European Parliament calls for Roxana Saberi to be freed
Posted, May 07, 2009 @ 14:00
The European Parliament will today call on the Iranian authorities to free US journalist Roxana Saberi by adopting an 'urgency' resolution authored by Conservative Vice-President of the European Parliament, Edward McMillan-Scott MEP and Conservative foreign affairs spokesman, Charles Tannock MEP.
Roxana Saberi - a former Miss Dakota - was arrested in Iran this January. Initially she was accused of buying a bottle of wine, then for not possessing a valid press card and finally on the 8th April she was accused of being an American spy.
Despite having no access to a lawyer and an unfair trial, Saberi was sentenced on 18th April to eight years in prison. Yesterday, Saberi ended a two week hunger strike against her conviction and she has already filed an appeal.
The European Parliament has said that Iran should comply with international human rights instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which guarantees a right to a fair trial.
Mr McMillan-Scott, who is a patron of the BBC World Service Trust which trains journalists worldwide, said:
"Iran must free Roxana Saberi immediately. The circumstances surrounding the arrest are shady and the trial nothing short of a banana republic."
McMillan-Scott, who founded the EU's £140 million Democracy and Human Rights Initiative, visited Evin Prison where Ms Saberi is being held and also attended what he describes as a "show trial" in Tehran in 1996.