New York, March 3, 2009–A spokesman for Iran’s judiciary said at a press conference today that freelance U.S. journalist Roxana Saberi is being held at Tehran’s Evin prison, where political prisoners are routinely detained, according to international news reports. Saberi is an American citizen as well as an Iranian national.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s economic policies and human rights record drew widespread criticism from academics, activists, and journalists. In response, Ahmadinejad sought to suppress independent media by manipulating government subsidies, exerting censorship, and using the punitive tools of detention and harassment.