Alwaght- Iran Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has condemned as a "political game" the US arrest and imprisonment of Press TV anchor Marzieh Hashemi, urging American authorities to release her right away.
Hashemi, a US citizen born as Melanie Franklin, was detained upon arrival at St. Louis Lambert International Airport in St. Louis, Missouri, on Sunday, but wasn't allowed to contact her family until late Tuesday.
"Ms. Marzieh Hashemi is the wife of an Iranian person and is therefore an Iranian citizen and we see it as our duty to defend the rights of our citizens," Zarif said in an interview with Iranian Arabic network Al Alam on Wednesday.
"The move by the US to arrest her is an unacceptable political move and a violation of freedom of speech," he argued. "On that basis, the Americans should immediately end this political game."
A Muslim convert who has been living in Iran for years, Hashemi had traveled to the US to visit her ill brother and other family members.
She told her daughter that she was handcuffed and shackled and was being treated like a criminal.
The journalist also said that she had her hijab forcibly removed, and was photographed without her headscarf upon arrival at the prison and is being forced to eat port, forbidden in Islam.
Meanwhile, Press TV’s chief says the Iranian English-language news network will take any necessary legal action to secure the release of its anchorwoman, Marzieh Hashemi, who has been imprisoned in Washington on unspecified charges, holding the US responsible for her health.
Speaking to Press TV on Wednesday, Peyman Jebelli, who heads the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB)’s World Service, complained that Hashemi was being held in “inhumane,” “unethical” and “illegal psychological conditions” under US custody.
We have been informed that she is being kept in prison under very tough conditions and without any charges,” he said, exclaiming that Hashemi had been forced to remove her hijab – compulsory for Muslim women under Islamic dress code -- not only when she was being photographed but also during her detention.
“Despite the fact that she has declared to prison authorities that she cannot eat pork as a Muslim, they have told her that it’s the only food available. As far as we know, she’s been eating only biscuits,” he noted.
Press TV and IRIB, Jebelli stressed, “hold the US government responsible for anything that may happen” to Hashemi.
