Campaign continues after week of solidarity for Roxana Saberi

Today, World Press Freedom Day, Reporters Without Borders handed in a petition for Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi’s release at the Iranian embassy in Paris. Sentenced to eight years in prison in Tehran on a charge of spying for the United States, Saberi is now on the 13th day of a hunger strike. Saberi was admitted to the Evin prison hospital on 1 May because she had stopped taking liquids. “She is very weak, but she is still determined to go all the way,” her father, Reza Saberi, told Reporters Without Borders today. Four members of Reporters Without Borders, including its secretary-general, Jean-François Julliard, began a hunger strike on 28 April in Paris in solidarity with Saberi. As it symbolically took over her protest in this manner, Reporters Without Borders urged Saberi to end her own hunger strike. “She needs to know she is not alone,” the press freedom organisation has repeatedly said. “We are going to continue this protest in other forms,” Reporters Without Borders said today. “Saberi has not committed any crime and must be released without delay. The Iranian president must not use this young woman for his election campaign or as a bargaining chip in his relations with Europe or the United States.” Members of Reporters Without Borders have been stationed outside the Iran Air office in Paris, located at 63 Avenue des Champs-Elysées, since 11 a.m. on 28 April, handing out leaflets and collecting signatures. The protest intensified all week, spreading to London, New York, Washington, Madrid and Brussels. In Paris, more than 800 people signed the petition for Saberi’s release. Reporters Without Borders has received the support of several well-known figures including the former justice minister and former Constitutional Council president Robert Badinter, journalist Florence Aubenas, photographer Reza Deghati and actor Charles Berling. Iranian Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi yesterday voiced her support for Saberi and Reporters Without Borders. A Reporters Without Borders delegation handed in the petition and list of signatures at the Iranian embassy at 3 p.m. today, reiterating its call for Saberi’s release. Seven journalists and two bloggers are currently imprisoned in Iran, which was ranked 166th out of 173 countries in the 2008 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index. Timeline of Saberi case - 31 January: Roxana Saberi is arrested. - 1 March: The US public radio network NPR breaks the news of her arrest (after getting a call from her father on 10 February). - 2 March: Foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi says Saberi was working “illegally” in Iran. - 3 March: Judiciary spokesman Alireza Jamshidi says she has been “arrested on the order of the Tehran revolutionary court and is being held in Evin prison.” - 9 April: Saberi is charged with spying by deputy prosecutor Hassan Zare Dehnavi. This charge is often used by the Iranian authorities to arrest journalists and tighten the muzzle on freedom of expression. - 13 April: Saberi is tried in a closed-door hearing on a charge of spying for the United States. - 18 April: Saberi is sentenced to eight years in prison. - 20 April: Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi announces that she will join the Saberi defence team. - 21 April: Saberi begins her hunger strike. - 25 April: Her lawyer files an appeal against her conviction.