Press freedom group presses for US-Iranian journalist’s release
Updated: Monday, May 04, 2009
11:35GMT—7:35AM/EST
Washington, 4 May (WashingtonTV)—Four US members of the press freedom watchdog, Reporters Without Borders, on Sunday started a hunger strike outside the United Nations headquarters in New York, to press for the release of Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi.
Saberi, who was sentenced to eight years in jail last month on charges of spying for the United States, has been on a hunger strike since 21 April, in Tehran’s Evin Prison, says her father.
Four members of the Paris-based group have also been on hunger strike since 28 April in Paris, in solidarity with Saberi. They have been stationed outside the Iran Air office in the French capital, handing out leaflets and collecting signatures.
On Sunday, World Press Freedom Day, a Reporters Without Borders delegation handed in a petition and list of signatures at the Iranian embassy in Paris, reiterating its call for Saberi’s release.
Iran’s Judiciary has denied that Saberi, 32, is on hunger strike. However, her father, Reza Saberi, told Reporters Without Borders that his daughter was taken to a clinic at the prison on Friday, because she has stopped taking liquids. She was released from the clinic within a day, after again drinking water.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Hassan Qashqavi, today dismissed the protests being carried out by Reporters Without Borders.
“Our judiciary is independent and any kind of imposition of views or interference in its process is contrary to international norms and regulations,” Qashqavi was quoted by the semi-official ISNA news agency as saying.
“We have to wait for the appeals court decision,” he added.
The case has been a source of tension between Tehran and Washington, at a time when the Obama administration is seeking to engage with Iran, after years of diplomatic stalemate, says the Associated Press.
The United States has called the charges against Saberi “baseless” and has urged her immediate release.
Sources: Reporters Without Borders website, ISNA, Associated Press
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