Roxana Saberi Update: Positive Signs Despite a Hopeless TV Interview

ABC Television Good Morning America's summary of an interview with President Ahmadinejad

In general, there has been little news from Iran on the status of Roxana Saberi, the Iranian-American journalist sentenced last week to 8 years in prison on espionage charges. Amidst the lull in developments, some Western media are highlighting the plea by Saberi's fiancé, Iranian filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi, for her release.

The relative silence may not be bad, given signs of behind-the-scenes manoeuvres for a reduction in Saberi's sentence and possibly her release from prison. On Tuesday, Iranian spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi reinforced weekend signals from President Ahmadinejad's office that leniency would be welcomed, "We can't influence the judge's verdict (but hope) the verdict will be reconsidered at the appeals court."

There is room for manoeuvre. Under Iran's Islamic Criminal Code, the judge has the discretion to suspend all or part of the sentence or convert it to a fine. Sentences in cases which go to appeal in Iran are almost always reduced, and other factors in favour of a reduction include Saberi's lack of a previous criminal record and the significant fact that she has not appeared on television to "confess" her crimes.

There may even be a discreet intervention by the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It was his confidante, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, who decreed as head of the Iranian judiciary, "the necessity of access to fair consideration of Roxana Saberi's case, especially at the appeals stage, which is the certain right of the accused".

Hopefully, these positive signals will not be undermined by this morning's showboating idiocy by the American ABC Television. Their morning programme, "Good Morning America", turned a 30-minute interview with President Ahmadinejad into a self-promoting rescue of Saberi. After asking superficial questions about the US-Iranian, and more specifically the Ahmadinejad-Obama relationship (so superficial that Ahmadinejad's reply isn't shown but summarised), reporter George Stephanopoulos turned to Saberi's case.

However, instead of engaging Ahmadinejad's diversionary response, "I do not judge in judicial cases," which turned into a challenge to US concern, "to encourage friendship, [President Obama] should allow our laws to be processed fairly" --- you know, by asking why Saberi did not have a public trial and why there still has been no disclosure of evidence against her --- Stephanopoulos struck a white-knight pose, "May I go see her for myself to assure that she is safe?"

The ABC report ends with Stephanopoulos telling the studio, "We're going over to [the Judiciary Department] right now," to get permission to enter Evin prison. Let's hope that others, less publicly and much more relevantly, are moving towards a real resolution.

Roxana Saberi/Hossein Derakhshan Update: Ahmadinejad Intervenes in Court Cases

UPDATE: Curiously, CNN does not seem to have noticed Ahmadinejad's intervention. Their current story focuses on the statement of Reza Saberi that his daughter is "frail and weak" in Evin prison.
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Enduring America, 18 April: "It could be that judicial forces wanted to show 'independence' from political pressure (ironic given that this is a politicised case) and moved quickly."

Iranian politics just swung in favour of Roxana Saberi.

Less than 24 hours after the announcement of Saberi's 8-year jail sentence on espionage charges, the office of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has published a letter to the judiciary about the cases of Saberi and jailed Iranian-Canadian blogger Hossein Derakhshan (whose case Enduring America highlighted last November):

Based on the president's insistence, please make sure that all the legal stages about the mentioned people be based on justice.......and you personally make sure that the accused people will enjoy all freedoms and legal rights to defend themselves and their rights will not be violated.

Translation: the Iranian prosecutors and courts pushed this case to a quick conclusion. Now, facing the consequences for US-Iranian engagement and also wanting to curb the judiciary's activisms, Iranian leaders are pushing back.

The showdown will come as the case is appealed. Ahmadinejad has clearly indicated that he wants --- quickly --- a reduction of Saberi's sentence. Such a move will meet the measured but clear response of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton that they were "deeply disappointed" over yesterday's announcement.

However, the President's wish is not necessarily a command. Will the prosecutors and judges try to hold their line and enforce the full 8-year jail term?

Iran: The Dangers of the Roxana Saberi Espionage Trial

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Related Post: Iran Jails Journalist Saberi for 8 Years on Espionage Charges

It is a rare day when I agree with an opinion in the Wall Street Journal, but that morning has come.

Commenting on the espionage trial of Iranian-American Roxana Saberi, which began in secret on Monday, Gerald Seib commented, "This is a significant event that likely serves multiple, unpleasant purposes for an Iranian government with which the Obama administration is about to begin talking."

Let's be clear. The immediate multiple, unpleasant effects are being felt by Roxana Saberi, as she remains in Evin Prison in Tehran. Any failure of judgement --- she was initially charged with buying a bottle of wine and then for reporting without a license --- does not constitute espionage, especially when that guilt is to be determined without legal representation or any public presentation of evidence.

Possibly some of my friends and colleagues in Tehran would argue that the judiciary, as an independent branch, makes its own determinations on cases to be tried and that politicians should not interfere in that process. But, again to be clear, every indication is that the decision to ratchet up the charges against Saberi from possession of alcohol to spying was political, not legal, in nature. As Seib writes, "A journalist can be an easy target for signal-sending."

I'm not so sure about Seib's speculation for Saberi's prosecution, "It's the kind of move that chills internal dissent." This feels more like one agency or faction trying to score points against others within Iran's complex political system.

The broader point remains, however, that this trial is a powerful check-and-balance against Iranian engagement with the US. Two weeks ago, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton passed a letter to Iranian representatives at The Hague conference raising the cases of Saberi and another detainee, as well as an American who has been missing for years after a trip to Iran. The decision to proceed with the trial, as well as a judiciary spokesman's criticism of American interference, is a blunt response that Iran does not bow to US wishes on its internal matters.

Some Iranian officials and politicians may have recognised the damage this case could cause to US-Iranian discussions. However, it has now proceeded so far that Iran cannot release Saberi and "save face".

My hope is that the Saberi case will follow the pattern of that of Haleh Esfandiari, the Iranian-American academic jailed in 2007 on charges of spying. After four months, and an intensive campaign on her behalf by colleagues such as the former Senator Lee Hamilton, Esfandiari was released.

However, it is important to note that Esfandiari was "better connected" than Saberi and that she never went to trial. And the US Government has been very reluctant to step in publicly for Saberi; it was only yesterday that a State Department spokesman broached concern.

Thus for Saberi's sake and --- not more importantly but more broadly --- for the sake of US-Iran engagement, some politicians and officials in Iran need to move with a face-saving solution such as conviction and immediate deportation.

It is essential that US-Iran discussions, leading to a more productive relationship diplomatic, economic, and cultural relationship, continue. It is just as essential that, in the name of those discussions, Roxana Saberi is not seen as expendable.