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One up for Roxana Saberi. Thumbs down for the media

Whilst a number of questions have arisen the last days about exactly what Roxana Saberi was doing in Iran, one cannot help but be pleased that she has been released from what must have been quite an ordeal.

Glen Greenwald, writing in Salon:

"An Iranian appeals court this morning announced that it was reducing the sentence and ordering the immediate release of Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, who was convicted by an Iranian court last month of spying for the U.S. and sentenced to eight years in prison. Saberi's imprisonment in January became a cause célèbre among American journalists, who -- along with the U.S. Government -- rallied to demand her release. Within minutes of the announcement, several of them -- including ABC News' Jake Tapper, Time's Karen Tumulty, The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder -- posted celebratory notices of Saberi's release.

Saberi's release is good news, as her conviction occurred as part of extremely dubious charges and unreliable judicial procedures in Iran. And, as Ambinder suggested, her release most likely is a positive by-product of the commendable (though far from perfect) change in tone towards Iran specifically and the Muslim world generally from the Obama administration. But imprisoning journalists -- without charges or trials of any kind -- was and continues to be a staple of America's "war on terror," and that has provoked virtually no objections from America's journalists who, notably, instead seized on Saberi's plight in Iran to demonstrate their claimed commitment to defending persecuted journalists."

Comments

Anonymous said…
Let me get this straight. This idiot goes to Iran to report on the country but fails to adhere to normal press protocol and to register with the officials or to get proper press credentials. Then she has suspicious meetings with U.S. officials -though we are told those were 'only casual.' Then to top it off, she buys wine in a country where such actions are banned. This woman is no martyr -she is an idiot who deserved what she got. Next time maybe she will educate herself on proper protocol and customs before she gets on a plane and travels to distant regions of the world.
May 15, 2009 9:35 pm
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