Roxana Saberi: justice prevailed?

"Roxana Saberi: Out of Iranian Prison, Into a Soap Opera" was the headline at Yahoo! News. The Iranian-American who was convitced in Iran for spying has been released and, as expected, Western media is praising the right thing for the wrong reason.

It is sickening, really, to see the tag of "analysis" on pieces which shamelessly weigh the diplomatic and other benefits which Iran might gain out of this gesture. Is this how the fate of the accused will now be determined?

Iran aught to be condemned if it released Saberi due to any consideration other than justice and fairplay: another journalist accused of similar crimes served two years in prison while yet another is still languishing in an Iranian jail. Above all, it is grossly unfair to Saberi herself that her release should not be exploited by the media of her own country (i.e. the US) for restoring her prestige by focussing on her innocence.

When I first heard about Saberi's conviction, I could not help drawing a parallel between her case and that of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, the alleged victim of rape and torture at the hands of American authorities who is now in the controversial custody of the Americans at Carswell. Both were women, the charges were disputed in both cases and there were reports of foul play by the authorities (it was reported in the case of Saberi that she was tricked into confessing her guilt). I hoped that the Iranian authorities would act more responsibly than their American counterparts. Let's hope that they have.

Iran is the proud heir to the double legacy of Zulqarnain and Islam. As such, it needs to set new standards for justice and fairplay in our times. The release of Saberi should be the beginning.

Iran's official verdict seems to be that the court's order was a gesture of "Islamic mercy." That should gain more attention and Iran should be encouraged to be persistent in that: we have heard about the tragic case of Delara Darabi who was recently executed in Iran in a manner which was unfair, to say the least (and she was also reported to have been tricked into confessing). Responsible media, whether Western or Eastern, should help ensure that such things don't happen again. For this, principles must be shown as a higher priority than diplomatic and material gains.

Even in terms of those gains, Iran has got more to lose than win through a reputation for buying American favors at the cost of principles: US is not exactly the most popular state in the world now. Outside Israel, many might have been respecting Iran for having a backbone. Bending over backwards could hurt that.