Iran Charges Imprisoned U.S. Journalist With Spying/Karzai Vows to Review Family Law

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/.
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U.S. hostage flees Somalia pirates, is caught

Richard Phillips, the American ship captain taken prisoner after the crew of his vessel fought off Somalia pirates, jumps into the ocean but is soon recaptured, a U.S. official says.
By Julian E. Barnes and Edmund Sanders
April 11, 2009
Reporting from Washington and Nairobi, Kenya -- Adrift with his captors in sight of U.S. warships, the American sea captain being held for ransom by Somali pirates briefly escaped their lifeboat by jumping overboard, a U.S. official said Friday, but was recaptured and brought back.

The U.S. military said Richard Phillips, who was taken by the pirates from the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama on Wednesday, appeared unharmed after the escape attempt. The military, which has been maintaining real-time video surveillance via a drone aircraft, observed him moving around on the lifeboat after he was recaptured.

But another hostage drama off the coast of Somalia turned bloody. French naval forces attacked pirates holding a yacht 40 miles offshore. One hostage and two pirates were killed, the French government said. The yacht, which was carrying a French couple, their small child and two friends, was seized this month.

It was one of more than a dozen vessels being held by pirates operating out of ports in the chaotic Horn of Africa country, which has not had an effective government since 1991. The pirates typically move the hijacked vessels close to shore and then open negotiations for a ransom.

During 2008, the pirates are believed to have collected more than $50 million. In response to a spate of hijackings, including that of a Ukrainian ship carrying 33 battle tanks and a Saudi tanker with $100 million of crude oil, warships from North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries, including the U.S., and other navies have been patrolling the area since last year.
Sources in Somalia said they had heard that the pirates holding Phillips had made a ransom demand Friday, and news reports said a Norwegian-owned tanker was freed after a ransom was paid.

But other Somali maritime experts predicted that, facing the firepower of two U.S. warships, Phillips' captors were probably looking for a way out.

Pentagon officials said they had heard, but could not confirm, that Phillips was pulled back into the lifeboat by one of the pirates who jumped into the water after him.

The escape drama marked the third day of captivity for Phillips, 55, who is drifting in a 24-foot lifeboat in the Indian Ocean about 250 miles off the Somali coast. The rest of his 20-person, American crew managed to retake the 17,000-ton Maersk Alabama from pirates who boarded it and attempted to seize control. They are now cruising toward their original destination, the Kenyan port of Mombasa, with a cargo of food aid for African countries.

With the Maersk Alabama gone from the scene, two large U.S. naval vessels, the destroyer Bainbridge and the frigate Halyburton, were keeping watch.

One report from Somalia suggested that the pirates were demanding money and free passage to shore in exchange for Phillips.

"They made a ransom demand earlier this morning, but I'm not sure if the Americans are meeting their demands," said Mohammed Jama, a trader in the port city of Eyl, who sells fuel to pirates. His account could not be verified.

Though the pirates have radio contact with the Bainbridge, it was unclear whether they had a satellite phone. U.S. officials and representatives of the shipowner, Norfolk, Va.-based Maersk Line Ltd., have declined to comment on negotiations.

Witnesses said pirates on several ships were rushing to the scene in an apparent bid to assist their trapped colleagues. One of the ships, according to wire reports, was a hijacked German freighter with a crew of more than 20 that later headed back toward the coast.

It was unclear whether any such vessels would be able to penetrate the Navy security perimeter. U.S. officials vowed to keep other vessels away from the lifeboat and said they would block the cornered pirates from moving to another vessel or resupplying. The U.S. negotiating position will grow stronger, officials predicted, as the pirates run low on supplies.

Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, declined to comment on why the Navy did not have smaller boats in the water, which might have been better positioned to assist the captain during the escape attempt. One family friend of Phillips' suggested in a television interview Friday that the Navy had not been prepared to respond to the captain's move.

Whitman called such characterizations an "oversimplification."

"People can second-guess the activities task force out there, but this is a vast body of water," Whitman said. "To operate in those waters and to be able to maneuver around, you need vessels that can move distances and have staying power."

One Somali maritime expert said the pirates were probably growing tired and might be ready to give up.

"They're probably saying to themselves that they've made a very big mistake by taking this American and now they are wondering how they will survive," said Abdi Wali Alitaar, a businessman who runs a maritime security firm in the port city of Bosasso.

At the same time, Alitaar faulted the U.S. for not seeking more assistance and support from inside Somalia, including clan leaders, government officials and private consultants such as himself. He said his firm has a track record of rescuing hijacked ships and capturing pirates.

Longer-term, he said, sending foreign warships to patrol waters and combat piracy "will absolutely fail."

"How long are the Americans really going to stay?" he said.

"A year or two? These pirates will just go on vacation and come back after the Americans leave."

julian.barnes@latimes.com

edmund.sanders

@latimes.com

A special correspondent in Mogadishu, Somalia, contributed to this report.

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Taliban Gunmen Murder Leading Afghan Women's Rights Activist

Taliban gunmen murdered one of Afghanistan’s leading female rights activists yesterday, as she stood outside her home. In the latest blow against women’s rights, two men on a motorbike shot Sitara Achakzai in the southern city of Kandahar.

'This cold-blooded assassination puts in question the direction that Afghanistan is heading,' warns the director of the UN Development Fund for Women. Fore informations in DG Alert blog.


Karzai Vows to Review Family Law


President Hamid Karzai ordered a review on Saturday of a new law that has been criticized internationally for introducing Taliban-era restrictions on women and sanctioning marital rape.

The president defended the law, which concerns family law for the Shiite minority, and said Western news media reports were misinformed. Nevertheless, he said his justice minister would review it and make amendments if the law was found to contravene the Constitution and the freedoms that it guarantees.
Added by Kasem Ali


Karzai Vows to Review Family Law
By:CARLOTTA GALL and SANGAR RAHIMI
Published: April 4, 2009

KABUL, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai ordered a review on Saturday of a new law that has been criticized internationally for introducing Taliban-era restrictions on women and sanctioning marital rape.
The president defended the law, which concerns family law for the Shiite minority, and said Western news media reports were misinformed. Nevertheless, he said his justice minister would review it and make amendments if the law was found to contravene the Constitution and the freedoms that it guarantees.
“The Western media have either mistranslated or taken incorrect information and then published it,” Mr. Karzai said at a news briefing in the presidential palace on Saturday. “If there is anything in contradiction with our Constitution or Shariah, or freedoms granted by the Constitution, we will take action in close consultation with the clerics of the country.”
If changes are needed, he said, the bill would be sent back to Parliament.
Human rights officials have criticized the law, in particular for the restrictions it places on when a woman can leave her house, and for stating the circumstances in which she has to have sex with her husband.
A Shiite woman would be allowed to leave home only “for a legitimate purpose,” which the law does not define. The law also says, “Unless the wife is ill, the wife is bound to give a positive response to the sexual desires of her husband.” Critics have said that provision legalizes marital rape.
The law also outlines rules on divorce, child custody and marriage, all in ways that discriminate against women, said Soraya Sobhrang, commissioner for women’s rights at the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission.
While the law applies only to Shiites, who represent approximately 10 percent of the population, its passage could influence a proposed family law for the Sunni majority and a draft law on violence against women, Ms. Sobhrang said. “This opens the way for more discrimination,” she said.
Mr. Karzai signed the law last week after a vote in Parliament last month, Ms. Sobhrang said, adding that she had seen a copy of the law with his signature.
However, the presidential spokesman, Homayun Hamidzada, would not confirm that the president had signed the law and said only that the he was still reviewing it.
Mr. Karzai’s decision to review the law came after a storm of criticism in recent days. Canada called in the Afghan ambassador for an explanation, and NATO’s secretary general questioned why the alliance was sending men and women to fight in Afghanistan when discrimination against women was condoned by law.
Asked about the law at a news conference in Strasbourg, France, on Saturday, President Obama called it “abhorrent.”
“We think that it is very important for us to be sensitive to local culture,” he said, “but we also think that there are certain basic principles that all nations should uphold, and respect for women and respect for their freedom and integrity is an important principle.”
Also on Saturday, Italy’s defense minister said Italy was considering a temporary withdrawal of the women serving in its force in Afghanistan to protest the law, Reuters reported.
The United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, said the law represented a “huge step in the wrong direction.”
“For a new law in 2009 to target women in this way is extraordinary, reprehensible and reminiscent of the decrees made by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in the 1990s,” Ms. Pillay said in a statement posted on her agency’s Web site. “This is another clear indication that the human rights situation in Afghanistan is getting worse, not better.”
In addition to the clauses on when women may leave the home and must submit to their husbands, Ms. Pillay said she was concerned about a section that forbids women from working or receiving education without their husband‘s permission.
Ms. Sobhrang, who has been working on the issue for the last two years, said women’s groups and the human rights commissions had worked with Parliament to introduce amendments but then the law was suddenly pushed through with only three amendments. The bill as originally drawn up by Shiite clerics barred a woman from leaving the house without her husband’s permission, she said. The parliamentary judicial commission amended that provision to say that a woman could leave the house “for a legitimate purpose.”
Mr. Karzai cited that provision in a news conference on Saturday, pointing out that the final version of the law did not ban a woman from leaving her house. But Ms. Sobhrang said even as amended the law contravened the Constitution, which recognizes equal rights for men and women. The term “for a legitimate purpose” was open to interpretation, she added.
She said Mr. Karzai had supported women’s rights in the past but seemed to have given that up in recent months. Some Western officials have speculated that he signed the law to win the support of conservative Shiite clerics in coming presidential elections.
Yet the leading cleric behind the Family Law, Sheik Muhammad Asif Mohseni, complained last week that he was dissatisfied with the amendments that Parliament had made to his original draft. Speaking on his own television channel, Tamadun Television, he objected to the introduction of a legal age for marriage, “16 for women and 18 for men,” saying that people should be able to decide for themselves.
Human rights officials consider raising the marriage age a critical step toward ending the common practice of forced marriages and the marriage of young girls.
Another amendment gave women longer custody of young children in the case of divorce. In the original draft, women could have custody of a son until he was 2 years old, and a daughter until she was 7. The amended version raises the ages to 7 for boys and 9 for girls.
Ms. Sobhrang criticized both versions for not taking into account the interests and desires of the children.

Giving Knowledge for Free: The Emergence of Open Educational Resources
The report offers a comprehensive overview of the rapidly changing phenomenon of Open Educational Resources and the challenges it poses for higher education. It examines reasons for individuals and institutions to share resources for free, and looks at copyright issues, sustainability and business models as well as policy implications. It will be of particular interest to those involved in e-learning or strategic decision making within higher education.

Event
2nd Pan-African Forum on OER - May 27, 2009 - UCADII Conference Center - DAKAR
Dates: Apr 13, 2009 - Apr 13, 2009
Announcing the 2nd Pan-African Forum on OER and OA (hosted by the MERLOT Africa Network (MAN) & the Africa Virtual University (AVU)).
Please join us in Dakar, Senegal, for a unique journey dedicated to OER and eLearning featuring:

•BEST OER PRACTICES AND TECHNOLOGIES TO BRIDGE THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

•WO-MAN EXPERTS PANEL: CELEBRATING THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN OER AND ICT FOR DEVELOPMENT

•DELIVERING THE INTERNATIONAL MAN@eLA AWARDS FOR EXEMPLARY OER PRACTICES FOR DEVELOPMENT

•OFFERING UNIQUE WORKSHOPS WITH FOLLOW- UPS THAT PREPARE THE FUTURE OER AND Elearning PRACTITIONERS and LEADERS

FULL PROGRAM IS NOW AVAILABLE:
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This event is sponsored by the University Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD), Senegal - West Africa
Country: Senegal
Source: http://man.merlot.org/meetings/MAN%20at%20eLA2009.html
Popularity: 24

JOURNALISM IN THE AMERICAS
Media Insiders Say Internet is Hurting Journalism
In a poll of 45 prominent “media insiders,” conducted by The Atlantic and National Journal, two in three (65 percent) say the Internet is hurting journalism more than it’s helping, and 34 percent say it has helped, the magazines report. (See The Atlantic and National Journal.)
Those who say Internet is hurting journalism note the effects of the online experience on reader habits, and say “it has mortally wounded the financial structure of the news business so that the cost of doing challenging, independent reporting has become all but prohibitive all over the world.”
Those who say the Internet has helped journalism point to the range of information available online and to the way that Internet has extended the practice of journalism to more people.
The list of 45 respondents appears at the bottom of this page.
Media Insiders say Internet Hurting Journalism
What a revelation! Most journalists figured that out 5 years or more ago. The internet is cannibalizing the source of its' information and news content - journalism, particular newspapers. The analogy of "biting the hand that feeds you" fits the relationship the two have with each other. One does all the work, the other gets all the glory - which is the diffrence between a work horse (journalism) and a show horse (internet).
Danny L. McDaniel
Lafayette, Indiana

Journalism's Main Challenge: to Hold Politicians Accountable (Interview with John Dinges)
For U.S. journalist John Dinges, incidents such as the conviction of Peru's former president, Alberto Fujimori, represent the media's role "to monitor democracy, reveal its weaknesses and the violation of rules of the game by the presidents. We have to do this in every country, because in all of them there are abuses of power." The Knight Center spoke with Dinges during his recent visit to Austin, Texas.
A correspondent in Chile for TIME magazine, the Washington Post, and ABC radio during and after Pinochet's coup, Dinges was also a cofounder of the Chilean magazine APSI, which opposed the dictatorship--a period he describes in his book "The Condor Years: How Pinochet and His Allies Brought Terrorism to Three Continents" (The New Press 2004). Since 1996, Dinges has been a professor at the Journalism School of Columbia University and is one of the directors of Chile's Investigative Journalism Center (CIPER), a nonprofit organization based in Santiago.
For Dinges, presidents like Hugo Chávez and Álvaro Uribe have different agendas, but their methods and populist concepts are similar. In this context, the media must monitor democracy, he says.
Read the complete interview on the Knight Center web site.

Journalism's Main Challenge: to Hold Politicians Accountable (Interview with John Dinges)
For U.S. journalist John Dinges, incidents such as the conviction of Peru's former president, Alberto Fujimori, represent the media's role "to monitor democracy, reveal its weaknesses and the violation of rules of the game by the presidents. We have to do this in every country, because in all of them there are abuses of power." The Knight Center spoke with Dinges during his recent visit to Austin, Texas.
A correspondent in Chile for TIME magazine, the Washington Post, and ABC radio during and after Pinochet's coup, Dinges was also a cofounder of the Chilean magazine APSI, which opposed the dictatorship--a period he describes in his book "The Condor Years: How Pinochet and His Allies Brought Terrorism to Three Continents" (The New Press 2004). Since 1996, Dinges has been a professor at the Journalism School of Columbia University and is one of the directors of Chile's Investigative Journalism Center (CIPER), a nonprofit organization based in Santiago.
For Dinges, presidents like Hugo Chávez and Álvaro Uribe have different agendas, but their methods and populist concepts are similar. In this context, the media must monitor democracy, he says.
Read the complete interview on the Knight Center web site.


Journalism's Main Challenge: to Hold Politicians Accountable (Interview with John Dinges)
For U.S. journalist John Dinges, incidents such as the conviction of Peru's former president, Alberto Fujimori, represent the media's role "to monitor democracy, reveal its weaknesses and the violation of rules of the game by the presidents. We have to do this in every country, because in all of them there are abuses of power." The Knight Center spoke with Dinges during his recent visit to Austin, Texas.
A correspondent in Chile for TIME magazine, the Washington Post, and ABC radio during and after Pinochet's coup, Dinges was also a cofounder of the Chilean magazine APSI, which opposed the dictatorship--a period he describes in his book "The Condor Years: How Pinochet and His Allies Brought Terrorism to Three Continents" (The New Press 2004). Since 1996, Dinges has been a professor at the Journalism School of Columbia University and is one of the directors of Chile's Investigative Journalism Center (CIPER), a nonprofit organization based in Santiago.
For Dinges, presidents like Hugo Chávez and Álvaro Uribe have different agendas, but their methods and populist concepts are similar. In this context, the media must monitor democracy, he says.


(Re-Edited by MUKTI MAJID, Editor/Publisher,The Monthly Muktidooth,Dacca)

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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