US seeks to pressure Iran through Press TV anchor’s arrest: Analyst

The United States is seeking to put pressure on Iran through the arrest and imprisonment of Marzieh Hashemi, a journalist and anchor working for Iran’s English-language Press TV television news network, says an academic.

“I think they have motives, obviously we can only kind of guess at those, but clearly what is certainly happening is that this is an escalation, an escalation of harassment, an escalation in terms of trying to put pressure on Iran through Ms. Hashemi, through her treatment. They have purposely chosen this situation and escalated it so that it becomes the issue that it has become,” Kenneth Fero, lecturer at Coventry University, told Press TV in an interview on Friday.

“They have opened a new theater really and they are having their players running around and controlling everything. Later on today if it does goes to court we’ll be able to know whether she is being held as a material witness or whether she is actually going to be charged with anything,” he added.

Ms. Hashemi, who has been imprisoned by the FBI on unspecified charges, is due to appear in a Washington, DC, court on Friday.

The 59-year-old US citizen, who is based in Iran, was detained as a “material witness” to a criminal case and no charges were pressed against her, according to Hossein Hashemi, her elder son.

The US law defines a material witness as a person who is presumed to have information about the subject matter of a lawsuit or criminal prosecution, which is critical to the outcome of the case or trial.

“This is a show trial. It is being held in full public international view, it was instigated to make sure that it has a maximum impact and so this is not a situation that is developing out of the control of the United States’ authorities. They clearly have a game plan here and the game plan could go several ways,” Fero noted.  

“I think the press across the world has a very, very strong responsibility to make sure that this is case is exposed in very great details so that we can understand what the political reason was for this arrest and what is going to go on as this situation escalates … The Iranian authorities really need to wait unfortunately for this result from the court case and then take very, very decisive action,” he said.

Hashemi, most famous for anchoring news programs and presenting shows for Press TV, was detained upon arrival at St. Louis Lambert International Airport in St. Louis, Missouri, on Sunday.

The American-born, who is a Muslim convert, had traveled to the US to visit her ill brother and other family members.

The FBI has so far refused to comment on the arrest of Hashemi, who was born Melanie Franklin in New Orleans and has been living in Iran for 25 years.

PressTV-Press TV’s Hashemi due in US court on Friday

Ms. Hashemi has been detained as a material witness and will attend court on Friday.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.ir