U.S. Journalist Charged with Espionage by Iran

American journalist Roxana Saberi, who has been imprisoned for over two months in a Tehran jail, was charged with espionage yesterday. The previous charge against Saberi, that she had been working in the Islamic Republic without press credentials, seems a moot point now, as the Fargo, North Dakota native appears to be in quite a bit more trouble than initially suspected. Saberi is a dual citizen of both the U.S. and Iran, though it doesn’t appear that her Iranian citizenship is helping her in this case.

Said the judge who will preside over Saberi’s case, "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. Her activities were discovered by the counter-espionage department of the Intelligence Ministry." The judge also noted that Saberi would stand trial next week, though he failed to mention a specific date. The Iranian announcement immediately came to the attention of the Obama administration, which has been pushing for Saberi’s release since her imprisonment.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a statement to the press, indicated that "We are deeply concerned by the news that we’re hearing." Clinton also noted that because the U.S. has no diplomatic relations with Iran, Swiss diplomats in Iran are being asked for the most up-to-date information on the case. Senator Kent Conrad, of North Dakota, also spoke out against Saberi’s imprisonment, noting, "This is disturbing news and is certainly hard to believe. Now the story is Roxana is a spy? I find this all very hard to believe."