WASHINGTON, Jan 19, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A US court on Friday confirmed the
arrest of a journalist for Iranian television, saying her testimony is
required over an unspecified case but that she is not accused of a crime.
Iran has protested the arrest of Marzieh Hashemi, who was born in the
United States and is a presenter on Iran’s English-language Press TV, amid
high tensions between the two countries.
At a hearing in Washington, Beryl Howell, the chief judge of the US
District Court for the District of Columbia, ordered the partial unsealing of
an order on Hashemi, referred to by her former name of Melanie Franklin. The
order said that Hashemi was arrested on “a material arrest warrant” in a case
in Washington.
She will be released immediately after the completion of her testimony to
a grand jury investigating unspecified “violations of US criminal law.”
“Franklin has been appointed an attorney and has not been accused of any
crime,” it said.
Hashemi married an Iranian man and converted to Islam. She has produced
documentaries critical of US policy in the Middle East and the country’s
treatment of Muslims and African Americans.
She was arrested Sunday at the St. Louis airport on a visit to see an
ailing family member, Press TV said.
Iran, generally on the receiving end of criticism by the United States on
press freedom and human rights, pledged to defend Hashemi, who it considers
an Iranian citizen due to her marriage.
“The arrest of Marzieh Hashemi by America is an unacceptable political act
that tramples on freedom of speech,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif
said Wednesday.
The New York-based Committee to Protest Journalists voiced concern earlier
Friday about the arrest, saying that the United States needed to disclose the
reason for her arrest.
The advocacy group said that Iran is detaining at least eight journalists
over their work.
In one of the most notorious cases, Iran detained Washington Post
journalist Jason Rezaian for 544 days before he was freed as part of a
reconciliation deal with President Barack Obama’s administration.