NEW YORK – Major US and British broadcasters and news publications yesterday asked Iran to make public the charges against an Iranian-American reporter held since January 31st, and requested an international organisation be allowed to visit her in jail.
National Public Radio, ABC News, BBC News, PBS, the Wall Street Journal, Fox News Channel and Feature Story News called for the release of Roxana Saberi (31), a journalist who has worked for some of those organisations.
Saberi, a US-born journalist of Iranian descent, has been detained in a Tehran prison critics say holds political prisoners. Her father has said she was arrested for buying a bottle of wine, an act banned under Iran’s Islamic law.
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has demanded her release.
An official from the Iranian prosecutor’s office had said on Friday that the investigation had concluded and she would be freed within a few days. A foreign ministry spokesman has said she was working illegally after her press card was withdrawn two years ago.
Saberi was jailed on the orders of a revolutionary court, which deals with state security, and has not been heard from since February 10th. – (Reuters)