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Press freedom group asks Iran to release reporter
09 Mar 2009 20:19:30 GMT
 Source: Reuters
NEW YORK, March 9 (Reuters) - The Committee to Protect Journalists asked Iran to make public the charges against an Iranian-American reporter who has been jailed since Jan. 31, requesting the direct intervention of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Freelance journalist Roxana Saberi, 31, has not been heard from since Feb. 10, and was being held in Tehran's Evin prison, where political prisoners are routinely detained, the New York-based nonprofit said on Monday.

An official from the Iranian prosecutor's office said on Friday that Iran's investigation of Saberi had been completed and she would be freed soon.

CPJ asked the Iranian government to ensure that she receives due process and is released as quickly as possible. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has also demanded that Tehran immediately release the journalist.

U.S.-born Saberi has worked for National Public Radio, the BBC, ABC News and other international media outlets.

"At a minimum, she is entitled to basic due process. We call on President Ahmadinejad to ensure that her basic human rights are respected," CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said in a statement.

Iran's judiciary said Saberi was being held in Tehran's Evin prison on the orders of a revolutionary court, which under Iran's legal system deals with state security as well as other issues.

"Investigations with her have taken place and she will be released in the next few days," an official from Tehran's public prosecutor's office was quoted as telling ISNA news agency.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman had said Saberi was working illegally after her press card was withdrawn two years ago.

Saberi's father, Reza, said she was arrested ostensibly for buying a bottle of wine. Buying alcohol is banned under Iran's Islamic law.

He confirmed her credentials as a correspondent had been revoked, but said she had stayed in Tehran to pursue a master's degree and was doing research for a book about Iranian society. (Reporting by Daniel Trotta)


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