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21 April 2009
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for
fair treatment of Roxana Saberi, the US journalist
given an eight year prison term on spying charges that
the United States claims are false.
Ahmadinejad told the
Tehran prosecutor to examine the cases against both
Saberi and an Iranian-Canadian blogger who has been
behind bars since November, state news agency IRNA
reported Sunday.
"You must do what is needed to secure justice ... in
examining these people's charges," the president's
chief of staff Abdolreza Sheikholeslami said in a
letter to prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi.
"Take care that the
defendants have all the legal freedoms and rights to
defend themselves against the charges."
The verdict against
Saberi disappointed US President Barack Obama, who
denied that Saberi was a spy and demanded her release.
"She is an American citizen and I have complete
confidence that she was not engaging in any sort of
espionage," Obama said.
Ahmadinejad's intervention came a day before a UN
conference against racism and intolerance in Geneva.
Swiss President
Hans-Rudolf Merz raised Saberi's case during a meeting
with Ahmadinejad in Geneva on Sunday.
Merz expressed the
hope that the conference would take place "in a
constructive atmosphere and one of mutual respect."
Ahmadinejad Slams Israel as Flag
Bearer of Racism
The Iranian President
slammed the Zionist entity as the "flag bearer of
racism" on Sunday before leaving for a UN conference
on racism in Geneva, the state broadcaster reported.
"The Zionist ideology and regime are the flag bearers
of racism," he was quoted as saying. "They (the
Zionists) plunder nations' wealth by dominating the
world power centers and have created a condition that
nothing can be said about this evil phenomenon whose
effects loom over nations' lives," Ahmadinejad said.
He said the Geneva conference was being held while
"global Zionism employs all in its power to stifle
innocent voices and cries against tyranny."
Israel, which has boycotted the conference along with
the United States and some other Western countries,
has branded the UN gathering a "tragic farce."
Ahmadinejad is due to address the conference on Monday
April 20, the anniversary of Hitler's birth. Israel
marks Holocaust Remembrance Day on April 21. |
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