TEHRAN: American journalist Roxana Saberi has been put on trial before a revolutionary court on charges of spying for Iran’s archfoe the United States, an official said yesterday.
“Yesterday, the first session of the trial was held and she was given an opportunity to speak in the court to present her defense,” judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi told reporters.
He said Saberi, who has been held in the Evin Prison in Tehran since January, is accused of “spying for foreigners ... for America.” Saberi, a 31-year-old with dual Iranian-US nationality, risks the death penalty if convicted by the court, which met in closed session on Monday.
Iran’s decision to put Saberi on trial comes despite calls by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for her release and US President Barack Obama’s diplomatic overtures to Iran.
Jamshidi said the verdict was expected in one or two weeks.
Saberi’s parents Reza and Akiko Saberi, who are in Tehran to pursue her case, met their daughter in prison yesterday. “We met Roxana today for a few minutes and she is doing well,” her father Reza Saberi said. “We are waiting for the judge to make a decision. It (the verdict) should come out in a week. There is always hope. But we don’t know what will happen.”
Jamshidi dismissed remarks by US State Department spokesman Robert Wood last week that the charges against Saberi were “baseless.” “It is really funny that someone comments on a case without even seeing it,” Jamshidi said. Saberi was reportedly initially detained for buying alcohol.
