Father says American journalist held; Iran says she lacked permit

[AndrewP]

Source: CNN

"In fact, her press card was revoked," said Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hassan Qashqavi. "Without a permit, she should not have been engaged in news and information gathering in Iran."

Qashqavi did not confirm whether Roxana Saberi was in custody or provide details of her alleged arrest. In his weekly news conference, he said the matter is under the jurisdiction of Iran's judiciary.

Saberi's father, who lives in North Dakota, told CNN on Sunday that his daughter called him February 10 and said she'd been arrested 10 days earlier. He said the phone call was disconnected after two minutes but his daughter called back.

"She called and said she's in jail," Reza Saberi said. "She said she bought a bottle of wine last year and kept it to take to a friend for her birthday. She said authorities told her the person who sold her the wine turned her in."

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/03/02/iran.journalist/index.html

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Roxana Saberi is from my home town, and had been a reporter at one of our TV stations in the early 2000's. She has since been a freelance reporter working for BBC and NPR among others.

Although she has been in prison since Feb 10, the story has just broke as the father has come out and released the details of his daughter's arrest since nothing has been resolved quietly.

Saberi apparently has been working on a book detailing the life of the everyday woman in Iranian society. The last report she filed for NPR was about how the Iranians have been going on something of a "morality crackdown" as of late, and haven't been allowing women to attend events in public such as soccer matches.

I fear for her safety.

[MichiganVote]

1. Fuckers...these assholes just want another headline.

[stillcool]

2. Unfortunately that's how the CIA works...

through journalists, Aid Agencies, infiltrating any group they can.

[Psephos]

4. How do we know that you're not CIA?

Seems like just about as much evidence.

[stillcool]

5. you don't...

That's the point. Perhaps if you were an Iranian, and experienced the intervention of the United States in your country, you might be reactionary too?

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/CIA/CIA_ThirdWorld.html

[Psephos]

6. Reread this bit from the original post

Roxana Saberi is from my home town, and had been a reporter at one of our TV stations in the early 2000's. She has since been a freelance reporter working for BBC and NPR among others.

Although she has been in prison since Feb 10, the story has just broke as the father has come out and released the details of his daughter's arrest since nothing has been resolved quietly.

Saberi apparently has been working on a book detailing the life of the everyday woman in Iranian society. The last report she filed for NPR was about how the Iranians have been going on something of a "morality crackdown" as of late, and haven't been allowing women to attend events in public such as soccer matches.

I don't have any trouble here steering clear of the fallacy that because I can't readily disprove a random speculation, I have to treat it as a real possibility.

This particular fallacy is known as the Argument from Ignorance. Here's a good explanation of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_ignorance

[AndrewP]

7. So she should be set up and held in a women's prison for writing and reporting?

Yeah, she deserves it.

:sarcasm:

[WriteDown]

8. This is obviously due to a mistranslation of some sort...

Happens to Mahmoud all the time. :eyes:

[spindrifter]

3. I saw -- probably on an earlier story on NPR over the

weekend that her press privileges had been revoked some time ago, and that if she wanted to post something it had to be from outside the country. Somehow, after reading Moavi's book, Satrapi's books and some other stuff, it seems the shelf life for journalists in Iran is a couple of years. Then things become untenable.

[Igel]

10. Was she notified?

I ask this because in at least one other country, historically, it was considered fair practice to revoke some required license or permit in secret and then just wait for the person to break the law. They often wouldn't do it immediately, they'd wait so they could say they forgave many transgressions and were finally forced to intervene.

In other words, what you say just might not be sufficient to say she knowingly did something wrong.

[spindrifter]

11. I'm not saying she knowingly

did anything wrong, knowingly or not.

[Marrah_G]

9. I truly hope this turns out okay

As much as I would love to visit the ME for it's beauty and history, I just can't see taking a chance as an American female.