US journalist goes on trial for spying in Iran

Iranian-American accused of passing classified information to US intelligence




An Iranian-American journalist has gone on trial in Iran for spying for the US, and a verdict is expected within two to three weeks, Iranian officials said today.

Roxana Saberi, a 31-year-old dual American-Iranian citizen, was arrested in late January and initially accused of working without press credentials.

In a case that threatens to complicate efforts to improve US-Iran ties, an Iranian investigative judge involved in the case told state TV last week that Saberi had passed classified information to US intelligence services without providing details.

Under Iranian law, espionage can carry the death penalty. Iran last year executed an Iranian businessman convicted of spying on the military for Israel.

"The first trial meeting on Roxana Saberi was held yesterday ... I think the verdict will be announced soon, perhaps in the next two or three weeks," said a judiciary spokesman, Alireza Jamshidi.

The US has said the charges against Saberi, who has reported for the BBC and America's National Public Radio (NPR), were "baseless and without foundation". The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, has expressed concern about the case and has called for her release.

Freedom House, a US human rights group, said last week the case was the latest in a string of attacks on press freedom in Iran. Jamshidi today rejected that accusation, saying: "Giving an opinion on a case, by an individual or a government, without being informed about the facts in it, is utterly ridiculous."

The case comes at a time when Barack Obama has made highly public overtures to Iran. The US severed diplomatic ties with Iran after the Islamic revolution in 1979 but Obama has offered to extend a hand of peace if Iran "unclenches its fist" in his charm offensive.

Saberi's father, Reza, who lives in Fargo, North Dakota, is in Iran to try to win his daughter's release.

NPR said Saberi's press credentials were withdrawn more than a year ago but said she continued to file short news stories, which the Iranian government tolerated. Saberi, who has a Japanese mother, is a former Miss North Dakota beauty queen. She originally went to Iran six years ago to complete a master's degree on Iranian studies and international relations.

Iran rarely arrests foreign journalists, but foreign nationals with Iranian parents who work as journalists are subject to extra scrutiny and are sometimes harassed. Her arrest is the latest in a series of detentions of Americans with Iranian backgrounds, apparently amid government fears that the US is trying to use them to foment a "velvet revolution".

Last year, Esha Momeni, a student from California who was researching women's rights in the country, was held for 26 days after being arrested, ostensibly for a traffic offence. She was later released but banned from leaving the country.

In 2007, four Iranian-American academics were detained or had their passports confiscated for several months before eventually being allowed to return to the US.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Iran has the world's sixth worst record for jailing journalists, and detained or investigated more than 30 in 2008.