Roxana Saberi is an American journalist with dual Iranian-American citizenship who has been imprisoned in Iran since late January. On April 18, based on a closed, one day trial, Ms. Saberi was sentenced to eight years in prison for charges of spying for the United States, a charge the White House vigorously denies as "baseless."
Ms. Saberi has been living in Iran for the past six years while
reporting for National Public Radio, the BBC, ABC News and others reputable international media outlets. She was arrested in late January for purchasing wine, which is illegal in Iran, and held without charges for over a month. Iranian officials later claimed she had been working illegally without a press pass yet escalated charges to espionage. The evidence against her has never been made public. (
see NPR's timeline of the case)
Ms. Saberi is now on a hunger strike until her release. Her family worries for her health and safety.
Please urge the Iranian government to release Roxana Saberi immediately. Polite comments will be most effective.
Your Excellency,
I am writing to express my grave concern over the imprisonment of American journalist Roxana Saberi.
I am deeply disturbed by the way Ms. Saberi's case has been handled. She was arrested in late January for purchasing wine, held without charges for well over a month, yet convicted of espionage less than two weeks after being charged. Ms. Saberi was sentenced to eight years in prison after a one day, closed door trial, and the evidence against her has never been made public. United States officials stress that the charges of espionage are "baseless."
I urge the Iranian government to immediately release Ms. Saberi from imprisonment. I further urge Iranian officials to make all evidence against Ms. Saberi public, to investigate and review this case per the order of the Iranian Judiciary, Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, and to ensure that Ms. Saberi has access to a full defense to appeal these charges against her.
Thank you for your consideration of this issue.
