Saturday, February 28, 2009

Roxana Saberi Arrested

Roxana Saberi with former President Ayatollah Khatami
Undated Photo [NPR, 28 February 2009]

Etemad, a Tehran daily newspaper, reported today the arrest of an American journalist in Tehran. The Iranian authorities have not yet announced the arrest, but the NPR confirmed today that the arrested journalist is Roxana Saberi, a freelance working in Tehran for the past six years. Saberi reported regularly for the NPR and the BBC.

Roxana Saberi who was born in the US to an Iranian-born father and a Japanese-born mother, was reportedly arrested in Tehran almost a month ago.

This young journalist needs to be released from the prison and be allowed to continue her fine reporting from Tehran.

7 comments:

Kalash said...

This is most unfortunate. Is it true that the pretext given was a bottle of wine?

Anonymous said...

That was also mentioned in The Fargo Forum (www.in-forum.com) from an interview with her parents. Roxana and I went to school together here in Fargo. Hope for the best!

Nader Uskowi said...

There is normally a pretext to any politically-motivated arrest in the country. Let’s hope for the best!

Ms. Amber R. Burgess said...

I was second-runner-up to Roxana the year she was Miss ND. I can't believe this. I've followed her career and reporting with interest, and am appauled. I send her the best and wish her family well.

Nader Uskowi said...

Dear Amber,

Thanks for the note. Roxana is in our thoughts and prayers and we, along with many organizations and people around the world, have called for her immediate release.

Now that the government of Iran has officially announced her detention, I expect she would be released in near future. Let's hope so.

Thanks,
Nader

Anonymous said...

How do you know she was not working for them Zionist crazies.

Anonymous said...

Have you not read the information just released about her and her brother in the military?

http://www.opednews.com/articles/A-Matter-of-Credibility-R-by-Amanda-Mueller-091024-699.html