1
1
1
June 2009 saw the highest restrictions placed on journalist in Iran, including a media blackout imposed on all foreign journalists during the civil unrest by Iran's Green Movement that took place after the presidential election. International news networks such as CNN, BBC, and Al-Jazeera relied on social networking sites for video and updates as the situation violently escalated. Many of those that stayed behind to report were imprisoned, including Iason Athanasiadis, former classmate of Saberi who also wrote an article on her for Harvard's Nieman Foundation.
Long time Tehran correspondent for Time and author Iranian-American Azadeh Moaveni answered Saberi's NPR interview with a column titled "Roxana Saberi and How Journalism Works in Iran". Moaveni took particular issue with Saberi's trips to Israel and reporting without press credentials, emphasizing the personal sacrifices one must make reporting from a country like Iran. In the ten years that Moaveni has reported from Tehran, she has never been held by the government of Iran, despite two memoirs about her life in Tehran as a journalist and a book that she co-authored with Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, a woman often looked upon as an enemy of Iran because of her human rights work. Her book Honeymoon in Tehran: Two Years of Love and Danger in Iran documents the obligation of journalists to report regularly to "minders' from the Ministry of Islam and Culture Guidance, giving her minder the name of Mr. X.
The other issue central to this case is the confidential document Saberi had in her possession. While editing English grammar on articles for websites and journals for the government think tank Center for Strategic Research, a government report on the United States invasion of Iraq was copied and retained by Saberi. It was a report she was not translating nor editing. Since the report contained information that had been previously spoken about in public and held no classified stamp -- as Saberi said she had heard such documents would have -- she wanted it for "historical perspective.'
When pressed about working for a think tank for the Expediency Council, a revelation made by her lawyer, Saberi claims that her lawyer had only been telling half truths and that some of the research for the Center of Strategic Research was sent to the Expediency Council, but it was a government think tank. This, too, is inaccurate. Although it was previously run by the office of the Iranian President, since 1997 the Center of Strategic Research has been run by the Expediency Council, used primarily for research of a strategic nature. They do indeed have a website with reports translated in English, however, this website is also under the Expediency Council as apart of the Center of Strategic Research, not as a separate entity.
NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT THE PERSIAN CATS
With her boyfriend Bahman Ghobadi, Saberi co-scripted and executive produced No One Knows about the Persian Cats, a docu-fiction film about Tehran's underground music scene. Ghobadi, a man Saberi's family did not know about and questioned his intentions very publicly in the press, could not receive license to film this movie in Iran. They then took to the streets of Iran, scouting locations in two or three days, covertly filming in high speed over seventeen days so that they would not be found by the police. The crew was arrested twice during the shoot, but bribed the police for their freedom with DVDs of Ghobadi's previous released movies. Ghobadi claims that Saberi was the inspiration for the movie, which premiered at Cannes just days after Saberi's release. These previously unpublished photos show Ghobadi, Saberi and crew during one of their filming sessions underground in the streets of Iran.
Here are photos of Saberi and Ghobadi filming, unreleased by mainstream media.
Ghobadi also aided Saberi in her research for her book. In a letter he released internationally begging for her release, he stated, "I accompanied her, and thanks to my friends and contacts, I knocked on every door and was able to set up meetings with filmmakers, artists, sociologists, politicians, and others. I would go with her myself." Saberi admits to meeting with several different groups and a variety of people in Iran for research for her book. It was reported that Saberi had in her possession copies of internal memos from a conservative political party. Al-Jazeera reported a week after Saberi's release a man had been taken into Iranian custody for providing Saberi with those memos. Although the man was photographed going into the police station, no further information about him or his release have been made public.
FAMILY TIES TO MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
When the media spoke about the family in this case, there were only references made to Saberi's parents -- Reza and Akiko. This is not by accident. An article posted on April 22, 2009, on ValleyFaith.net, a faith-based information site for the Red River Valley where Saberi grew up in Fargo, North Dakota reveals that Saberi's parents, Reza and Akiko, asked the community for support for the Saberi family through means of donations and respectful letters written to editors of various news mediums. They also had one other request -- do not mention Jasper Saberi in any communications -- local, national, or international. Local media agreed, with comments mentioning Jasper Saberi immediately being deleted from conversation. It is now revealed, however, the request came with good reason. The year that Saberi took her much debated trip to Israel, her brother was serving in the US Military in Afghanistan.
