April 23-2009:
I Implore Justice For Roxana Saberi:
Your Excellency-President Of Iran,
I am writing to you to express my very deep concern over the conviction and eight-year prison sentence imposed on Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi.
She was accused of "espionage" and given a brief closed door trial in a Revolutionary Court in Tehran on 13 April 2009. Legal proceedings in Iran's Revolutionary Courts are severely flawed and fail to meet international standards for fair trials.
The evidence against Ms Saberi has not been made public.
Ms Saberi, had been living in Iran for six years and reporting for news outlets such as National Public Radio.
She had been arrested on 31 January 2009 and has been detained in Tehran's Evin Prison since then.
Reports indicate that Ms Saberi was pressured into making statements that were used against her in the legal proceedings.
She says that she was told that if she agreed to make the statements, she would be released.
I am concerned that she may be subjected to ill-treatment while in custody.
I am also concerned that she is being held for political reasons, as Iran's relations with the United States and its role in the world community are being reassessed.
Furthermore, Ms Saberi's harsh prison sentence is yet another example of the increasingly severe crackdown on those exercising their rights to peaceful freedom of expression and association in Iran.
The government of Iran has recently imprisoned and persecuted numerous bloggers, journalists, labor activists, students and members of religious minorities.
I urge that the trial and conviction of Ms Saberi be reviewed, following the order of the Head of the Iranian Judiciary, Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi.
I also urge your government to make public any evidence that it might have against Ms Saberi.
Finally I urge that Ms Saberi be immediately released from detention.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Derryck S. Griffith.
NYC.
Please Take Action via This Web Site:
alerts@takeaction.amnestyusa.org