U.S. State Department negotiating release of U.S.-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi through Switzerland

Missoula, March 2 (Al-Masakin)–Deputy Acting Spokesman for the U.S. State Department Gordon Duguid said that the United States asked Switzerland to inquire about the status of American citizen Roxana Saberi, a freelance journalist for National Public Radio (NPR).  The State Department could not confirm that Saberi is a dual national with Iran and could not confirm whether her detention is related to either the purchase of alcohol or was related to her journalistic activities there.

Mr. Duguid said that although the U. S. State Department  is currently reviewing its policy toward Iran, the Department’s first duty is its consular duty to protect American citizens abroad but the current incident would probably not affect the outcome of that review.

Q. If State is undertaking a review of Iran policy, is this something that factors into that review and could it affect the outcome?

A: Protection of American citizens is not subject to any review. It’s something that we do. It’s our first duty as the State Department. Our consular duty is our first and foremost duty. 

EHC / EHC

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Secretary of State Clinton will attend and participate in the donor’s conference for Gaza recovery hosted by Egypt on March 2, to meet with Palestinian officials in W. Bank thereafter

Missoula, Feb. 26 (Al-Masakin)–U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton arriving in Egypt March 1 will meet with Special Envoy for Middle East Peace George Mitchell and other high-level representatives and will attend and participate in the donor’s conference for Gaza recovery at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt on March 2. 

Thereafter the Secretary will meet with Israeli and Palestinian officials in Israel and in the West Bank respectively.  The Secretary is not expected to visit Gaza.

On March 5 Mrs. Clinton will meet with NATO officals in Brussels to discuss the upcoming NATO summit where the allies will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the organization.  The date of that summit has not been announced.  While in Brussels the Secretary will meet separately with EU officials.  She will then travel to Geneva.

After meeting with Swiss officials to discuss U.S.- Swiss cooperation the Secretary will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to discuss a number of issues of mutual interest, including possibilities for a follow-on agreement to START, and U.S.-Russian cooperation in areas such as Afghanistan.

After that the Secretary will meet with Turkish officials in Ankara.  The tour will end March 7.

EHC / EHC

Iraqi journalist ‘shoe thrower’ seeks Swiss asylum

‘Shoe-throwing’ Iraqi journalist seeks asylum in Switzerland

12:28 | 19/ 01/ 2009

MOSCOW, January 19 (RIA Novosti) – The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at the U.S. president in December has requested political asylum in Switzerland, according to a report by the Swiss Tribune de Geneve newspaper.

Muntazer al-Zaidi, 29, a correspondent for the Cairo-based al-Baghdadiya TV channel, threw his shoes at George Bush during a news conference in Baghdad in mid-December and shouted in Arabic: “This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, dog.” Bush managed to duck in time and avoided injury.

“At the beginning of this month, his family contacted me through the International Committee of the Red Cross and I sent a letter this week to the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, asking Switzerland to grant him political asylum,” al-Zaidi’s lawyer, Mauro Poggia, was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

According to Poggia, al-Zaidi “can no longer work as a journalist without suffering horrible pressure…His life could become hell in his own country.”

The Iraqi journalist was immediately apprehended in the press room after the shoe-throwing incident and is presently being held in a jail in Baghdad. He has been charged with “aggressive actions toward a foreign official,” a crime which carries a prison sentence of up to 15 years according to Iraqi law.

More than 100 lawyers from around the world have offered to represent al-Zaidi in court, including the lawyer who defended Iraq’s late leader Saddam Hussein, executed by Iraqi authorities after the U.S.-led invasion to topple his regime.

A special committee, headed by the chair of the Iraq union of lawyers, Dhiyaa al-Saadi, has also been formed in Iraq to defend the journalist.

According to al-Saadi, the “defense is leaning toward proving that al-Zaidi was merely protesting against the occupiers and their policies, which in civil law is simply the freedom of expressing one’s own opinion.”

The journalist’s actions turned him into a national hero in many Arab countries.