Iran leader intervenes over spy case

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-04-20 09:40

Ahmadinejad's letter also referred to Canadian-Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan, who has been in an Iranian prison since November on charges of insulting religious figures. Ahmadinejad requested the prosecutor also ensure that he be allowed to fully defend himself, IRNA reported.

Iran leader intervenes over spy case
In this undated photo released by the The Miss North Dakota Pageant, Roxana Saberi is shown, in North Dakota. [Agencies]

Iran has released few details about the charges against the two. Saberi was arrested in January and initially accused of working without press credentials. But earlier this month, an Iranian judge leveled a more serious charge that she was passing classified information to US intelligence services.

She told her father in a phone conversation that she was arrested after buying a bottle of wine. Her father said she had been working on a book about Iranian culture and hoped to finish it and return to the US this year.

Saberi, who was 1997 Miss North Dakota, had been living in Iran for six years and worked as a freelance reporter for news organizations including National Public Radio and the British Broadcasting Corp. Because Saberi's father was born in Iranian, she received Iranian citizenship.

Her parents, who live in Fargo, traveled to Iran to seek her release. Her father, Reza Saberi, has said his daughter wasn't allowed a proper defense during her one-day trial behind closed doors a week ago. He said no evidence has been made public, and his daughter was tricked into making incriminating statements by officials who told her they would free her if she did.

He told CNN on Sunday that her trial lasted only 15 minutes. "It was a mock trial," he said.

One Iranian analyst said Ahmadinejad's letter was politically motivated and suggested Iran could be using Saberi's case to gain leverage with the US

"Iran can use Saberi's case as a bargaining card in possible negotiations with the US," said analyst Saeed Leilaz.

The United States severed diplomatic relations with Iran in 1979 and takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran. Relations deteriorated further under former US President George W. Bush, who labeled Iran as part of the so-called "Axis of Evil."

Iran has been mostly lukewarm to the Obama administration's overtures until Ahmadinejad's comment last week that he was ready for a new start.

It was unclear how far Iran's leaders are willing to go to achieve better ties. Some of Iran's hard-liners don't want warmer ties with the US and are trying to derail efforts, analysts say.

The Saberi case "shows that the judiciary and Ahmadinejad have not reached an agreement over ties with the West," said Sergey Barseqian, another Iranian analyst.

Saberi's conviction also comes about two months ahead of key presidential elections in June that are pitting hard-liners against reformists, who support better relations with Washington. Ahmadinejad is seeking re-election, but the hard-liner's popularity has waned and he's been trying to draw support away from reformists.

Ahmadinejad was scheduled to meet Sunday with the president of Switzerland at a UN racism conference in Geneva. Though it wasn't known what they'd discuss, Switzerland represents the United States' diplomatic interests in Iran. Obama said Sunday that Washington would be in contact with Iran about Saberi through its Swiss intermediaries.

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