Daily Beast
May 17 2009
Why Iran Freed Roxana Saberi
As a former prisoner in Iran, Haleh Esfandiari can relate to recently
imprisoned journalist Roxana Saberi. In a Daily Beast exclusive, she
explains what the saga means for U.S.-Iranian relations.
The saga of Roxana Saberi, the Iranian-American journalist who was
arrested in Iran, tried on trumped-up charges of espionage, sentenced
to eight years in prison, and then unexpectedly freed last week, tells
us a great deal about the inner workings of the Islamic Republic.
Her case is a reminder of the power the Intelligence Ministry
continues to exercise in Iran. It remains intensely suspicious of
American intentions and is hostile to a U.S.-Iranian rapprochement. It
continues to victimize Iranian-Americans and Iranian intellectuals to
prove that the U.S. is plotting a `Velvet Revolution’ to change the
government of the Islamic Republic. Saberi’s ordeal also sheds light
on a conflict inside the leadership between hardliners and more
moderate elements over domestic politics, foreign policy, and the
response Iran should make to President Obama’s recent overtures.
The release of Saberi removes an obstacle to engagement, but it does
not mean that negotiations, let alone a rapprochement, between Iran
and the U.S. are imminent.
Saberi is not the first Iranian-American or the first Iranian working
with American organizations to be targeted by the Intelligence
Ministry. Two years ago, I was arrested in Iran, accused of acting
against state security, kept in Evin Prison for several months, and
repeatedly interrogated before being released. Silva Haratounian, an
Iranian of Armenian descent, is serving a three-year prison term
simply for having worked with an American NGO to organize a
health-exchange program. In these cases too, the Intelligence Ministry
sought to `prove’ that the U.S. was plotting revolution against the
Islamic Republic.
However, as it has done in the past, the Intelligence Ministry
underestimated the international outcry that its treatment of Saberi
would generate. President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,
and legislators from Saberi’s home state of North Dakota called for
her release. Thousands signed petitions on a `Free Roxana’ Web
site. Letters and petitions addressed to Iran’s supreme leader and
president were sent to the Iranian mission in New York. Weblogs on
Saberi mushroomed on the Internet. Demonstrators kept a vigil in front
of the Iranian embassy in Paris. When Roxana went on a hunger strike,
the pressure on the Iranian government to release her mounted.
If the Bush administration’s allocation of funds for `democracy
promotion’ and its loose talk of regime change in Iran fed the
Intelligence Ministry’s paranoia and strengthened the hand of the
hardliners, President Obama’s reaching out to the Iranians has
strengthened the hand of the moderates. The negative publicity
resonated in Tehran and clearly convinced some in the leadership that
a change of course was needed. President Ahmadinejad and the chief of
Iran’s judiciary issued statements urging that Saberi receive a fair
hearing and a chance to defend herself at an appeals
trial. Ahmadinejad is facing serious opposition in his bid for a
second term in presidential elections in June. His rivals have been
criticizing him for a foreign policy they say has isolated and damaged
Iran. These factors help explain the government’s about-face on
Saberi.
An appeals court convened last week. Even though the hearing remained
closed to the public, this time a representative of the Iranian Bar
Association was allowed to attend. The trial lasted a full five
hours. Defense lawyers and Saberi herself were given ample time to
make their case. The court reduced Saberi’s eight-year prison term to
a two-year suspended sentence and freed her. Her lawyer and family say
she is now free to leave Iran.
The release of Saberi removes an obstacle to diplomatic engagement,
but it does not mean that negotiations, let alone a rapprochement,
between Iran and the U.S. are imminent. Hostility has characterized
relations for nearly 30 years. The Obama administration is clearly
interested in a rapprochement with Iran, but has also made clear it
will not tolerate a nuclear Iran or continued Iranian support for
groups in the Middle East that use violence to pursue their ends. The
Iranian leadership is still divided over its response to President
Obama. At the very least, Iran’s leaders seem to expect some concrete
steps by the U.S.’for example, an easing of sanctions – before they
agree to talks. Iranians go to the polls June 12 to elect their new
president, and any significant engagement must await the results of
that election.
But with the release of Saberi, the moderate camp in Iran has scored a
small victory. That improves the environment for any future talks.
Haleh Esfandiari is director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow
Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. She
recently completed a memoir, My Prison, My Home, based on her eight
months under arrest in Iran in 2007, of which she spent 105 days in
solitary confinement in Tehran’s Evin Prison. The book will be
published in October.
tories/2009-05-17/why-iran-freed-roxana-saberi/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
