Roxana Saberi To be Charged with Espionage: Confessed Under Duress?

This is heartbreaking, I was hoping they would work out a deal and just let her go, now its clear they are sending a message that no outside journalism is to be allowed in the run up to the election. My sympathy for the family and the President needs to get on this and stop sending videos, smart power is worthless without the spine to back it up. We have Euna Lee and Laura Ling being threatened with re-education camps by North Korea and sailors taken hostage, its clear open season has been declared on Americans abroad. ( one of the commenters on the Times thread said her family told NPR the confession was under duress)

From The NY Times:

Update | 4:19 p.m. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Wednesday for Iran to release an American reporter, Roxana Saberi, who was detained in Tehran in January. Iranian news sources reported earlier on Wednesday that Ms. Saberi has been charged with espionage.

Reuters reports that Mrs. Clinton said that she was “deeply concerned” and called for the “speedy release” of Ms. Saberi. An Iranian judge, identified by the single name Heydarifard, told state television in Iran: “Journalism for this accused … was a cover to collect information and intelligence and transfer them to America’s intelligence service.”

Mr. Heydarifard said Saberi would go on trial next weekIran’s deputy prosecutor for security issues Hassan Haddad said Wednesday that Saberi had confessed to having engaged in espionage activities under the guise of a reporter. “She conducted spying operations in the country by passing herself as a journalist. She has accepted all charges and we have documented the evidence in her legal case papers,” said Mr. Haddad..

(CNN) — Iranian authorities have charged detained American journalist Roxana Saberi with espionage, Iran’s Press TV reported.

Iran’s deputy prosecutor for security issues, Hassan Haddad, said Saberi had confessed to having engaged in espionage activities.

“She conducted spying operations in the country by passing herself as a journalist. She has accepted all charges and we have documented the evidence in her legal case papers,” Haddad said, according to Press TV.

Saberi’s father, Reza Saberi, told CNN last month that his daughter called him on February 10 and said she’d been arrested 10 days earlier.

By the way this only confirms that Annette Benning is a total idiot.

Clinton's first letter:

HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says she has sent Iran a direct letter about imprisoned journalist Roxana Saberi and two other U.S. citizens unable to leave that country.

Clinton says the letter to Iran says letting the three go would be a humanitarian gesture.The move comes as the United States and Iran took a step toward easing 30 years of tense relations.

U.S. diplomat Richard Holbrooke had a brief meeting with Iran's deputy foreign minister in the Netherlands today at an international conference on Afghanistan. Holbrooke is a special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan.Clinton called the meeting "cordial" and said "they agreed to stay in touch." Senator Kent Conrad says the State Department continues to work for the release of Saberi, who has been held in Iran since January.