This is how Iran returns foreign goodwill, said The Wall Street Journal in an editorial. As President Obama tries to repair relations with the Islamic republic, Tehran has arrested Roxana Saberi, a U.S.-born journalist of Iranian descent, and accused her of espionage. “Saberi's prosecution is as good an indication as any of the real nature of the regime, and of how the mullahs intend to reciprocate Obama's open handshake.”
This might sound callous, said Shamael Al-Sharikh in the Kuwait Times, but “any journalist who travels to Iran without having sufficient legal cover is asking for trouble.” Saberi, 31, knew how severely the Iranian government deals with journalists who “question its methods.” Now all the rest of us can do is hope she is treated fairly and sent safely home.
Saberi has already been treated unfairly, said Joe Peyronnin in The Huffington Post. The paranoid and oppressive regime in Iran is using Saberi—a North Dakotan who has worked for National Public Radio—as a “pawn” in the political game over its controversial nuclear program. After her secret, one-day trial, Saberi could be sent to prison for 10 years—no wonder Iranians live in fear of their government.
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