THE UNIVERSITY JANRY IGANSAN
THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 2009
NEWS
5A
INTERNATIONAL
Journalist faces spying charge
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Reza Saberi, the father of American-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi, is photographed in his Fargo, N.D., home in February. Roxana, pictured in foreground, has been in jail for two months in Iran. Roxana's parents Reza and Akiko arrived in Iran on Sunday as part of their efforts to seek her release and visited their daughter in prison on Monday.
American held in Iran won't be released quickly
BY ALI AKBAR DAREINI
Associated Press
TEHRAN, Iran — An American journalist jailed for more than two months in Iran has been charged with spying for the U.S., a judge said Wednesday, dashing hopes of a quick release days after her parents arrived in the country seeking her freedom.
The espionage charge is far more serious than earlier statements by Iranian officials that the woman had been arrested for working in the Islamic Republic without press credentials and her own assertion in a phone call to her father that she was arrested after buying a bottle of wine.
Roxana Saberi, who grew up in Fargo, North Dakota, and is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Iran, has been living in Iran for six years. She has reported from there for several news organizations, including National Public Radio and the British Broadcasting Corp.
An investigative judge involved in the case told state TV that Saberi was passing classified information to U.S. intelligence services.
"Under the cover of a journalist, she visited government buildings, established contacts with some of the employees, gathered classified information and sent it to the U.S. intelligence services," said the judge, who under security rules was identified only by his surname, Heidarifard.
"Her activities were discovered by the counter-espionage department of the Intelligence Ministry," Heidarifard said.
Saberi will stand trial next week, the judge said, though he did not specify which day.
The announcement of espionage charges got the attention of the Obama administration, which has been pushing for her release.
"We are deeply concerned by the news that we're hearing," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told reporters at the State Department, adding that the administration had asked Swiss diplomats in Iran for the "most accurate, up-to-date information" on Saberi. Though the U.S. has no diplomatic relations with Iran, it has an interests section at the Swiss Embassy.
Officials in the woman's home state who have been pressing for action also expressed concern about the direction her case is taking.
“This is disturbing news and is certainly hard to believe,” said Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota, noting that at first the government had accused her of working without accreditation. "Now the story is Roxana is a spy? I find this all very hard to believe."
The 31-year-old freelance reporter was arrested in late January. Her lawyer, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, said Saberi had been informed of the espionage charge against her and that he planned to request that she be released on bail until the trial.
Human rights groups have repeatedly criticized Iran for arresting journalists and suppressing freedom of speech.
The government has arrested several Iranian-Americans in the past few years, citing alleged attempts to overthrow its Islamic government.
In another indication of the seriousness of the case, Saberi's lawyer also learned this week that it would be reviewed by Iran's Revolutionary Court, which normally handles cases involving threats to national security.
yet been allowed to read the text of the indictment, which he expects to see by Saturday.
Khorramshahi said he has not
After her arrest, Iran's Foreign Ministry had initially said she had engaged in illegal activities because she continued working in Iran after the government revoked her press credentials in 2006.
Saberi's parents visited their daughter Monday in Evin prison, north of the capital, Tehran. The couple from North Dakota met Saberi for half an hour — the first time they had spoken to her since she called them on Feb. 10 to say she had been arrested.
Her father, Reza Saberi, and her mother, Akiko, were pleased after the meeting and said it appeared their daughter was in good health and in good spirits, according to the lawyer.
They could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
COURTS
Gay marriage may be facing debate in D.C.
Four states legalize same-sex marriage
BY BRIAN WESTLEY Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The next battleground over gay marriage could be the U.S. Capitol.
A preliminary vote by the District of Columbia city council to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere puts the issue on a path to Congress, which has final say over D.C.'s laws. That may force lawmakers to take up the politically dicey debate after years of letting it play out in the states.
"Let's be clear, this is a new era," openly gay D.C. Council member David Catania said Wednesday, expressing optimism that the city's law would clear Congress after a final coun-
ci vote in May.
. The council's unanimous vote Tuesday came the same day Vermont became the fourth state to legalize gay marriage and the
first to do so with a legislature's vote. Court rulings led to same-sex marriages in the three other states where it's legal: Connecticut, Massachusetts and Iowa.
Like the measure approved in D.C., New York also recognizes same-sex marriages performed elsewhere but hasn't issued its own marriage licenses for gay and lesbian couples.
The situation in D.C. is unique, though. After the legislation receives final approval from the council, which is supposed to come next month, the bill is then subject to a 30-day congressional review.
"Let's be clear, this is a new era."
That review could be the new Congress' first opportunity to signal its appetite for re-examining the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages and allows states to do the same.
Since that federal law was passed in 1996, the debate has primarily played out in individual states.
Vermont became the first state to legalize civil unions — in 1999 — and Massachusetts was the first state to legalize same-sex marriages, which began taking place there in 2004.
Advocates see Washington holding symbolic importance in the debate, but some stressed that there isn't a dominant battleground in the quest for marriage equality.
DAVID CATANIA D.C. Council member
"The district is equivalent to a small state, and the only
difference is Congress' ability to interfere with local decisions," said David Smith, vice president of the Washington-based Human Rights Campaign.
"We would treat it as any other state and move to defend the decision of the legislature or the courts."
However, Jennifer Pizer, marriage project director at New York-based Lambda Legal, noted that D.C. is unique and influential because of its national focus.
"There's important national attention on the things that happen in the district because it's the seat of the federal government," she said.
Opponents said it remains to be seen whether a Democrat-controlled Congress will have any interest in repealing the city's efforts.
Congress is in recess through April 17.
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