A BRIEF STORY OF AN IRANIAN FEMALE JOURNALIST/CUBAN BLOG FACING CHALLENGES

JOURNALISM IN THE AMERICAS

Free Roxana Saberi
Free American Journalist Roxana Saberi from Iranian Detention

Trial Begins for Iranian-American Journalist Accused of Spying in Iran

The closed trial for Roxana Saberi began Monday in Iran's revolutionary court, which handles national security cases. An Iranian judiciary spokesman said he believes the verdict will be made in two or three weeks, BBC reports.

Saberi has been in custody in Tehran since late January. She was originally arrested for buying alcohol — a less serious accusation — but was then accused of working as a journalist without valid press credentials. Last week, Iranian prosecutors accused her of spying for the U.S.

Saberi has spent six years studying in Iran and worked as a freelance reporter for BBC, National Public Radio and Fox News. (Read all Knight Center posts about Saberi's case here.)

Last week, Iranian prosecutors accused her of spying for the U.S.

Iran Charges Imprisoned U.S. Journalist With Spying

Roxana Saberi, an Iranian-American journalist jailed for more than two months outside Tehran, was charged with espionage, dashing hopes of a quick release days after her parents arrived in the country to seek her freedom, the Associated Press reports.

“The espionage charge is far more serious than earlier statements by Iranian officials that the woman had been arrested for working in the Islamic Republic without press credentials and her own assertion in a phone call to her father that she was arrested after buying a bottle of wine,” the AP’s Ali Akbar Dareini reports from Tehran.

Saberi, 31, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Iran, has lived in Iran for six years and reported from there for several news outlets, including National Public Radio and the BBC. (See background on her case.)

Saberi’s lawyer had not been allowed yet to read the indictment, The Los Angeles Times reports. However, the attorney said he would request that his client be released on bail until a trial, AP says. In another sign of the seriousness of the case, the lawyer learned that the case would be reviewed by Iran’s Revolutionary Court, which normally handles cases related to national security, AP adds.

For more information, see http://freeroxana.net/.

Samer Srouji, a former journalist with Agence France Presse, was a good friend of Roxana’s in Iran. He contributed this insightful piece to www.freeroxana.net Wednesday detailing Roxana’s reporting and life across the Middle East, from taking classes in Tehran to covering the aftermath of the 2006 Israeli offensive in Lebanon.

Roxana and the early days in Tehran

By Samer Srouji

It was a beautiful autumn afternoon in October of 2003, soft rays of sunlight were descending on Vali-Asr avenue in Tehran and the ever-present cool breeze was blowing down from the Alborz mountains. It was the first time I spoke with Roxana; we had just emerged from Persian class at the Dehkhoda Institute and were walking up the road to Tajrish Square, a crowded and bustling market in the north of the city. I had noticed her in the past couple of weeks, there were around 18 people in our class, but most days she would be running to a news conference, or to meet a deadline for filing a report.



But today was different. She had walked next to me on the way out of class, making casual conversation and telling me about her work and her family in the United States. Her eyes lit up when I told her that I was also a journalist, before coming to Tehran I had worked for Agence France Presse, living in Cyprus and covering the Middle East. I believe my friendship with Roxana came naturally; we both had origins in the Middle East (I was born in Lebanon), but we had grown up abroad, Roxana in the United States and I in Cyprus and France. More importantly, our lives and experiences straddled both worlds, as did our fluid sense of belonging.



The last email I received from Roxana was on January 18, 2009, just a few days before her arrest. In this email, she told me her book was coming along well and that she was working hard to complete it within a few weeks. She had started the book in late 2006 – we had spoken about it when I last saw her briefly in Beirut that year in December. She once told me on the phone jokingly but sincerely, that she was not sure what her book was about anymore. Mainly, she wanted to put into words all that was in her heart (delam takhliye konam) about Iran and her experiences there. It was only on March 1 that I heard from a Japanese friend that Roxana had been detained.



Our institute – part of Tehran University’s faculty of literature and language – was a refuge of the eclectic characters that only a place like Tehran (or perhaps Cairo or Beirut) can draw. My own class had German, English, Polish and Japanese exchange students, a Japanese calligraphy student, a Turkish poet, a Turkish backpacker who had decided to settle in Tehran, a Danish cyclist, a couple of grumpy Iraqi businessmen, a travel-writer — Daniel Metcalfe, my flat mate — and of course Roxana. She usually ran into class late, carrying a tripod, and shouting final notes down the phone to her cameraman or assistant. Our teacher, a boisterous but amiable history professor, would always turn and greet her with a loud but well-meaning ‘salam … salam’ (hello). She never managed a discreet entry.



We often held informal gatherings at our flat, dinners and movies. At the time, I was volunteering at an NGO, and Daniel spent the days playing mandolin and researching for his book about obscure tribes in Central Asia. Roxana used to come over as well, surprising us, as she was never sure she could make it. I remember her sitting quietly next to us in the kitchen, drinking tea, while the rest of us would play cards, smoke ghelioun (waterpipe), speak loudly and tell an infinite amount of jokes. She often asked me about Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine, as she wanted to know these other parts of the Middle East.



Early in July 2004, I had to leave Tehran at short notice as my parents were going through a separation. However, later that month Roxana joined me in Amman, Jordan, where I had gone to visit my grandmother. She was motivated to make a first visit to an Arab country. We spent six days in Jordan, visiting the Dead Sea and historical places. We also went shopping, as Roxana needed something elegant for a wedding she was going to attend soon in the United States. She enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere in Jordan, the warmth of the people, and not having to wear a headscarf like in Tehran. As a parting gift, I gave her the autobiography of Jordan’s former Queen Noor, Leap of Faith.



For Roxana, the visit to Jordan was a discovery. In the following months, she returned to Jordan. She also went to Syria, Lebanon and Kurdistan and produced several features. I helped her with contacts and background information about Lebanon. Crucially, she went back to Lebanon in the summer of 2006, just after the Israeli offensive in south Lebanon and Beirut. She reported from the poor Shiite suburbs, where many buildings and homes had been decimated by Israeli bombing.



All the time I have known Roxana, I have seen her present the stories of Iranians, Lebanese, Afghans and Kurds – people living in challenging post-conflict situations, or in societies experiencing significant political and social change. She worked tirelessly, and often in difficult conditions, particularly for a young unmarried woman. If there is one thing that characterizes her reporting, it is her humanity, solidarity and feeling for the people and situations she has reported about.



I am upset that it seems as if she is being made a scapegoat in Iran’s obscure political bargaining game with the United States. Instead of imprisoning her, Iran’s authorities should realize the great service she has rendered the country, reporting about a society and a culture that for so long has been misunderstood, misrepresented and badly reported in the West. Imprisoning, persecuting and silencing journalists is not a solution, it only creates more resentment, anger and incomprehension concerning the Middle East, as if there weren’t excessive amounts of these emotions already.

Roxana’s father Reza Saberi, left, listens to her lawyer, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, in his office in Tehran on Thursday April 9, 2009 (AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian)

Both the Associated Press and the Washington Post filed stories Wednesday that reach beyond the basic details of Roxana’s case and spark a dialogue about what it all might mean in the context of Iran’s impending June elections and the Obama administration’s recent subdued diplomatic overtures.

“There is no wine involved in this,” says LA Times reporter
14Apr,2009.
Interview with reporter Borzou Daragahi of the Los Angeles Times

Joseph Freeman speaks with Borzou Daragahi, Middle East correspondent for the LA Times. Daragahi has worked with Roxana and has reported from Iran. In this interview, he assesses Roxana’s case and breaks down aspects of Iranian law related to alcohol and press credentials, both of which he posits have little to do with her arrest and detention in Evin prison. For a highly informative article on defense attorneys working within Iran’s judiciary system, read this piece Daragahi wrote in 2007.

Azadeh Moaveni is another reporter who like Daragahi and Saberi has both American and Iranian ties. Apropos of attempting to gain context on the culture, history and political atmosphere of Iran, read her new book Honeymoon In Iran, reviewed in the New York Times today.


Trial over, verdict within weeks
14Apr,2009.

A spokesman for Iran’s judiciary system said Tuesday that Roxana’s trial has taken place. On Monday, the day the trial began, Roxana presented her last defense statement and while the trial proceedings seem to have ceased the verdict is expected in the next few weeks, The New York Times reported.

Reuters article notes an espionage case last year that involved an Iranian businessman accused of spying for Israel.

Gerald F. Seib, Washington bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, wrote a piece Tuesday asserting that Iran is sending clear political signals by charging and trying Roxana. In 1987, reporting on the Iran-Iraq war, Seib was arrested by Iranian authorities and detained in Evin prison.


The New Yorker on Iran
12Apr,2009

s we follow Roxana’s case, it’s important to grasp the political and social backdrop in Iran. The formidable reporter and writer Jon Lee Anderson wrote this piece in a recent New Yorker issue that brings us up to speed with a trenchant analysis of developments in the country’s political process, specifically the impending elections.


Inside Evin jail
12Apr,2009

In 2006, Iranian authorities allowed reporters to inspect parts of Evin jail, the Kafkaesque prison in the northwest suburbs of Tehran where Roxana is being held. Here is the BBC article describing the prison. Upper right-hand corner of the BBC page links to video footage.,2009.


Saberi’s case stirs up forgotten detentions, and Iran charges Web sites with “foreign-funded plot”
11Apr,2009

In 2006, Iranian authorities allowed reporters to inspect parts of Evin jail, the Kafkaesque prison in the northwest suburbs of Tehran where Roxana is being held. Here is the BBC article describing the prison. Upper right-hand corner of the BBC page links to video footage.



Saberi’s case stirs up forgotten detentions, and Iran charges Web sites with “foreign-funded plot”
11Apr,2009

The New York Times reported Saturday that owing to the efforts and public attention given to Roxana’s case, new plans are under way to investigate the disappearance two years ago of former F.B.I. agent Robert Levinson, as well as two other missing Americans imprisoned in Iran. Roxana’s ordeal importantly reminds us that there are others who are also dealing with the hardships of detention.

In an equally germane story, the cyber-crimes unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards has gone on the offensive against certain news outlets in the country, including Web sites and magazines, charging them with a “Dutch-funded plot” to undermine the regime. Borzou Daragahi, who has worked with Roxana before, reports on the charges for the Los Angeles Times.


On The Media’s Nazanin Rafsanjani on Saberi case and reporting in Iran
10Apr,2009.

Nazanin Rafsanjani, a producer for New York Public Radio’s On The Media, reports the latest news on Roxana Saberi’s ordeal. Like Saberi, Rafsanjani holds dual citizenship. She planned to cover the impending elections in Iran using her Iranian passport. Due to the Saberi case, she has canceled the trip. In this audio report she explains why and discusses the state of press freedom and the travails of reporting in Iran.





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Cuban Blogger Introduces a Citizen Journalism Project From the Island (Interview)

Yoani Sánchez, author of blog Generación Y, launched the Voces Cubanas (Cuban Voices) blogging platform, which seeks to gather citizen bloggers from across the island. There are currently eight active blogs and 15 developing blogs involved with the project.

Global Voices' Claudia Cadelo interviews Sánchez about the project. Here are some excerpts:

Claudia Cadelo: What are the goals of the new portal Voces Cubanas and how does it differ from Desde Cuba?

Yoani Sánchez: Voces Cubanas is a blogging platform and differs from Desde Cuba, which also contains a virtual magazine and other universal spaces. It is a website where all those who want to express ideas, put their projects online, can do so. It is born and inspired by the experience that we gained through the administration of other sites, but there is not an editorial policy that guides it, rather each blogger is his or her own director, editor and even censor.

CC: What is the concept of blogostróika? Do you feel that blogs can contribute towards the expansion of freedoms for the Cuban people?

YS: The idea of calling this new phenomenon with the label of blogostróika came from Cuban(s) writing their blogs from exile. … The use of this term is a clear allusion to the process that came about when Mikhail Gorbachev came to power, especially during the information transparency process called glasnost. Even though the term sounds nice, I have to make a small comment that perestroika was pushed from a position of power, while the alternative Cuban blogosphere did not ask permission from anyone to exist.


Cuban Blogger Introduces a Citizen Journalism Project From the Island (Interview) (Global Voices)

Yoani Sánchez, author of blog Generación Y, launched the Voces Cubanas (Cuban Voices) blogging platform, which seeks to gather citizen bloggers from across the island. There are currently eight active blogs and 15 developing blogs involved with the project.

Global Voices' Claudia Cadelo interviews Sánchez about the project. Here are some excerpts: read more »(By Maya Srikrishnan)

Cuban Authorities Accuse Blogger of "Provocation" Against the Revolution (Reuters)

Cuban authorities accused blogger Yoani Sanchez of "Generacion Y" of dissidence and "provocation against the Cuban Revolution" after she publicly spoke against Cuban censorship during an arts performance in Havana, Reuters reports. read more »

Last U.S. Newspaper Bureau in Cuba to Close (New Times: Broward Palm Beach)

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel is shutting its bureau in Havana and bringing back to Fort Lauderdale reporter Ray Sanchez, the New Times reports. read more »


Colombian Journalists to Hold Second International Gathering on Investigative Reporting

The Colombian investigative journalist organization Consejo de Redacción (The Newsroom Council) will hold its second annual gathering from April 24-25, 2009, in Bogotá.

The workshops and seminars will be conducted by 17 Colombian and international speakers and will include specialized training sessions including how to investigate the judiciary, and organized crime. The program also includes workshops on doing investigative journalism for TV, using databases for investigative reporting, expanding an investigative piece into a book, and independent models for investigative journalism.

More information about the event can be found at the Newsroom Council's website. Read the Knight Center's report on the First Annual Investigative Journalism Gathering here.
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