activities and occasionally bullying me into not working at all. Our relationship over the years has been excruciating at times, but I've tried to keep sight of what he represents — a troubled government composed of both pragmatic and hard-line factions.

The latter believe that at heart all journalists are essentially spies, and the fact that they still allow so many foreign journalists to visit and operate out of Iran is no small step for a country that just 30 years ago was executing the Shah's officials on rooftops. Iran is not a Western democracy. Its newsworthiness is precisely what makes it such a dangerous and complicated beat for reporters. In such an atmosphere, practicing anything but the utmost caution is naïve. Those who flout the system do so primarily at their own expense.

Roxana Saberi's Arrival on U.S. Soil

Finally, jailed American journalist Roxana Saberi has arrived in the United States.

Roxana Saberi Leaves Vienna for the United States

American journalist Roxana Saberi, who spent four months in an Iranian prison, is on her way to the United States.

Robert Hugins, public affairs officer at the U.S. Embassy in Austria, told The Associated Press that Saberi left Vienna this morning on a flight bound for Washington, D.C.

The 32-year-old journalist, who moved to Iran six years ago, was arrested in late January and convicted of spying in a closed-door trial that her Iranian-born father said lasted only 15 minutes.

She was freed on May 11 and spent a week in Austria recuperating. Hugins said Roxana is traveling with her parents and a family friend.

Roxana Saberi Freed From Prison and Can Leave Iran Immediately

UPDATE, 9:30 a.m. Eastern: An American journalist jailed in Iran has been freed and can leave the country immediately, her lawyer said Monday after an appeals court suspended her eight-year prison sentence, according to the Associated Press.

Abdolsamad Khorramshahi says Roxana Saberi is "now out of jail." The 32-year-old dual American-Iranian national had been in detention for nearly three months. On April 18, Iran's Revolutionary Court charged her with spying for the United States, and sentenced her to eight years in prison.

Iran's judiciary said the appeals court, which heard her case on Sunday, had reduced her jail term to a suspended two-year sentence, said one of her lawyers, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi.

"She is entitled to leave Iran immediately," said human-rights lawyer Saleh Nikbakht.

Khorramshahi earlier said: “The appeals court ... has reduced her jail sentence from eight years to two years of suspended sentence ... and she will soon be free.” In a closed hearing yesterday, the court’s judges noted that Iran and the United States “are not at war.”

She was initially given the lengthy prison term during a secret hearing that sparked a diplomatic incident between Washington and Tehran.

"The verdict of the previous court has been quashed," lawyer Saleh Nikbakht said. "Her punishment has been changed to a suspended two-year sentence and she will be out of prison."

The daughter of an Iranian father who lives in Fargo, N.D., and who acquired U.S. citizenship, Saberi moved to Iran six years ago and worked for various international news media including the BBC, FOX News and NPR. Arrested at the end of January, she was initially accused of working illegally as a journalist but was finally tried on a spying charge, one the Iranian authorities often use to silence journalists.

Several Iranian-American citizens, including journalists, have been arrested in Iran in recent years but Saberi is the first one to be tried and given a jail sentence. Her closed-door trial was held on April 13 and the sentence was issued five days later.

Iran was ranked 166th out of 173 countries in the latest Reporters sans frontières press freedom index. A wave of arrests on May 1brought the total number of journalists and bloggers currently held in Iran to 14. Three of them are women.

Roxana Saberi Released, Can Leave Iran Immediately

UPDATE, 9:30 a.m. Eastern: An American journalist jailed in Iran has been freed and can leave the country immediately, her lawyer said Monday after an appeals court suspended her eight-year prison sentence, according to the Associated Press.

Abdolsamad Khorramshahi says Roxana Saberi is "now out of jail." The 32-year-old dual American-Iranian national had been in detention for nearly three months. On April 18, Iran's Revolutionary Court charged her with spying for the United States, and sentenced her to eight years in prison.

Iran's judiciary said the appeals court, which heard her case on Sunday, had reduced her jail term to a suspended two-year sentence, said one of her lawyers, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi.

"She is entitled to leave Iran immediately," said human-rights lawyer Saleh Nikbakht.

An Iranian appeals court earlier today reduced Saberi's eight-year jail sentence to a suspended two-year term.

After the court's ruling, Khorramshahi said: “The appeals court ... has reduced her jail sentence from eight years to two years of suspended sentence ... and she will soon be free.” In a closed hearing yesterday, the court’s judges noted that Iran and the United States “are not at war.”

She was initially given the lengthy prison term during a secret hearing that sparked a diplomatic incident between Washington and Tehran.

"The verdict of the previous court has been quashed," lawyer Saleh Nikbakht said. "Her punishment has been changed to a suspended two-year sentence and she will be out of prison."

The daughter of an Iranian father who lives in Fargo, N.D., and who acquired U.S. citizenship, Saberi moved to Iran six years ago and worked for various international news media including the BBC, FOX News and NPR. Arrested at the end of January, she was initially accused of working illegally as a journalist but was finally tried on a spying charge, one the Iranian authorities often use to silence journalists.

Several Iranian-American citizens, including journalists, have been arrested in Iran in recent years but Saberi is the first one to be tried and given a jail sentence. Her closed-door trial was held on April 13 and the sentence was issued five days later.

Iran was ranked 166th out of 173 countries in the latest Reporters sans frontières press freedom index. A wave of arrests on May 1brought the total number of journalists and bloggers currently held in Iran to 14. Three of them are women.

Iranian Court Hears Saberi's Review, Promises Quick Decision

A three-judge panel heard Rozan Saberi's appeal argument today during a closed-door hearing in Terhan. The panel promised a "meticulous process," for Saberi, who was sentenced to eight years in prison in April for espionage, according to Iranian spokesman Alireza Jamshidi as quoted by IRNA.

Saberi's father was not allowed inside the hearing. He has been in Tehran since her sentence advocating for her rights.

The appeals court could take more than a day to issue its verdict, Jamshidi said as he condemned U.S. officials for their criticism of Iran's handling of Saberi's case.

"As the Europeans confess, the Americans have the worst human-rights record," Jamshidi said.

Media reports say Saberi looked "pale and gaunt" when she arrived for the closed-door hearing.

Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, Saberi's lawyer, said: "I do hope and I am optimistic she will be acquitted. There is a probability that the appeal verdict will be issued today. I guess that the appeals court would substantially reduce the sentence."

Professor Fouad Ajami of the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies told Edward Yeranian of VOANews that Saberi is not the first Iranian-American to be caught up in this type of politically motivated show-trial:

"Miss Saberi is just a victim of this drawn-out drama between the United States and Iran - I mean, this is the dilemma of Iranian-Americans, many of them who have nostalgia for their ancestral land, and they have gone to Iran, and they have been picked up by the security services," said Fouad Ajami. "Their trials have always been show-trials and their ordeal has always been just simply a play thing of the Iranian regime. The Iranians will do what they will; if they set her free, it is in the interests of the Iranians to set her free. If they keep her in jail it is because they want to torment the Americans, yet another day."

Ajami says he believes the recent overture by President Barack Obama to resume a dialogue with Iran, after 30 years, will not succeed.

"I think that the Obama Administration is going to learn that its approach to Iran is going to come to naught," he said. "In truth, the Iranians have precisely the relationship with the United States that they want: just enough enmity to serve as a glue for the regime and not enough enmity to be a threat to the regime"

Ajami says Irans' policy is decided by one man.

"Iran's choice lies in the hands of the Supreme Guide, Ayatollah Khamenei, and he shows no interest in accommodation with the United States," said Ajami. "It takes two, if you will, to make this accommodation, and the Iranians have absolutely no interest. They will taunt the Obama Administration; they will keep them waiting, and I do not expect any great break-through in the relationship between the US and Iran."

Iran's theocrats, he says, are content with the prevailing "atmosphere of antagonism with the United States and he says they are content with their ongoing drive to pursue a "nuclear option."

Iran to Hear Saberi's Appeal on Sunday, But Also Loses Vital Appeal Documents

An Iranian court will hear the appeal of imprisoned journalist Roxana Saberi on Sunday, her lawyer Abdolsamad Khorramshahi said Saturday.

Khoramshahi told Nazila Fathi of The New York Times that he was optimistic that Saberi would win either an acquittal or a reduced sentence, the earlier date could complicate her defense by giving her second lawyer less time to review the case.

Ms. Saberi’s father said last week that he had hired a new lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, to defend Ms. Saberi along with her current lawyer, Mr. Khoramshahi. Mr. Saberi made the decision, he said, after he realized that another high-profile human rights lawyer was not allowed to meet with Ms. Saberi in prison to sign the paperwork for her appeal.

She eventually did sign the paperwork, which would allow her lawyers to look at her case file. But Mr. Nikbakht said Saturday that he was informed by the court that the paper she signed had been lost.

Mr. Nikbakht said he might not be able to defend Ms. Saberi if he was unable to read the case in time.

It is not clear how long it will take the court to render a ruling in the case of Saberi, who was sentenced to eight years in prison last month on espionage charges.

Iranian judiciary spokesman Alireza Jamshidi had previously announced that the appeal would be heard behind closed doors with representatives of the prosecutor’s office, the intelligence ministry and lawyers association in attendance

Saberi had been on a humger strike. But on May 4, when her parents visited her in Tehran’s Evin prison, she agreed to begin eating again at her father’s insistence and took two spoonfuls of yogurt. She began the hunder strike on April 21.

Iranian officials told the BBC that the reporter was never on a hunger strike.

Roxana Saberi Ends Hunger Strike; Request for Bail and an Appeal Are Filed

Roxana Saberi, the Iranian-American journalist who is in a Tehran jail on a spying charge, has ended her hunger strike.

When Saberi’s parents visited her in Tehran’s Evin prison on May 4, she agreed to begin eating again at her father’s insistence and took two spoonfuls of yogurt. Yesterday evening, she confirmed to her parents during a phone call that she had decided to end the hunger strike she began on April 21.

Iranian officials told the BBC that the reporter was never on a hunger strike.

Through her father, who is in Iran, she expressed her gratitude for the international campaign of solidarity that has been waged on her behalf.

Saberi’s lawyers yesterday filed a request for her release on bail before the judge of the 28th chamber of the Tehran revolutionary court.

Iranian judiciary spokesman Alireza Jamshidi announced yesterday that the appeal would be heard behind closed doors “in the course of next week” with representatives of the prosecutor’s office, the intelligence ministry and lawyers association in attendance.

“This is a travesty of justice,” Reporters sans frontières said. “Leading independent figures should be present at this appeal hearing. We call for Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi of the Human Rights Defenders Centre to be allowed to attend.”

Saberi Fed by IV, Looks 'Weak and Frail,' Father Says

U.S. journalist Roxana Saberi, on a hunger strike in an Iran Evin prison to protest her spying conviction, was hospitalized on Friday and fed intravenously, her father told the media today. She was later returned to her cell.

Saberi said his daughter looked "weak and frail" when he saw her yesterday.

The 32-year-old Iranian-American freelance journalist was tried and convicted during a one-day, closed-door trial on espionage charges and sentenced to eight years in prison. Saberi began her hunger strike to protest her imprisonment at Evin, which houses Iranian dissidents and political prisoners.

Iranian authorities revoked her press credentials in 2006, but Saberi continued to file short news items with permission from the government, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Saberi was detained in January, although no formal charges were disclosed. On April, word emerged that she had been charged with espionage.

"Without press credentials and under the name of being a reporter, she was carrying out espionage activities," Hassan Haddad, a deputy public prosecutor, told the Iranian Students News Agency.

Iran Tells Advocacy Groups to Stop Protesting Saberi Jailing

Iranian officials have told advocacy groups to stop protesting the jailing of American journalist Roxana Saberi, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman told reporters today in Tehran.

"Our judiciary is independent and ... any kind of imposition or interference in the legal process is against international regulations," Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi told a weekly news conference.

What international regulations he was referring to was not clear.

"Roxana's case is not a complicated issue. She is an Iranian lady whose case is under review by the appeal court," said Qashqavi. "We have to wait for the appeal court's decision."

Four U.S. members of Reporters Sans Frontières began a hunger strike Sunday outside UN headquarters in New York as part of World Press Freedom Day. Saberi has been on a hunger strike in Tehran’s Evin Prison — drinking only sugared water — since April 21 to protest the espionage charges levied against her. She was transported to the prison hospital on May 1.

She was found guilty of espionage activities and sentenced to eight years in prison by a revolutionary court.

On World Press Freedom Day, Saberi Continues Hunger Strike, Iranians Receive Petition

Reporters Sans Frontières marked World Press Freedom Day by handing in a petition for Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi’s release at the Iranian embassy in Paris. Sentenced to eight years in prison in Tehran on a charge of spying for the United States, Saberi is now on the 13th day of a hunger strike, according to Reporters Sans Frontières.

Saberi was admitted to the Evin prison hospital on May 1 because she had stopped taking liquids. “She is very weak, but she is still determined to go all the way,” her father, Reza Saberi, told Reporters Sans Frontières today.

Four members of Reporters Sans Frontières, including its secretary-general, Jean-François Julliard, began a hunger strike on April 28 in Paris in solidarity with Saberi. As it symbolically took over her protest in this manner, Reporters Sans Frontières urged Saberi to end her own hunger strike. “She needs to know she is not alone,” the press freedom organization has repeatedly said.

“We are going to continue this protest in other forms,” Reporters Sans Frontières today. “Saberi has not committed any crime and must be released without delay. The Iranian president must not use this young woman for his election campaign or as a bargaining chip in his relations with Europe or the United States.”

Members of Reporters Sans Frontières have been stationed outside the Iran Air office in Paris, located at 63 Avenue des Champs-Elysées, since 11 a.m. on April 28, handing out leaflets and collecting signatures. The protest intensified all week, spreading to London, New York, Washington, Madrid and Brussels. In Paris, more than 800 people signed the petition for Saberi’s release.

Clinton Demands Iran Release Saberi Immediately

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton this morning demanded that Iran immediately release American journalist Roxana Saberi, who was tried behind closed doors and sentenced by a revolutionary court to eight years in prison on a spying charge.

"We believe she should be freed immediately, that the charges against her are baseless and that she has been subjected to a process that has been non-transparent, unpredictable [and] arbitrary," Clinton told reporters at the State Department.

"We hope that actions will be taken as soon as possible by the authorities in Iran, including the judiciary, to bring about the speedy release of Miss Saberi and her return home," she said, adding that the Obama administration is continuing to work with Swiss intermediaries who represent U.S. interests in Iran to secure her freedom.

"We are ... hoping that these remarks lead to actions," Clinton said, referring to Ahmadinejad's comment on Saberi's appeal.

Iran’s chief justice Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi Monday urged the judiciary to consider immediately an appeal.

Shahroudi has told Tehran’s justice department chief Abbas Ali Alizadeh that the accused has the right to appeal and fair trial, the IRNA news agency quoted judiciary spokesman Alireza Jamshidi as saying.

He asked Alizadeh to consider “all aspects of the case, including material and spiritual elements of the crime fairly, quickly and exactly”.

Iranian Court Sentences Roxana Saberi to Eight Years

An Iranian revolutionary court has convicted American journalist Roxana Saberi of spying and sentenced her to eight years in prison after a closed one-day trial.

Her father, Reza Saberi, told NPR's Scott Simon from Tehran that he was not allowed into the courtroom to hear the verdict. Saberi's lawyer was not allowed to ask the court about bail. She has been jailed at Evin Prison in Iran since Jan. 31.

NPR reports that Reza says Roxana wants to go on a hunger strike "to draw the attention of the Iranian authorities who have sentenced her without justifiable cause." He notes, however, that she is weak and "if she does [go on a hunger strike], it can be very dangerous to her health."

Agence France-Presse is quoting Reza as saying her daughter was tricked into confessing. "Roxana said in court that her earlier confessions were not true and she told me she had been tricked into believing that she would be released if she co-operated. Her denial is documented in her case, but apparently they did not pay attention to it," he said. "We are very shocked and we were not expecting it.

"We were hoping for six months and then clemency."

The deputy director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, Robert Mahoney, says her sentence is too harsh.

"We believe that Roxana Saberi's trial was not transparent," he said. "And it does not seem that she has been treated fairly. We would call on the Iranian authorities to release her on bail pending appeal because we believe she should not be confined in Evin prison."

NPR's CEO Vivian Schiller has appealed to the Iranian government to show compassion and allow Saberi to return immediately to the United States.

Saberi, 31, an Iranian-American freelancer from Fargo, N.D., was first detained 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.

CPJ reports that 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, 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 photojournalist Zahra Kazemi 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.

Roxana Saberi's Trial Lasts One Day in Iran, Her Fate Is Uncertain

The jailed Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi is waiting to learn her fate after a one-day trial on espionage charges at the Tehran Revolutionary Court. She was tried on charges of "spying for foreigners ... for America", an Iranian government spokesman said, adding that a verdict was expected in two to three weeks.

Saberi, 31, was arrested in January after buying a bottle of wine and accused of working without press credentials, was charged last week with spying for the United States. An investigative judge alleged that she had passed classified information to United States intelligence services.

Iranian deputy prosecutor Hassan Zare Dehnavi reportedly said that “Saberi has admitted the charges against her.”

"The Iranian authorities use and abuse this charge to arrest journalists and tighten the muzzle on free expression,” Reporters Without Borders said, reiterating its call for Saberi’s release.

Foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said she had been working illegally in Iran. Judicial authority spokesman Alireza Jamshidi said last month that she had been “arrested on the order of the Tehran revolutionary court and is now in detention in Evin prison.”

Roxana Saberi's Fate in Iran Delayed for a Couple Weeks

Imprisoned American journalist Roxana Saberi will have to wait for at least a couple weeks before Iranian officials have a chance to review her status because of a holiday.

Today is the start of Iran's New Year's celebration, which lasts for a couple weeks, her father Reza Saberi told MSNBC. All government offices are closed for that time and no officials will be available to work on her case.

Roxana Saberi, 31, a native of Fargo, N.D., has been held in prison without charge since January.

"It will be very hard on her because she knows she shouldn't be there and we know she hasn't done anything wrong," her father told MSNBC. "So keeping her in the prison is quite unfair and unjust."

Earlier this month, Iranian judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi told reporters: "The arrest [of Roxana Saberi] took place on a writ issued by the revolutionary court. ... I do not know exactly what the accusations are." He also said Saberi was being held in Tehran's Evin prison.

Agence France Presse reported earlier that Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said Saberi had been working "illegally" in the country after her press card had been revoked in 2006. However, he neither confirmed nor denied her arrest. Media reports have said she was arrested on charges of buying alcohol, which is prohibited in Iran.

North Dakota's congressional delegation has been working with the United Nations to step in and help free Roxana. Switzerland represents the interests of the United States in Iran.

News Groups Demand Iran Release Info on Saberi, CPJ Petition Full

Seven major news organizations have demanded that Iran allow access to one or two organizations to evaluate Roxana Saberi's condition, and that the charges against her be made public.

Roxana Saberi, 31, has been held for about a month by Iranian officials who claim that the freelance journalist was engaged in "illegal" activities because she continued working in Iran after the government revoked her press credentials in 2006. She has not been heard from since Feb. 10.

In addition, the Committee to Protect Journalists has started a Facebook petition demanding President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad intervene in the situation. By Tuesday evening 10,669 people have signed the petition, more than the goal of 10,000 signatures.

CPJ said the petition will be delivered early next week to the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations in New York.

The petition can be found at CPJ's Cause page on Facebook.