Roxana Saberi, the Iranian- US journalist jailed for eight years in Iran on charges of spying for the US, has gone on hunger strike in protest at her sentence while her lawyer begins an appeal.Perhaps Ahmadinejad will realize that this has become a loser of an issue for Iran and that is why he pretended to George Stephanopolous that it is beyond his control.
Waiting with flowers and a cake behind the doors of the jail, Reza Saberi, her father from North Dakota, hoped to see his daughter in the notorious Evin prison in Tehran on her birthday yesterday.
Mr Saberi said he had failed to convince her to stop the hunger strike even though she had already lost 4.5kg. "She looked very weak and said she would continue until she dies or is released from jail," he told the Financial Times. She was drinking water with sugar, he said.
However, Mr Saberi confirmed she had told him she was determined not to eat after the unexpectedly heavy sentence. "She told us on the phone that she went on hunger strike last Tuesday," he said. "We are worried about her health now and couldn't stop her."
I asked the president, as a goodwill gesture, if he would accept President Obama's word that she's not a spy, and also asked to go see her myself.Yeah, as if this wasn't choreographed ahead of time.
Fine with him, he said, but it's not his decision.
"Let's see if our judiciary allows for that, sure. But if they do not allow for that, no. I am afraid not," Ahmadinejad told me.
He sent me to the judiciary department. We made the request by phone right away and even went to the offices to make the request in person but we couldn't get beyond the gates.
Isn't it about time for the benefits of Obama's charismatic engagement with foreign leaders to start kicking in?
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