Marzieh Hashemi Case: Is US Up to Something?

As Reported by Qods News Agency (Qodsna) "Marzieh Hashemi was held illegally and the fact that an African-American journalist is being held without any explanations is an instance of the US flagrant violation of human rights, freedom of speech and freedom of the press," Khoshchshm said, addressing a meeting held by the Iran-based Association of Muslim Journalists in Tehran on Wednesday to protest at the detention of Hashemi in the United States and ask for her immediate release.

He blasted the US for not accounting for its deeds, specially in Hashemi's case, and said, "The US has resorted to a very rare law to detain Hashemi, who is said to be a material witness and not a suspect or criminal, without accounting for such a move and option that certainly requires elaboration."

Khoshcheshm underlined that Hashemi's case displays US hypocricy in dealing with such notions as human rights and freedom of speech.

He further referred to the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and said despite all hues and cries after his death, the US has done nothing to punish the Saudi rulers as the ones in charge of his painful torture-killing, specially Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The two cases expose that the US advocacy for human rights depends on Washington's interests, and once again display the double-standard behavior of the United States' treatment and attitude towards what they call as western values which were used as an excuse to set the stage for the US invasion of some countries.

Khoshcheshm also stressed that Hashemi's detention showed that despite the US claims that its pressures are aimed at the Iranian government, the people of Iran are the main target, noting that if she is, as the US says, a material witness, then why Washington is keeping her in jail and under duress.

Khoshcheshm said the US could have taken her passport away, rather than imprisoning her, to prevent her departure from the country, saying that the US could deescalate the situation by simply providing Hashemi's family and the public opinion with sufficient information rather than building up ambiguity around the case.

The analyst said the bizzare pressures on Hashemi as a witness, and not a criminal, offer a suspecious drive by Washington, "and this means that another John Bolton-styled plot could be in the offing".

Yet, he said the whole case presents itself as an aggressive move against the Iranian-American journalist and Press TV. "A new wave of soft war has been launched against Iran and the Iranian media," Khoshcheshm said.

He further reminded Washington's mistreatment of some alternative media in the past, warning that they need to force the US to account for its actions in a bid to stop such hostile approach towards alternative media.

The analyst also urged the world's alternative media to continue providing coverage to Hashemi's case to keep the pressure on the US to release her.

Representatives of different media outlets participated in the roundtable and press conference titled "In Solidarity with Marzieh Hashemi, the Black American Muslim Journalist Illegally Held In US Prison" to shed more light on Hashemi's case.

Seyed Mohammad Marandi, a political analyst and an academic at Tehran University, Nader Talebzadeh, a researcher, film director and film producer, and Maryam Azarchehr, one of Hashemi's colleagues, also addressed the meeting.

Hashemi, a 59-year-old American-born Muslim convert who has been living in Iran for years, was detained at St. Louis Lambert International Airport in Missouri on January 13 while she was in the US to visit her ill brother and other family members.

She was transferred to a detention facility in Washington DC, where she was forced to remove her hijab and only offered

food not permissible under her Islamic values.

After days of silence, the US government confirmed on Friday that it was holding Hashemi in jail as a “material witness,” and that she would be released after she testified before a grand jury. She appeared in court on Friday for the second time for a hearing session, and is slated to appear before the jury for a third time on Wednesday, January 23.

Iran’s Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani denounced the illegal detention of Press TV’s anchor, and expressed regret over increasing violation of human rights by the United States and Western countries.

Addressing a meeting with senior Iranian judiciary officials, Amoli Larijani added that it is quite clear that the US and West were using the issue of human rights as a tool.

"In the recent case, they claim that this journalist has been detained as a 'witness'. This is the first time that I hear a country detains its own national - who is only a witness - in her own homeland without there being any fear about her possible flight from the country," he said.

Amoli Larijani said the US judicial system was responsible for any possible harm to Hashemi, adding that the US' problem with the Iranian journalist was that she defended the Islamic Revolution in Iran and criticized the United States' crimes in different parts of the world.

The Iranian judiciary chief also ordered the country's prosecutor general to take all necessary measures to defend Hashemi's rights and secure her release.

"Marzieh Hashemi's detention is a sign of the US arrogance and the US will pay the price for it," Talebzadeh said, addressing a meeting held by the the Iran-based Association of Muslim Journalists in Tehran on Wednesday to protest at the detention of Hashemi in the United States, and ask for her immediate release.

He described detention of Hashemi as shameful for the US, saying that she was a victim of her defending for the Islamic Revolution, wearing Hijab and working in Iran as an American national.

Talebzadeh, meantime, said that the detention of Press TV anchor resulted in a type of victory for her because not even the Iranian people but also the American people and international journalists have shown

reaction to her detention.

Representatives of different media outlets participated in the roundtable and press conference titled "In Solidarity with Marzieh Hashemi, the Black American Muslim Journalist Illegally Held In US Prison" to shed more light on Hashemi's case.

Seyed Mohammad Marandi, a political analyst and an academic at Tehran University, Seyed Mostafa Khoshcheshm, a political analyst and university professor and Maryam Azarchehr, one of Hashemi's colleagues, also addressed the meeting.

Hashemi, a 59-year-old American-born Muslim convert who has been living in Iran for years, was detained at St. Louis Lambert International Airport in Missouri on January 13 while she was in the US to visit her ill brother and other family members.

She was transferred to a detention facility in Washington DC, where she was forced to remove her hijab and only offered food not permissible under her Islamic values.

After days of silence, the US government confirmed on Friday that it was holding Hashemi in jail as a “material witness,” and that she would be released after she testified before a grand jury. She appeared in court

on Friday for the second time for a hearing session, and is slated to appear before the jury for a third time on Wednesday, January 23.

Iran’s Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani denounced the illegal detention of Press TV’s anchor, and expressed regret over increasing violation of human rights by the United States and Western countries.

Addressing a meeting with senior Iranian judiciary officials, Amoli Larijani added that it is quite clear that the US and West were using the issue of human rights as a tool.

"In the recent case, they claim that this journalist has been detained as a 'witness'. This is the first time that I hear a country detains its own national - who is only a witness - in her own homeland without there being any fear about her possible flight from the country," he said.

Amoli Larijani said the US judicial system was responsible for any possible harm to Hashemi, adding that the US' problem with the Iranian journalist was that she defended the Islamic Revolution in Iran and criticized the United States' crimes in different parts of the world.

The Iranian judiciary chief also ordered the country's prosecutor general to take all necessary measures to defend Hashemi's rights and secure her release