From our friends at NPR comes this potentially disturbing article about the arrest and detainment of American/Iranian Journalist Roxana Saberi. Though the world community has not been able to confirm or deny that the charges against her are true or have any validity to them, we hope that this matter will be sorted out quickly and that Saberi will be released from jail if she is innocent. At this time it is not known whether she is or not. There has been a moderate uproar (though less than one would expect) amongst some in the United States that Iran is holding and American in jail. But when viewed from a bigger picture perspective that focuses on real peace and equality among our two nations – as newly elected President Obama claims he wishes for the US and Iran – it would be perfectly legitimate for the United States to hold a foreigner from any country – Iran included – if they were suspected of or charged with espionage. So to be fair, fair IS fair. Let us hope in the meantime that Ms Saberi is innocent and that this eventually come out and that she will be released from jail if that is what she deserves. American or not, she did break the law in Iran. These little facts, though the idea of having one of our own in foreign prison is disturbing to any of us of conscience must also recognize international law and also come to terms with the fact that the United States is currently holding hundreds of people from other Nations in our own prisons – many of whom are given no rights at all, much to the shock, horror, and dismay of Human Rights Groups and other countries all over the world. As fellow human beings, our hearts are with Ms. Saberi.

Ed Hale :: Peace With Iran

Journalist Roxana Saberi, who has been held for more than two months in Iran, has been charged with espionage, her lawyer said Wednesday.

Saberi, who has been a freelance reporter for NPR, ABC News, the BBC and other news organizations, was born in the United States and holds dual citizenship. She was told of the charges against her just two days after receiving a visit from her parents at Tehran’s Evin prison, according to her lawyer, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi.

Under Iran’s penal code, Saberi, 31, faces possible execution.

Iran’s ISNA quoted a judge Haddad as saying Saberi “had been carrying out espionage activities…under the cover of a journalist…and she has accepted the accusations.” The news agency only gave the judge’s last name.

“She has been charged and a branch of the Revolutionary Court is reviewing her case now,” Haddad said, according to ISNA.

The move to charge Saberi after weeks of uncertainty over her fate was certain to complicate the Obama administration’s efforts to thaw relations between Washington and Tehran. The two nations cut ties nearly three decades ago, after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution. But President Obama has offered to extend a hand of peace if Iran “unclenches its fist”.

At the time of Saberi’s arrest Jan. 31, Iranian officials said she was working with expired press credentials. However, Saberi’s father, told NPR in February that his daughter was detained for buying a bottle of wine. Purchasing alcohol is banned under Iran’s Islamic law.

“She said that she had bought a bottle of wine and the person that sold it had reported it and then they came and arrested her,” Reza Saberi said, adding that she believed the incident was a pretext to arrest her.

The journalist’s father confirmed that her credentials had been revoked in 2006, but said the government had tolerated her reporting short news stories out of the country. He said she had stayed in Tehran to pursue a master’s degree and was performing research for a book about Iranian society, but was planning to move back to the United States later this year.

Saberi’s parents, who live in Fargo, N.D., visited her Monday in Tehran. Khorramshahi said she was in good physical and mental health. Last month, her parents appealed to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for their daughter’s release, saying she was in a “critical” mental condition.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last week that Washington was pushing for Saberi’s release. In February, Clinton called publicly for the journalist’s release “to return home to her family in North Dakota as soon as possible.”

From NPR and wire service reports