Ahmadinejad Urges Fairness in Roxana Saberi's Case

I wonder if Ahmadinejad would've made this move if George Bush was president. Hillary Clinton has been working diligently behind the scenes to free Roxana as well as Laura Ling and Euna Lee, captured in North Korea. Read about their status here.
Obama addressed journalist Roxana Saberi today at the summit. If you're on Twitter, follow FreeRoxana.

NYT: TEHRAN — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a rare effort to intervene in the justice system, urged Tehran’s chief prosecutor on Sunday to fairly examine the cases of an Iranian-American journalist and an Iranian-Canadian blogger.

The Iranian-American journalist, Roxana Saberi, has been sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of spying for Washington, her lawyer reported Saturday. The other detainee is Hossein Derakhshan, a blogger who has been jailed since November without any official charges.

Mr. Ahmadinejad, who will be attending an international conference on racism on Monday and is expected to seek re-election in June, may be seeking to cast himself as a defender of human rights, analysts said. He may also be trying to prevent radical forces from sabotaging a possible reconciliation between Iran and the United States.
...
In Mr. Ahmadinejad’s letter, he urged Tehran’s prosecutor general, Saeed Mortazavi, to examine the cases fairly, the official IRNA news agency reported. Although the court’s workings are secret, Mr. Mortazavi, known as a hard-line conservative, would be the one to at least oversee the prosecution of both cases.

The letter was written by the president’s chief of staff, Abdolreza Sheikholeslami, on behalf of the president, who left Tehran for Geneva on Sunday to attend the United Nations conference on racism.

“At the president’s insistence, you must do what is needed to secure justice and fairness in examining these charges,” the letter said, IRNA reported. “Take care that the defendants have all the legal freedoms and rights to defend themselves against the charges and none of their rights are violated.” NYT

The Swiss president has also talked to Ahmadenijad:

Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz raised the issue of jailed US-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi during a meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad here Sunday, his ministry said.

Swiss authorities said in a statement that “various unresolved cases of consular protection were discussed, including the sentencing of the American-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi.”

Switzerland has been representing US interests in Iran since 1980, after Tehran and Washington broke off diplomatic relations.

Free Roxana

If you're on Twitter, follow FreeRoxana. Roxana Saberi is a journalist for NPR and other who has been sentenced to 8 years in prison for spying. 
In Iran it seems they equate journalism with spying. The Obama administration is using cautious language so they don't make her a target. This from the Asian American Journalists Association:

By all accounts of people who know her and who have worked with her — Roxana is a journalist, not a spy. An American of Iranian and Japanese descent, she crossed borders to report stories that shined a light into distant corners of the world. Her work was carried by NPR, the BBC and ABC News, organizations committed to fair, accurate and independent journalism.

The stories Roxana reported from abroad are crucial to understanding U.S. foreign policy and what it means to be a citizen of the world. With many newsrooms cutting their foreign coverage, the public is more reliant than ever on the work of freelance journalists willing to risk their personal safety so we may know more. Roxana went abroad because of her commitment to tell stories that would otherwise go untold.