Kuwait Times

Published Date: April 15, 2009
By Shamael Al-Sharikh, Staff columnist

At the risk of sounding callous, I feel obliged to state the following: it is irresponsible for international journalists to go to Iran, without prior consent from the Iranian authorities or the Iranian embassy in their country of origin. Any journalist who travels to Iran without having sufficient legal cover is asking for trouble.

I say this as I am following the case of Roxana Saberi, an American journalist of Iranian and Japanese descent, who has been jailed in Iran for the past three months. She is currently on trial for allegedly spying for the US. Saberi is a reporter for the American network National Public Radio (NPR) and has been living in Iran for around six years. She holds a Masters degree in journalism from Northwestern University, and a Masters in international relations from Cambridge University.

Clearly, this particular journalist is an intelligent woman. Clearly, she knew that the Islamic Republic's human rights record is questionable, to put it mildly. Clearly, she has heard of the case of Iranian-Canadian photojournalist, Zahra Kazemi, who died in Iranian custody in 2003 (ironically, Kazemi was accused of taking illegal photographs of Evin prison, the same prison Saberi is being held in.) Clearly, she was also familiar with the case of academic professor Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, another Iranian-Am
erican, who was held for more than 110 days in 2007 for alleged spying.

Iran is not hospitable to journalists who question its methods, and its reaction to their potentially negative reports is severe, especially when they are of Iranian origin. So why would an intelligent woman such as Roxana Saberi risk her safety for the sake of reporting on Iran? Is that she believes reformists in Iran deserve to be heard? Is that she believes that Iran is on the verge of moving towards more liberalism, led by a defiant middle class? Is that she believes that the Iranian voice of reason is
slowly moving against clerical rule and marching towards more seeking international acceptance?

We will only learn of Saberi's motives after she is acquitted, released from jail and sent safely to her family in the US. Until then, the only thing we can do as international residents of the global village, is to follow the news of Saberi's trial in Tehran, and to check the website set by the Asian American Journalists Association http://freeroxana.net/ for news of her case.

We all hope that the Iranian authorities will have enough sense of justice to give this woman a fair and transparent trial. Last time I checked, Iran was still a Muslim country, and if they believe in the most basic edicts of Islam, then they must believe in treating all human beings with justice, lest the day comes when they stand before the most Omnipotent of all Judges and explain their past deeds. I know they will have to do so for Zahra Kazemi; I just hope they do not have to do it for Roxana Saberi.


Email: shamael@kuwaittimes.net