Ahmadi-Nejad intervenes in Saberi case/Iran Judge Asks for Review Case of Jailed Journalist

Ahmadi-Nejad intervenes in Saberi case
By Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
Published: April 18 2009 19:23 | Last updated: April 19 2009 15:05
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d57cc94c-2c45-11de-ae7a-00144feabdc0.html


Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad on Sunday urged the judiciary to let Roxana Saberi, an Iranian-American journalist sentenced to eight years in jail on charges of espionage, to freely defend herself.

A letter sent by the president’s office urged Tehran’s prosecutor general, Saeed Mortazavi who is known as a hardline judge and responsible for most political cases in the judiciary, to make sure the defendant ”enjoys all the freedoms and legal rights to defend the charges”.

Mr Ahmadi-Nejad’s letter came 24 hours after the the judiciary had imposed the sentence - harsher than had been expected - on Ms Saberi.

It is not yet clear how the move, will affect US efforts to engage Iran in upcoming talks for security in Afghanistan and on the country’s nuclear programme.

But the punishment had, according to the White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, left US President Barack Obama, “deeply disappointed”. While US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said the US administration “will continue to vigorously raise our concerns to the Iranian government”.

Ms Saberi’s lawyer Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, who said he would appeal against the sentence, stressed that the president was in no legal position to order the judge to do anything. However, he said the letter ”which is more recommendation” could not be without its impacts. ”It shows that the government is also following it sensitively,” he said.

Mr Ahmadi-Nejad, who is expected to seek re-election in June, has adopted more moderate language, in particular on engagement with the US, in what many analysts see as a tactical shift to win votes. His letter also mentioned Hossein Derakhshan, a prominent Iranian blogger, who has been in jail since November on charges of spying for Israel.

Ms Saberi, a freelance journalist who reported for various news organisations including the BBC and National Public Radio, had been denied press credentials by Iranian authorities since 2006. She defied the ban and continued her journalistic activities. She was arrested in January and has been jailed in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.

Nemat Ahmadi, a lawyer and a human rights activist, said the sentence did not have any strong legal base because journalists could not have access to any classified documents, and complained that most of Ms Saberi’s case had happened in the absence of her lawyer.

Iran announced that Ms Saberi pleaded guilty during interrogations. But her family rejected any confession under arrest as baseless.

The Swiss embassy which is in charge of the US interest section in Tehran has been denied any access on the grounds that Ms Saberi is Iranian. The court has not recognised her dual nationality.

The unexpectedly harsh sentence and the swift issuance of the verdict have fuelled suspicions about the timing of the arrest.

Half a dozen dual nationals have been arrested over the past two years, detained for several months and then released and allowed to leave the country. Analysts and lawyers expected the same procedure for Ms Saberi.

“Iran has got Obama and the whole administration involved in a case which is turning into a lever in any talks,” said one analyst.

There is suspicion that Iran could be also trying to get five officials who are under US detention released.

The US arrested five Iranians in January 2007 whom Tehran described as career diplomats but the US alleges they were involved in fuelling violence in neighbouring Iraq.

Iran’s human rights groups, which have maintained a low profile since 2005 when Mr Ahmadi-Nejad swept to power, have been silent about the arrest of Ms Saberi. One activist who asked not to be named said they would prefer not to link themselves to Americans in particular in such cases of espionage.

“We are confused partly because we didn’t really know her and also don’t know if there is any political game going on,” said one activist.


Iran Judge Asks for Review Case of Jailed Journalist
By NAZILA FATHI
Copyright by The Associated Press
Published: April 20, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/21/world/middleeast/21iran.html?ref=global-home


TEHRAN, April 20—the head of Iran’s judiciary said Monday that he had ordered the “careful, quick and fair consideration of an appeal against the eight-year jail sentence imposed on an Iranian-American journalist, one day after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged the chief prosecutor to reexamine the case.

Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, head of the Judiciary, issued a decree to the head of the Tehran court, calling on the appeal to be “considered at the appeals stage in careful, quick and fair way,” ISNA news agency reported.

“Fair examination of the case, especially at the appeal stage is the defendant’s right,” ISNA reported.

“All the aspects of this case, such as its moral and worldly elements, should be considered in a careful, quick and fair way.”

His order today was announced to the media by Judiciary Spokesman Alireza Jamshidi, ISNA reported.

It came a day after Mr. Ahmadinejad also urged the court to re-examine the case fairly—an effort seen by analysts to portray himself as a defender of human rights ahead of presidential election on June 12.

This is the first time that two heads of forces have called for a fair examination of a defendant’s case. Mr. Shahroudi, who is nearing the end of his term, has often intervened in cases, especially to stop death sentences.

However, courts trying security related charges are run by more radical forces and it is not clear how his order can affect the process. Judges have defied his orders in the past, boasting that they rule independently based on the law. Judges have issued death sentence by stoning despite his order to refrain from the sentence.

Ms. Saberi 31, who had worked for National Public Radio and BBC, was arrested in late January and a court sentenced her to eight years in jail last week on charges of spying for Washington.

Her father, Reza Saberi, said in a telephone interview that he was allowed to visit Ms. Saberi today for the third time in jail. Mr. Saberi came from Fargo, North Dakota two weeks ago to secure his daughter’s release. He has asked a prominent lawyer, Shirin Ebadi, a Noble Peace Prize winner in 2003, to join the legal team to defend her.

The verdict came as Mr. Obama made an overture to start talks with Iran over its nuclear program. Iran and the United States severed diplomatic ties in 1979 after radical students attacked the U.S. embassy in Tehran.

On Sunday, Mr. Obama voiced “deep disappointment” over the verdict against Ms. Saberi and denied that she was a spy.

Foreign ministry spokesman urged Mr. Obama today during a weekly press conference not to comment on the case and rejected speculations that she was a bargaining chip for talks with Washington to secure the release of three Iranian diplomats held by the US forces in Iraq.

“I advise those who studied law not to comment on a case without seeing its context,” said Hassan Qashghavi, the foreign ministry spokesman, in what appeared to be a reference to Mr. Obama who has studied law at Harvard University.

He added that the issue of Iranian diplomats held by US forces was “a whole different matter from the trial of an Iranian national such as Ms. Saberi.”

Iran does not recognize dual citizenship.

Sharon Otterman contributed reporting from New York.