Analysis: Iran Jails Journalist Saberi for 8 Years on Espionage Charges

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Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi has been convicted on charges of espionage and jailed for eight years by an Iranian Revolutionary Court.

Ms Saberi's lawyer Abdolsamad Khorramshahi and her father confirmed that the sentence would be appealed. The sentence was confirmed inside Iran by the Iranian Students News Agency, and there is a short item on the English-language website of Press TV.

The quick sentencing surprises me, as a judiciary spokesman indicated on Tuesday that it would be two to three weeks before the verdict was announced. It could be that judicial forces wanted to show "independence" from political pressure (ironic given that this is a politicised case) and moved quickly.

Alternatively, Iranian political elements --- reacting to perceived US pressure or raising the stakes, both in internal Iranian political manoeuvring and in US-Iranian relations --- pushed for a lengthy jail sentence.

No evidence was presented publicly to support Saberi's conviction. Thus it remains unclear why her initial crime --- the purchase of a bottle of wine --- escalted into charges of reporting without a license (especially as she had been filing stories over the last two years without that license) and then spying.

The reaction of the US Government should be watched very carefully. My suspicion is that American officials have been trying behind the scenes to strike a deal for Saberi's release (probably after conviction and deportation).

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's response reinforces that suspicion, as she maintained the measured tone that she was "deeply disappointed". Her statement was limited to the case rather than the wider significance for US-Iranian relations: "We are working closely with the Swiss Protecting Presence to obtain details about the court's decision, and to ensure her well-being....[We will] continue to vigorously raise our concerns to the Iranian government."

So far, Washington has not publicly linked the Saberi case to its "engagement" with Tehran, apart from the letter handed to the Iranians at the end of March. Does the Obama Administration continue with this strategy or does it threaten a suspension of engagement because of today's news?

Comments

[Josh Mull]

http://www.pubrecord.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=191

"Still, an aggressive effort by the State Department to fund regime change in Iran is ongoing, but the State Department has refused to provide lawmakers with specific details of the program other than to say that the core mission of the initiative is to assist “those inside Iran who desire basic civil liberties such as freedom of expression, greater rights for women, more open political process, and broader freedom of the press.”

Congress has appropriated more than $120 million to fund the project. The State Department has spent most of the money on the U.S.-backed Radio Farda, Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Europe, and to broadcast Persian programs into Iran via VOA satellite television.

Some funds, according to State Department sources familiar with the how the program is run, have also been secretly funneled to exile Iranian organizations, and politically connected individuals in order to help the U.S. establish contacts with Iranian opposition groups.

In June of 2007, the State Department said it would spend $16 million on democracy promotion projects that extends beyond broadcasting. However, to date the State Department has not released details on how it intends to obligate or expend those funds."

Also, do we have any information on the Iranians detained or killed by the Americans in Iraq? Spy games are rarely brash and unilateral, but more often tit-for-tat.

[mush mullah]

Many Iranian opposition groups in Europe do not see any help most political groups are strapped for finding places to hold their conferences and meeting, often either cannot afford the high fees or being refused holding for one reason or other. If there are funds it is not reaching the rightful ones it should be serving, are being spent unwisely or there are corruptions of some kind going on. Simply even social funding is not available for Persian community to hold traditional seasonal celebrations, in halls or parks freely. City councils often refuse to give permission, assistance or funding for such events.
There is either no political awareness or will. Overall these polices are flawed, from lessons learned or not learned in Afghanistan where a regime change there has been a bit of joke or rather complete tragedy when sharia laws are still in place and Taliban mullahs are still roaming and given mouthpiece in the so called transition government, to site the recent passing of sharia laws allowing martial rape beating of women. Women are being harassed and terrorized on daily basis by the remnant of the Taliban mullahs. Why the sharia law is even allowed is beyond me, it is not compatible with democracy in any way or form in the first place. This war on terror cannot be won this way period.

[rina]

If she confessed of being a spy...well that is serious..but if they were made her to do so .. poor her... i think she will be left alone there ..

[Scott Lucas]

Josh,

All good reminders of past US-Iranian conflict around Iraq and Bush efforts for regime change, but I can't find a link with the jailing of Ms Saberi.

The detention of 4 Iranian-Americans in 2007, including Professor Esfandiari, was almost certainly part of an Iranian response to the ill-judged $120 million programme you cite to fund groups inside Iran. But, even before the end of the Bush Administration, I think his officials had concluded that the programme was counter-productive and pulled back.

I don't know the fate of the 5 Iranians detained in Northern Iraq by the Americans years ago --- can anyone help? --- but I don't see Saberi being jailed as part of a manoeuvre to get their release.

S.

[Rajan]

It was height of stupidity and an instance of almost criminal negligence to have deputed to Iran or not to have physically stopped an Iranian-American, man or woman, from going to Iran on any journalistic jaunt or for news gathering in the present dismal state of US-Iran relations. The concerned morons who sent Roxana on her fateful mission appear to have not learned the apt lesson from a much more tragic fate which befell, several years ago, an Iraqi-British journalist from the Observer newspaper (if my memory serves me right) who was condemned as a spy by Saddam Hussein and summarily hanged. But, his American or British companion, a woman journalist (if my memory again serves me right) was spared at the instance of Nelson Mandela. Roxana must, indeed, consider herself very lucky fo being a woman!

[Mike Dunn]

Perhaps Saberi will be able to consider herself lucky that Pres Ahmadinejad stepped in and called for her to be given the right to defend herself- see our latest post:
http://enduringamerica.com/2009/04/19/roxana-saberihossein-derakshan-update-ahmadinejad-intervenes-in-court-cases/

[Josh Mull]

Scott,

Evidence goes both ways. What kind of evidence is publicly released when a citizen is accused of spying at the FBI or MI5? Little to ZERO, and the US and UK aren't closed, totalitarian regimes. Both sides have legitimate reasons to not release information, as one man's sources and methods is another man's humiliating security vulnerability.

Look at the information we do have: The Bush Administration poured millions of dollars into "regime change" and "democracy promotion" in Iran aka foreign sponsored anti-government activities aka Espionage. Some of that money went to journalists working for organizations employing Roxana, and oh by the way they got that money two years ago when for some strange coincidental reason Roxana decided it was a better idea to operate without a license, underground, rather than totally above board as she had previously.

Is that enough to convict Roxana for spying? Not even remotely. But is it enough to freak out Iranian counter-intelligence? Definitely! We might remember that their entire revolution was sparked by objection to foreign interference, they're kind of touchy about it.

Now Secretary Clinton may think that's a "baseless" definition of espionage, but this is predictable, since she didn't make a peep when the Bush administration implemented these policies. Unfortunately, we don't live in the fantasy world of the Bush years, where you can just "believe" that regime change is a good idea and that it won't result in a horrible crack down on the Iranian population, this is 100% real life. This is exactly what they were warned about two years ago. When you openly fund anti-government activities, and ye gods you use journalists to do it(!!!), you're not going to make the world safe for democracy, you're going to get a lot of people hurt and a lot of people killed.

Oh but now they're "deeply disappointed." Riiight. All of these people were on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, they ALL had a regulatory role to play, and whether due to negligence or incompetence, they FAILED.

I'm as upset as anyone over Roxana's plight, but the opportunity to impact the situation positively is long, long gone. We are so far very, very, very LUCKY that the Iranians did not hang Roxana, and we are LUCKY that Ahmadinejad cares enough to intervene in such a highly politicized matter.

If the Iranians are guilty of one thing it's an absence of transparency. If they would simply release all of the available evidence, or even allow impartial observers access to the court proceedings or legal material, there would be much less concern about anyone's motivations. Like most ethical principles, transparency exists to protect ALL participants from unfair allegations. Without it, I'm free to make wild accusations that Roxana was the tip of Bush doctrine spear, and you're free to call into question the Iranians' basic understanding of their own legal system.

[Rajan]

In my earlier comment on this topic, I had alluded to the case of an Iraqi-British journalist who was hanged as a spy during Saddam Hussein's tyrannical regime in Iraq.

In fact, the journalist was an Iranian settled in Britain. Here is the full and correct version of the story.

Farzad Bazoft, a journalist of Iranian origin settled in London was arrested, while on an assignment in Iraq from the Observer newspaper (of Britain) for allegedly gathering covert information on the so-called "Project Babylon" for the super-gun project, run by the Canadian ballistics expert, Dr Gerald Bull. Bazoft was alleged to have also confessed to being a spy for the Israeli intelligence, Mossad. Saddam Hussein got Bazoft summarily executed, by hanging, in March, 1990 in the notorious Abu Greib prison. Bazoft’s companion, Daphne Parish, a British nurse was also convicted as an accomplice and sentenced to 15 years in prison. However, she was subsequently freed by Saddam Hussein in response to a plea made on her behalf by the President of Zambia, Kenneth Kaunda. Incidentally, Dr Gerald Bull was also assassinated by unknown assailants in March 1990 outside his apartment in Brussels, Belgium

Hence, as I had already opined, against this background, it is the height of stupidity or even a clear case of criminal negligence to depute an Iranian-American, man or woman, on any journalistic jaunt or even for mere news-gathering to a country like Iran being ruled by a bunch of paranoid politicians and religious fanatics, especially in the present state of adverse US-Iranian relations. The morons who sent Roxana to Iran on her fateful mission, whatever might have been its real purpose, are equally culpable and responsible for what has happened to her.

Roxana must consider herself to be very lucky, indeed, for being a woman!