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Roxana Saberi Urges Iran To Free Jailed Aid Worker

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  • Roxana Saberi Urges Iran To Free Jailed Aid Worker

    ROXANA SABERI URGES IRAN TO FREE JAILED AID WORKER

    Washington TV
    http://televisionwashington.com/floater_article 1.aspx?lang=en&t=floater_censoredculture&i d=11591
    June 25 2009

    Washington, 25 June (WashingtonTV)--Iranian-American journalist Roxana
    Saberi, whose nearly four month imprisonment in Tehran garnered
    massive media attention, on Wednesday called for the release of a
    former cellmate, who remains behind bars.

    Saberi was speaking at a press conference in Paris to support
    humanitarian worker Silva Harotonian, an Iranian citizen of Armenian
    descent, who was detained last year in Tehran.

    Wednesday marked the one-year anniversary of Harotonian's
    imprisonment. She was charged with trying to wage a "soft" revolution
    in Iran, and sentenced in January to three years in prison.

    "When I was freed, I left a lot of people behind, a lot of innocent
    people. So I hope that in some small way I can use my experiences to
    help others like Silva, whether they're in Iran or in other countries,"
    Saberi said, according to the Associated Press.

    Saberi said that Harotonian, whom she shared a cell with in Tehran's
    Evin Prison for several weeks, gave her "a lot of strength."

    Also joining Saberi in appealing for Harotonian's release were Karim
    Lahiji, president of the International Federation for the League of
    Human Rights; Hadi Ghaemi, director of the International Campaign for
    Human Rights in Iran; and Robert Pearson, president of the U.S.-based
    International Research and Exchanges Board.

    Harotonian was administering a maternal and child health project in
    Iran for the International Research and Exchanges Board.

    "I know Silva is innocent. I have studied the court document," Ghaemi
    was quoted by Fox News as saying.

    Pearson said that despite the unrest in Iran following its disputed
    presidential election, he had not lost hope in chances for Harotonian's
    release. According to Fox News, her second appealing is pending.

    Saberi described the Iranian government's crackdown on post-election
    protests as "very inhuman".

    "I'm very disturbed and distressed by what I've seen in Iran in the
    past ten days," she said, according to AFP.

    Sources: Associated Press, Fox News, Agence France-Presse
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