Case of arrested U.S. reporter in Iran perplexes

Poised and articulate, Roxana Saberi took to the airwaves like a natural, delivering a pitch-perfect television report about developments in Iran for the British Broadcasting Corp. in the summer of 2006.

The folks in London were impressed. “She could film, edit, upload video,” recalls her boss, Frances Harrison, who was then the BBC’s Tehran bureau chief and now lives in London. “She could do radio. She could do television. She could do online.”

Those skills made Saberi a rarity: an American journalist based in Iran, covering the country where her father was born and that she loved to explore.

But three years ago, with the Iranian American journalist’s star rising, Iranian authorities revoked her press credentials. And when she continued to work and live in Iran, they arrested her in late January, locking her up in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.

The case has perplexed friends and colleagues in Tehran. No charges have been filed, though officials have described her reporting as illegal. On Friday, an Iranian prosecutor said she would be freed within days.

But the detention of the ambitious 31-year-old has stunned and unsettled the journalists who knew Saberi in Tehran. They describe her as a cautious and serious journalist who tried to forge a normal life in the Islamic Republic.

“She is serious as a reporter,” said one journalist who knows Saberi but like many interviewed for this report asked not to be named. “Recently, we heard her reporting, which was said to be only straight news, was somehow tolerated by authorities, which is what made the news of her arrest come as a shock.”

The daughter of an Iranian-born father and Japanese-born mother, Saberi grew up mostly in Fargo, N.D., where she was a gifted student, musician and athlete. She was also strikingly good-looking, crowned Miss North Dakota in 1998.

Originally hired as a local TV reporter, she quickly grew bored, said her father, a translator and writer still living in Fargo.

“She wanted to do some in-depth journalism,” Reza Saberi said in a phone conversation. “She was not satisfied with superficial reports about car accidents and the weather.”

During a trip to Washington in 2002, she caught the eye of Simon Marks, president of Feature Story News, an agency that distributes broadcast news packages to radio and television stations around the world. She told him she dreamed of being a foreign correspondent. Throughout her childhood, her father had entertained her with stories about the great Persian poets and ancient kings, and she’d always wanted to explore Iran.

Marks gave her a laptop and camera and hired her as his Tehran bureau chief.

The dual national arrived in Tehran in February 2003. She enrolled in Persian classes and began touring the country, visiting cities and rural hamlets, interviewing liberals and hard-liners, men and women. When an earthquake struck in the southern city of Bam in late 2003, she rushed to the disaster scene, but also returned several times throughout the following year to monitor the town’s recovery.

“She very rapidly became a very formidable force,” Marks said. “She immersed herself in Iran and traveled the length of the country.”

Marks said her reports were gobbled up by his clients, which included Fox News, Radio New Zealand and especially Singapore-based Channel NewsAsia.

Unlike much of Tehran’s expatriate community, friends say, Saberi avoided the swirl of parties in private homes and embassies that characterizes the city’s underground night life. Instead, she preferred quiet movie nights with friends or strenuous workouts at a gym.

During a birthday party at her home, Saberi entertained guests by playing a stirring rendition of a piano piece she had composed.

“She is soft-spoken, curious in a positive way,” said one reporter.

“She is not an extroverted person.”

In June 2006, Iranian authorities abruptly revoked her press credentials without explanation. Marks said he tried but failed to persuade Iranian authorities to let Saberi continue to work for his news service.

“I never understood why they shut down a journalist who was so committed to reporting on Iran in all its complexities,” he said.

“They never engaged in any dialogue about why they were doing it.”

Her father said she had decided to stay in Tehran, refusing to heed his advice to leave the country. She began taking classes in public relations and working on a book, filing occasional reports for National Public Radio and other outlets.

Meanwhile, she tried to persuade officials to let her work.

“Roxana was in negotiation with authorities for a long time after her press card was taken back, hoping she could change their mind,” said one friend. “She would say she was never told if she had made any specific mistake in her stories.”

Saberi’s father and her mother, Akiko, began to grow worried early last month when their daughter’s daily e-mails and phone calls suddenly stopped. When a phone call finally came, Saberi’s voice was strained. She’d been arrested, she told her father, after purchasing a bottle of wine.

She’d be let go in a few days, his daughter said. “Her voice was not normal,” he said. “It was tense. She spoke hurriedly and hastily.”

Alcohol is illegal in the Islamic Republic, but its possession usually incurs no harsher penalty than a fine. After weeks went by without news from Roxana, Reza Saberi decided to go public last weekend.

Though Iranian officials have not specified charges against Roxana Saberi, some journalists said the nature of their work often makes authorities suspicious.

“The U.S. has a large budget for covert operations in Iran, and since many people see journalists as spies, you need to make sure that the way you gather information is as transparent, legal and open as possible,” said one journalist in Iran, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “You need to make clear that you are a legitimate journalist who regularly has published or had TV pieces aired.”

But Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, a Tehran press freedom activist, said there were no laws in the Islamic Republic requiring journalists to obtain official authorization. “On the contrary, the press law stipulates that no one, no authority, can tell a journalist what to do or what not to do,” he said.

Human rights attorney Mohammad-Ali Dadkhah said the circumstances surrounding Saberi’s arrest violated laws that protect Iranian defendants.

“Anyone arrested should be informed about his or her charges within 24 hours and has the right to have access to a lawyer,” he said.

Saberi’s father said a lawyer he retained is scheduled to visit his daughter in prison today.

Most analysts and legal experts were expecting her to be freed within weeks if not days, based on earlier incidents involving the arrest of Iranian American dual nationals, such as scholars Haleh Esfandiari and Kian Tajbakhsh.

They were arrested in 2007 on charges of inciting antigovernment activity. In such cases, suspects are released on bail and allowed to leave the country within months.

But journalists working in Tehran worry that the arrest of Saberi will have long-term effects. Shamsolvaezin said he believed Saberi was arrested to intimidate other journalists.

“We don’t know why Saberi was arrested,” said one journalist in Tehran.

“But the fact that she has already spent one month in Evin is ominous.”

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daragahi@latimes.com

Special correspondent Ramin Mostaghim in Tehran contributed to this report.

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The roots of a conflict

Times Middle East correspondent Borzou Daragahi recommends these books for understanding the complex, confrontational relationship between the U.S. and Iran:

1 “HIDDEN IRAN:

Paradox and Power in the Islamic Republic,” by Ray Takeyh

This well-informed overview of Iran-U.S. relations by Council on Foreign Relations member Takeyh has become a must-read in U.S. public policy circles for those seeking ways out of the conflict.

2 “CONFRONTING IRAN:

The Failure of American Foreign Policy and the Next Great Crisis in the Middle East,” by Ali Ansari

A sharply written, compelling picture of how U.S. and Iranian steps and missteps since the early 20th century shaped today’s emotionally charged relationship between Washington and Tehran.

3 “TREACHEROUS ALLIANCE:

The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran and the United States,” by Trita Parsi

This deeply researched examination of the decades-long relationship among Iran, Israel and the U.S. reveals the roots of the animus between the Islamic Republic and the Jewish state -- and the hypocrisies and inconsistencies that color both countries’ policies.