Tragedy often results when individual lives are caught up in great power politics. When state interests are placed on the scale, individuals are invariably overwhelmed — at best they are pawns in bigger games. It is not yet clear how journalist Roxana Saberi fits into the larger mosaic of U.S.-Iran relations, but her release from an eight-year sentence and arrival back in the United States are a welcome signal of moderation and a potential overture from Tehran to Washington. We urge both sides to use this opening to build a better relationship.
Ms. Saberi, whose father is Iranian and whose mother is Japanese, was born and raised in the United States. She is a U.S. citizen, but also holds an Iranian passport. She has worked in Iran as a freelance journalist since 2003; her press card was revoked in 2006 without explanation, but she remained in the country. She was arrested in January, initially on charges of buying a bottle of wine, which is prohibited in Iran. That charge was upped to espionage by the time she appeared before the tribunal, three months later. She was found guilty in a trial that reportedly lasted less than an hour and sentenced to eight years in prison, the harshest term ever given by an Iranian court to a dual national on security charges.
U.S. officials protested the decision and Ms. Saberi's attorney filed an appeal. That is when things got interesting. Several Iranian leaders called for a rehearing, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad among them.