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Iran Sentences Roxana Saberi to 8 Years in Prison

By Brad Porter | Related entries in News

Roxana Saberi, journalist for BBC and NPR, has been sentenced to 8 years in prison in Iran for allegedly spying for the U.S.

If you haven’t followed the case: Saberi, an Iranian-American freelance journalist (and former Miss North Dakota) has been in Iran working for the past six years. Some months ago she was arrested first for buying alcohol, and that charge mutated into practicing journalism without a license, and finally wound up as an allegation of espionage.

Nobody is quite sure what the allegations against her originally entailed, but according to Saberi her conviction is based on a false confession she made under duress (a sort of “tell us what we want to hear and we’ll just kick you out of the country” sort of thing). The court apparently refused to admit her recant as evidence. Her lawyers can appeal the conviction, and will, for whatever that’s worth.

Everything you might want to know about the case and its coverage can be found at FreeRoxana.net or RoxanaSaberi.com.

I’d also suggest CPJ, the Committee to Protect Journalists.


This entry was posted on Saturday, April 18th, 2009 and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

6 Responses to “Iran Sentences Roxana Saberi to 8 Years in Prison”

  1. TerenceC Says:
    April 19th, 2009 at 10:57 am

    Do you think she was water boarded?

  2. Brad Porter Says:
    April 19th, 2009 at 4:55 pm

    Doubtful. She is luckily being detained in Iran and not America.

  3. Stones Cry Out - If they keep silent… » Things Heard: e64v1 Says:
    April 20th, 2009 at 8:32 am

    [...] Eight years. [...]

  4. rob Says:
    April 20th, 2009 at 11:32 am

    Will you d-bags please leave? This shit is not even funny.

    That poor woman is probably experiencing the standard fare offered in Iran, stripped daily and beaten then back to solitary in a cell that’s too low to stand and too short to lie down.

  5. rob Says:
    April 20th, 2009 at 11:35 am

    Oh wait, I forgot rape. Yes that’s a form of “punishment” as well.

  6. kranky kritter Says:
    April 21st, 2009 at 12:42 pm

    IMO this would be a very good spot for the President to ask Iran to “show us you can do better than this.”

    Unless she really was spying for us. Then it would be a very good spot for the President to keep his mouth shut.

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