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  • Why Iran Freed Roxana Saberi

    Daily Beast
    May 17 2009


    Why Iran Freed Roxana Saberi


    As a former prisoner in Iran, Haleh Esfandiari can relate to recently
    imprisoned journalist Roxana Saberi. In a Daily Beast exclusive, she
    explains what the saga means for U.S.-Iranian relations.

    The saga of Roxana Saberi, the Iranian-American journalist who was
    arrested in Iran, tried on trumped-up charges of espionage, sentenced
    to eight years in prison, and then unexpectedly freed last week, tells
    us a great deal about the inner workings of the Islamic Republic.

    Her case is a reminder of the power the Intelligence Ministry
    continues to exercise in Iran. It remains intensely suspicious of
    American intentions and is hostile to a U.S.-Iranian rapprochement. It
    continues to victimize Iranian-Americans and Iranian intellectuals to
    prove that the U.S. is plotting a `Velvet Revolution' to change the
    government of the Islamic Republic. Saberi's ordeal also sheds light
    on a conflict inside the leadership between hardliners and more
    moderate elements over domestic politics, foreign policy, and the
    response Iran should make to President Obama's recent overtures.

    The release of Saberi removes an obstacle to engagement, but it does
    not mean that negotiations, let alone a rapprochement, between Iran
    and the U.S. are imminent.

    Saberi is not the first Iranian-American or the first Iranian working
    with American organizations to be targeted by the Intelligence
    Ministry. Two years ago, I was arrested in Iran, accused of acting
    against state security, kept in Evin Prison for several months, and
    repeatedly interrogated before being released. Silva Haratounian, an
    Iranian of Armenian descent, is serving a three-year prison term
    simply for having worked with an American NGO to organize a
    health-exchange program. In these cases too, the Intelligence Ministry
    sought to `prove' that the U.S. was plotting revolution against the
    Islamic Republic.

    However, as it has done in the past, the Intelligence Ministry
    underestimated the international outcry that its treatment of Saberi
    would generate. President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,
    and legislators from Saberi's home state of North Dakota called for
    her release. Thousands signed petitions on a `Free Roxana' Web
    site. Letters and petitions addressed to Iran's supreme leader and
    president were sent to the Iranian mission in New York. Weblogs on
    Saberi mushroomed on the Internet. Demonstrators kept a vigil in front
    of the Iranian embassy in Paris. When Roxana went on a hunger strike,
    the pressure on the Iranian government to release her mounted.

    If the Bush administration's allocation of funds for `democracy
    promotion' and its loose talk of regime change in Iran fed the
    Intelligence Ministry's paranoia and strengthened the hand of the
    hardliners, President Obama's reaching out to the Iranians has
    strengthened the hand of the moderates. The negative publicity
    resonated in Tehran and clearly convinced some in the leadership that
    a change of course was needed. President Ahmadinejad and the chief of
    Iran's judiciary issued statements urging that Saberi receive a fair
    hearing and a chance to defend herself at an appeals
    trial. Ahmadinejad is facing serious opposition in his bid for a
    second term in presidential elections in June. His rivals have been
    criticizing him for a foreign policy they say has isolated and damaged
    Iran. These factors help explain the government's about-face on
    Saberi.

    An appeals court convened last week. Even though the hearing remained
    closed to the public, this time a representative of the Iranian Bar
    Association was allowed to attend. The trial lasted a full five
    hours. Defense lawyers and Saberi herself were given ample time to
    make their case. The court reduced Saberi's eight-year prison term to
    a two-year suspended sentence and freed her. Her lawyer and family say
    she is now free to leave Iran.

    The release of Saberi removes an obstacle to diplomatic engagement,
    but it does not mean that negotiations, let alone a rapprochement,
    between Iran and the U.S. are imminent. Hostility has characterized
    relations for nearly 30 years. The Obama administration is clearly
    interested in a rapprochement with Iran, but has also made clear it
    will not tolerate a nuclear Iran or continued Iranian support for
    groups in the Middle East that use violence to pursue their ends. The
    Iranian leadership is still divided over its response to President
    Obama. At the very least, Iran's leaders seem to expect some concrete
    steps by the U.S.'for example, an easing of sanctions - before they
    agree to talks. Iranians go to the polls June 12 to elect their new
    president, and any significant engagement must await the results of
    that election.

    But with the release of Saberi, the moderate camp in Iran has scored a
    small victory. That improves the environment for any future talks.

    Haleh Esfandiari is director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow
    Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. She
    recently completed a memoir, My Prison, My Home, based on her eight
    months under arrest in Iran in 2007, of which she spent 105 days in
    solitary confinement in Tehran's Evin Prison. The book will be
    published in October.

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-s tories/2009-05-17/why-iran-freed-roxana-saberi/

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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