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Iran judiciary to hear appeal of US journalist next week

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Spokesperson for the Iranian judiciary Alireza Jamshidi said Tuesday that the appeal of US journalist Roxana Saberi will be heard next week. Saberi was convicted of spying for the US and sentenced to eight years in jail in Evin, an Iranian jail noted for its population of dissidents and political prisoners. Saberi reportedly began a hunger strike on April 21 in protest of her conviction, and her family reports that she has recently been hospitalized and fed intravenously, though Jamshidi denied that she was on a hunger strike at all. Reporters in Paris and New York have gone on hunger strikes in solidarity with Saberi, protesting outside Iran Air offices and the UN respectively. On Sunday, the Iranian foreign minister vowed that Saberi's appeal would be handled fairly. Iran's treatment of Saberi has provoked a great deal of international criticism. Last month, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton emphasized her disappointment in Iran's judiciary for their treatment of the case. Also last month, Amnesty International urged the necessity of Saberi's release based on the assertion of her position as a "prisoner of conscience," serving as "a pawn to the ongoing political developments between Iran and the USA." Saberi was originally arrested in March after buying a bottle of wine, as alcohol consumption is illegal under Iranian law. Although it was initially believed Saberi would be charged with working without Iranian press credentials, the Iranian government charged her with espionage, accusing her of passing classified information to US intelligence services.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on May 05, 2009 (boomark / email).