Roxana Saberi

Editorial: Tell Iran to release Roxana Saberi
Last update: March 5, 2009 - 12:08 PM
Zahra Kazemi, a Canadian-Iranian photojournalist, was shooting photos outside Tehran’s Evin Prison in June 2003 when she was taken into custody by Iranian authorities. Two weeks later, she was dead.
The cause: a brain hemorrhage from a blow to the head.


Now, a young North Dakota journalist faces a similar
and dangerous situation. Roxana Saberi, 31, has been detained by Iranian authorities since January on questionable legal grounds and is now held inside Evin Prison, dubbed Iran’s most notorious by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The public’s help is needed to bring her back to her family in Fargo.

Saberi, a former Miss North Dakota, has been living and working in her father’s homeland for six years. The rogue regime running the government makes the nation treacherous for reporters, particularly those with American ties. The United States has not had diplomatic relations with Iran since 1979. Tight controls fetter the press; human rights officials know of at least five editors and writers in jail besides Saberi. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), journalists often are denied medical treatment, attorneys and due process, and are held in secret locations.

Saberi was able to leverage her cultural ties to Iran as a journalist, filing reports for National Public Radio (NPR), Fox News and the BBC, among others. It’s not clear why Iran revoked her journalist credentials in 2006. Since then, Saberi had focused on a book and was working on a master’s degree, according to a CPJ report. NPR also has said that she had obtained government permission to file short news items since then.

So why is Saberi imprisoned? Initial reports indicated that she’d been arrested for buying a bottle of wine; many Iranians defy the ban on drinking. More details emerged this week, but unfortunately, Saberi’s legal situation grew more clouded. In Iran, a judiciary spokesman confirmed on Tuesday that she’d been arrested but said he didn’t know what the charges are against her. A Star Tribune editorial writer’s call to the Iranian Permanent Mission at the United Nations in New York yielded little more. An official there angrily demanded to know why the newspaper was asking about a “young woman who has done something wrong,’’ and then began yelling that Americans “prejudge” Iran and shouldn’t question its handling of an Iranian citizen. Iran does not recognize Saberi’s American citizenship, even though she was born in the United States.

Thankfully, several Midwestern senators have swung into action. North Dakota’s Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan, as well as Minnesota’s Amy Klobuchar, are pressing the U.S. State Department to use diplomatic channels to secure Saberi’s release. Klobuchar is also urging the United Nations to intervene.

More assistance is needed. Human rights officials believe that public pressure is the key to Saberi’s well-being and release. Contacting the Iranian mission in New York through e-mail or by phone or letter is a direct way to voice concerns about her plight. If Iranians truly are worried about Americans prejudging them, they should recognize the international public relations opportunity at hand and quickly allow this talented, gutsy North Dakotan to come home.